What Does Exodus 3:4 Mean?
And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him from the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here I am.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.THE KEY
The call follows Moses’s turn of attention: the moment he turns aside to see, the bush becomes an encounter.
THE MEANING
When your attention turns toward what is before you, the voice from within the bush becomes personal address and calls you by name. The name comes twice, and “Here am I” answers with presence.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that the mystery must be solved before the call can meet you: the call comes as Moses turns aside to see.
THE ROOT
סָר
sar
GROWS FROM
סור
s-w-r
To turn aside, depart, or remove.
“turned aside” in this verse is sar. The verb comes from a root that also means removing something from its place. Moses’s turn is a departure from his path, the movement that opens his attention to what is there.
ALSO GROWS
sûr: Turn aside; depart.
סוּר
This is the root’s basic movement, expressed in Moses’s turning from his route to look.
hēsîr: Remove; take away.
הֵסִיר
The same root can describe removing something from its place, adding the sense of a shift away from the course already being followed.
וַיַּרְא
wayyar
GROWS FROM
ראה
r-ʾ-h
To see, look at, or perceive.
“saw / to see” in this verse is wayyar. The same Hebrew root appears for the LORD’s seeing and Moses’s seeing. The LORD perceives Moses turning toward perception, so attention is mutual before the call begins.
ALSO GROWS
ro’eh: One who sees; a seer.
רֹאֶה
The root can name the one who perceives, echoing the two perceivers in this verse.
mar’eh: Sight, appearance, or vision.
מַרְאֶה
The root can name what is seen as well as the act of seeing; Moses turns toward the bush’s appearance, and that sight becomes an encounter.
מֹשֶׁה
Moshe
GROWS FROM
משׁה
m-sh-h
To draw out, especially from water.
The Torah’s own wordplay links Moses’s name to being drawn out of the water. Here that name is spoken twice from within the bush, and the one named through being drawn out answers the call with presence.
ALSO GROWS
māshāh: Draw out.
מָשָׁה
This is the verb behind the name’s explanation in Exodus 2:10.
meshîtihû: I drew him out.
מְשִׁיתִהוּ
This is the wording used in Exodus 2:10 to explain the name Moses.
THE PATTERN
A name spoken into a charged moment makes the encounter personal and draws a response.
And the messenger of the LORD called to him from the heavens, and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am."And the LORD came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak, for your servant hears and responds.Jesus said to her, Mary. She turned, and said to him, Rabboni, Teacher.THE THREAD
And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses, the one drawn out, and she said, Because from the waters I drew him out.Exodus 2:10 links Moses’s name to מָשָׁה (māshāh), “to draw out”: “I drew him out of the water.” In this verse, that name is repeated from within the bush, and the one named through being drawn out answers, “Here am I.”
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