69
as far away as Hijaz (a region in
the northwest of modern Saudi
Arabia) or northern Arabah (west
Jordan). The monks of the Sacred
Monastery of the God-Trodden
Mount Sinai (also known as
St. Catherine’s Monastery) are
adamant that their complex, in a
narrow valley at the foot of Mount
Sinai, in Egypt, was built on the
site of the burning bush. However,
while this part of Egypt, which
includes mountainous desert, is
called the Sinai Peninsula due to
this claim, there is little consensus
about which mountain is the Mount
Sinai of the Bible.The burning bush
Some scholars believe that the
inflammable plant Dictamnus
might have inspired the biblical
account of Moses’s election by God.
This flowering shrub, native to
warm, open woodland habitats
and found throughout the Middle
East, is covered with isoprene-
based, volatile oils that can catch
fire easily in hot weather. It is these
natural oils that burn—enveloping
the exterior of the entire plant—
and not the bush itself, which
is generally unharmed once theflames extinguish themselves.
It is possible that this natural
phenomenon occurred regularly
on the plains of the ancient Holy
Land and would have been known
to the oral storytellers and early
scripture writers who shaped
the Old Testament.
Whatever the explanations for
the burning bush, it serves as a
potent and highly visual symbol
of God’s omnipresence. In the early
books of the Bible, God appears in
a number of dramatic forms (known
as theophany), underlining His
unique ability to appear in different
guises and circumstances. The
declaratory marvel of the burning
bush is juxtaposed with Moses’s
ambivalent attitude, reflecting the
difference between the divine and
the human. While God’s reputation
as the Almighty is emphasized
through the spectacle, Moses’s
uncertainty demonstrates human
weakness in the face of the divine.
The burning bush is one of the
most dramatic symbols in the Bible
and has come to represent manyEXODUS TO DEUTERONOMY
different things for religious
institutions across the world.
The motto adopted by the
Reformed Church of France,
“Flagror non consumor” (I am
burned, I am not consumed), best
exemplifies the significance that
the burning bush has acquired
in modern times. God is referred
to elsewhere in the Bible as a
“consuming fire” (Deuteronomy 4:24
and Hebrews 12:29), but the fact
that the bush remains intact
despite the fire can be interpreted
as representing God’s infinite
capacity for mercy.
In Scotland, Ireland, Canada,
Australia, the Netherlands, and
a number of other countries, the
bush has become the adopted
symbol of Presbyterian churches.
In the United States, the Jewish
Theological Seminary has adopted
the symbol with the accompanying
phrase “and the bush was not
consumed.” In all cases, the
symbolism associated with the
image suggests that the Church
suffers yet lives on. ■Dictamnus albus, shown here in a
16th-century manuscript dedicated to
St. Mark, may have been the burning
bush of Exodus. The plant is covered in
a flammable oil used to heal snake bites.Earth’s crammed with
heaven, And every
common bush afire
with God.
Elizabeth Barrett
Browning
Poet (1806–1861)There the angel of the
Lord appeared to him
in flames of fire from
within a bush.
Exodus 3:2US_066-069_Burning_bush.indd 69 21/09/17 11:29 am