Exodus 3:2

2. And the Angel of the Lord appeared unto him More literally, “And there appeared an angel of Jahveh (Jehovah) unto him . ”

In a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush Rather, “ the thorn-bush,” (bramble . ) Any personification or manifestation of God’s attributes is called his “angel . ” See on Genesis 16:7. The סנה , seneh, “thorn-bush,” or “bramble,” is a species of acacia, common in the Sinai peninsula, rising in tangled thickets, and having long, stout, and sharp thorns . It is here called the bramble definitely as the well-known desert bramble, or as the bramble of this divine appearance . Sinai was probably named from this seneh (senna) shrub, which abounds upon its sides and valleys . The shittah, or shittim tree, used so much in the construction of the tabernacle and its furniture, belongs to the same family .

And behold, the bush burned with fire, and… was not consumed Better, And lo, the bramble was burning in the fire, and the bramble was not consumed . The common lowly bramble well typifies despised Israel in its servitude, and the fire that burst forth among the dry thorns and yet did not consume them, was the God who dwelt in Israel, under whose providence those afflictions came, which, though they burned did not destroy, because He, the change-less JEHOVAH, was in their midst. It is ever in the extremity of his Israel’s affliction that his voice is heard from the flame. The “great sight,” which faith only sees, is God’s loving tenderness, burning but to purify. This is the truth which, in the MEMORIAL NAME, breaks upon the soul of Moses after his long and mysterious trial.