וינהג את הצאן, “he led the flock after the desert.” The choice of the word אחר here is to serve as a hint that when G–d’s flock in the desert, i.e. the generation that left Egypt as adults had all died, and he had been buried where they had been buried, in the desert, He could bring the next generation to the land of Israel right away; this is why the verse ends with describing the mountain where Moses stood as being already “the Mountain of G–d.”

”out of the burning bush.” The reason that G–d chose this bush to reveal Himself in was that one could not construct a deity or symbol of a deity out of the bush.

מדוע לא יבער הסנה, “why the bush refused to burn up and turn into ash.” The root בער used here for burning up is used to describe the process of something being utterly destroyed, leaving no trace of having existed. Compare the confession of the farmer in Deuteronomy 26,13: בערתי הקודש מן הבית, “I have utterly destroyed anything sacred from the house;” my teacher preferred to interpret Moses’ words as being phrased as a question: “seeing that the fire has not consumed the bush, why is this so?”

ויאמר הנני, “He said: “I am at Your disposal.” G–d responded that though you showed your preparedness with the same word as your forefather Avraham when I called upon him, (to offer his son to Me as a sacrifice) this is not what I come to ask of you. We know from Proverbs 25,6: במקום גדולים אל תעמוד, “do not stand in the place of great men.” (do not aspire to be important actively or passively) Aaron was commanded to come close to holy sites, the altar, (Leviticus 9,7) Not so Moses. He had to shun a holy site. Neither was allowed to aspire to Royalty, as opposed to David. He acknowledged that G–d had brought him הלום, instead of as Moses: אל תקרב הלום. (Compare Samuel II 7,18 and Sh’mot Rabbah 2,6)

!של, “remove!” the reason why the Torah had to write: מעל רגליך, “from your feet,” when we all know that he was not asked to remove his sandals from his hands, is that there are two kinds of sandals. There is a kind worn on one’s hands. [In fact, in German, the word for gloves is: handschuhe, “shoes worn on one’s hands.” Ed.] This was the נעל that Boaz gave to the redeemer who was first in line to perform a levirate marriage ceremony with Ruth, the daughter-in-law of Naomi. (Ruth, 4,7) As far as the question why Moses had to remove both his sandals, whereas Joshua had to remove only a single sandal (Joshua 5,15), the reason is that in this instance the Presence of the Spirit of G–d preceded the arrival of Moses on that site, whereas in the Book of Joshua, Joshua had already been on holy soil (the land of Israel) before the appearance to him of the angel, i.e. the Spirit of G–d.

וזה לך האות, “and this will be the sign for you (that though unworthy, now they will become worthy of redemption shortly thereafter;” at that time I will make it plain to all the people that I have sent you to be their redeemer. [G–d is referring to what we read in the report of the revelation at Mount Sinai in Exodus 19,9: וידעו כי אתה שלוחי, [not exactly but words to this effect. Ed.] An alternate interpretation of this line: it is a response to Moses’ question why he had been found worthy to become this people’s leader. He had considered himself as unfit to speak with Royalty, and even if he had been worthy of that, he certainly did not deem himself worthy to take the people out of Egypt. G–d reassured him, implying that he was right, but seeing He would support him all the way, he would be able to fulfill his task. In fact the redemption would not be due to Moses’ actions, but to His actions, all the way. All you need to know is that I will not abandon you in your efforts. (Attributed to Rabbi Joseph Kara who heard it from a Rabbi David.)

ויאמר....אהיה, “He said (G–d)......I shall be;” why did the Torah have to repeat so many times “He said” of G–d, in verses 14-16 when we have not been told that Moses replied to any of these pronouncements of G–d? We may have to understand this as G–d feeling the need to explain statements He had made such as that His name is אהיה, meaning that seeing that He is eternal this should be reflected in His very name. The words: אשר אהיה, may be meant to define this very attribute. In order to make sure that Moses would not think that His name is אהיה אשר אהיה, He tells Moses precisely how to answer the elders’ question about Who it is that sent him. Hence the instruction: כה תאמר “you shall word it precisely thus;” as far as the people of Israel is concerned the fact that He had no beginning is of secondary interest; what matters to them is that He will continue to exist forever without aging.

ושמעו לקולך, “they will listen (obey) to your voice.” According to Rashi, the Jews had already been given the code word with which their eventual redeemer would identify himself when both Yaakov and Joseph used the root word פקד in connection with the time of their redemption from slavery in Egypt. I explained this on Genesis 50,24 and 25. Some people raise the question that actually we have no record of Yaakov having said: פקוד יפקוד. According to my explanation on that verse the question has been answered satisfactorily.

ושאלה , the meaning of the word שאל here, is not “to borrow” but a request to be given as a gift.” The word occurs in this sense also in Psalms 2,8 "שאל ממני ואתנה", “just ask it of Me and I shall give it.” When the Egyptians would be in a hurry to send the Hebrews out of the country as they were afraid of dying, they did not think of receiving these trinkets back again. They gave all of them willingly.