One morning early before the dews had dried, he led his flock to fresh pastures, and there he lay down to rest, his staff in his hand, his dogs around him, while his sheep and lambs, each with its own gentle shadow beside it on the sward, grazed peacefully on. And as he sat alone, he fell into a reverie, and his spirit wandered far. Dwindling in distance, the eagle-haunted crags and crests of the mountains towered into the blue waste of noon, while near at hand rose sheer the steeps of Horeb, its summit hidden in cloud. The scream of a bird rang in his ear, and aroused him from his reverie.

And lo, lifting up his eyes, he saw, above and beyond the rock-strewn slope of the valley that mounted up before him, and in a place bare and treeless, a burning bush. The flame of its burning went up from it as from a torch, clear and fervent in the noonday sun. But though the bush burned on as if with fire, it was not consumed. For the flame was not of earth, but was the glory of an angel of the Lord.

Moses gazed at it in wonder, and at length arose, saying within himself: ‘What marvel is this? I will turn aside and draw near and see this strange sight, why the bush is not burnt.’

Leaving his flocks to roam as they willed, he went on up the valley into the solitude of the mountain.

When the Angel of the Lord saw that Moses had turned aside and drew near, he called to him from out of the midst of the burning bush, ‘Moses, Moses!’

There was no sound else between earth and heaven, and Moses stayed where he stood, his eyes fixed on its miraculous radiance. So still and clear was the voice that it might have called to him from out of the inmost silence of his mind. And he answered the angel: ‘Here am I.’

Then said the angel of the Lord: ‘Come not hither; but put off thy sandals from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. I speak to thee in the name of the Lord God who sent me hither, the God thy father worshipped, yea, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.’

And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. And the voice said: ‘I have seen the affliction of my people in Egypt and I have heard their wailing by reason of the task-masters that oppress them. I know their sorrows; and am come down to deliver them and to send thee thyself to Pharaoh the King that thou mayest set my people free and lead them out of Egypt.’

The words rang sweet as a clarion in Moses’ ears, yet his heart misgave him. ‘Alas, Lord,’ he said, ‘who am I—an outcast and a fugitive condemned to death—that I should confront Pharaoh face to face and bring forth the people of Israel from out of Egypt.’

The Lord said: ‘Be not afraid; I will surely be with thee. All those who sought to kill thee in Egypt are now dead. And for token that it is I, the Lord, who am sending thee thither, the day shall come when thou thyself and all Israel shall serve and worship me upon this sacred mountain.’

Moses, still communing with himself, turned his face away and gazed out over the valley where his sheep were placidly browsing and into the distance towards Egypt. And the light of the flame of the burning bush smote on his face, gilding it as if with gold, and the whole earth was still as though in trance.

‘But it may be,’ he said, ‘when I come before the people and tell them, “The God of Israel hath sent me, and I come to do his will,” that they will challenge me, and say: “But who is this God of whom thou speakest: and what is his name?” How then shall I answer them?’

And the Lord God, speaking through the mouth of the angel, answered Moses and said: ‘I AM THAT I AM: eternal, infinite, the source of all life, all love, all wisdom. And to thee and to my people I will be all that I will reveal myself to be, though as yet thou hast no knowledge of it. Assemble the elders of Israel and proclaim to them: “Jehovah, the Lord God of your fathers, who was, and is, and ever shall be, hath sent me unto you. I AM hath sent me unto you.” This is my name and it shall be my memorial to all generations. Then say this unto them: “The Lord God of Israel knows all your sorrows and has seen