Bible In One Year Day 28 (Exodus 3, Leviticus 2 - 3, Psalm 45)

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Burning Bush (Sebastien Bourdon)

Day 28 The Burning Bush 

From a Study I did in 2010 on the connection between Passover the the Eucharist

God called out to Moses while he tended the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, from a burning bush. “When the Lord saw him coming over to look at it more closely, God called out to him from the bush, “Moses! Moses!” He answered, “Here I am” God said, “Come no nearer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. I am the God of your father…the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob…..I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt and have heard their cry…so I know well what they are suffering. Therefore I have come down to rescue them from the hands of the Egyptians and lead them out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey….Come, now! I will send you to Pharaoh to lead my people, the Israelites out of Egypt.” (Ex 3:4-10)

Whoa, wait, no way, I just fled Egypt because I killed a man. “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and lead the Israelites out of Egypt?” (Ex 3:11) God explained that He would be with him and that Moses was to tell the people that “I AM sent me to you.” (Ex 3:14) God asked Moses to tell the king of Egypt, “The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent us word. Permit us, then, to go a three days journey in the desert, that we may offer sacrifice to the Lord, our God.” (Ex. 3:18)

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A Commentary 
Understanding the Scriptures - The Didache Series (Chapter 7, page 129 - 130) 

One day Moses, by now eighty years old, had led his sheep and cattle into the wilderness to the side of Mount Horeb, "the mountain of God" as the sacred writer calls it, which is in the wilderness of Sinai.  Suddenly he saw a strange sight: a bush was on fire - but although the bush was burning, it was not being burned up.  Moses decided to take a closer look.  That was when God spoke to him for the first time. 

"I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob," the voice from the bush told him.  Moses naturally covered his face, "for he was afraid to look at God."  

God identified himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  If God was just the God of Abraham, the Midianites and the Ishmaelites could claim him, because both peoples came from Abraham.  Even the Egyptians could lay some claim, as one of Abraham's wives, the first one to bear him a child was Hagar, the Egyptian.  If God had just said, "Abraham and Isaac," the Edomites, who were descended from Esau, could have claimed him.  

Instead, God narrowed down the family lines: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob.  This was the God of the people of Israel, God's own covenant family, the people who were now slaves in Egypt. But God had a plan to bring them to a land of their own, the land he promised to their father Abraham.  And then God told Moses the really big news:  Moses would be the one to go back to Egypt and free his people. And God promised to be with Moses when he did it.  

Moses was still reluctant.  This same pattern appears in Scripture over and over again.  God chooses a prophet who does not want to be chosen.  God's assignments are never easy.  Moses tries every excuse, but God had chosen Moses for a reason.  It would not be Moses leading the people: it would be God leading the people through Moses.  

Moses and the Burning Bush (Father Richard Cannuli OSA)

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Leviticus 2 - 3

Commentary by Raymond Campbell 
Study Light Commentary 

Leviticus 2 The Cereal/Meal Offering 

This offering typifies Christ as the perfect and sinless Man and presents to us His wonderful Person and His spotless life which was ever an offering of a sweet savor to God.  There was no shedding of blood in this offering so its speaks of the perfections of Christ's Person and life rather than of His death.  The fine flour pictures His sinless humanity with its evenness of moral qualities, the oil pictures the grace and power of the Holy Spirit which characterized His life,  while the frankincense is emblematic of the sweetness and fragrance of His Person and life.  

This offering is to be made of unleavened milled grain, with oil poured on it, and then with frankincense place on it.  The mixing of grain and olive oil was usual in a grain offering, but the frankincense was special, indicating a worship offering of sweet odor.  The word used for "grain-offering" minchah, means elsewhere a gift or tribute.  

Leviticus 3 The Peace Offering 

This was also an offering of a sweet savor to God. The blood, the fat and the kidneys of the offering were put upon the altar as "the food of the offering made by fire unto the Lord" (Lev. 3:11).  This was God's part. 

Then the breast was given to Aaron and his sons and the right shoulder to the offering priest.  This was man's part.  Thus God and man both fed on the same offering which speaks of communion and fellowship and typifies the communion which the believer in Christ enjoys with God on the ground of the work of Christ at the cross and His blood shed there for our sins. We are at peace with God through the work of the cross and can feed upon Christ in fellowship with the Father.   

The general idea then is of the eating of that which has been accepted by God, of being at peace with Him and with each other, of enjoying His presence, and of rejoicing in, and expressing gratitude for, peace with God, health and prosperity, and fellowship with Him. It is an act of dedication, worship and love, and of cementing fellowship with God. 

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A Daily Challenge 

DAY 28 The Holy Spirit Is a Person 

CHALLENGE: “The Holy Spirit is not a person. Instead, it is the active power that God uses to accomplish his will. It's an impersonal force like radio waves.” 

DEFENSE: Contrary to this view of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Scripture indicates that the Holy Spirit is a person, not an impersonal force. Impersonal forces don’t know things or make choices, but the Holy Spirit does both. He knows the thoughts of God (1 Cor. 2:11), and he chooses how spiritual gifts will be distributed (1 Cor. 12:11). 

The Holy Spirit thus has the personal attributes of intellect and will. Scripture refers to the Holy Spirit as a Paraclete (Greek parakletos; see John 14:26; cf. 15:26, 16:7–8). This term, often translated as “Comforter,” “Counselor,” or “Advocate,” refers to a person who is called to aid one, especially in legal settings. 

Scripture also speaks of Jesus, who is unmistakably a person, as a Paraclete (1 John 2:1). Impersonal forces cannot communicate, but Scripture refers to the Holy Spirit communicating (Acts 5:32, 20:23, 21:11, 1 Tim. 4:1).

Sometimes the Holy Spirit is directly quoted (Acts 8:29, 10:19, 21:11; Rev. 14:13). The Holy Spirit is even quoted using the personal pronoun I: “While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them’ ” (Acts 13:2). 

This is particularly significant because the Holy Spirit is directly quoted in the historical narrative of Acts. He is quoted just like other persons, and the quotation cannot be dismissed as symbolic. This is straightforward historical narrative. Scripture thus depicts the Holy Spirit with intellect and will, as a person who—like Jesus—assists Christians, and as a person who communicates and does so using the personal pronoun I. The claim the Holy Spirit is an impersonal force is not supported by the text. 

 Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist