The burning bush refers to an event recorded in the Jewish Torah. It is described in the third chapter of the Book of Exodus as having occurred on Mount Horeb. According to the biblical account, the bush was on fire but was not consumed by the flames, hence the name. In the biblical narrative, the burning bush is the location at which Moses was appointed by Yahweh to lead the Israelites out of Egypt and into Canaan.
Burning Bush. Seventeenth century painting by Sébastien Bourdon in the Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg
Moses and the burning bush. Painting from Dura-Europos synagogue, third century CE
Moses and the Burning Bush, c. 1450–1475, attributed to Dieric Bouts
Icon of Moses receiving the Ten Commandments. The bush is depicted at his feet, lower left (Saint Catherine's Monastery, c. 1050)
The Book of Exodus is the second book of the Bible. It is a narrative of the Exodus, the origin myth of the Israelites leaving slavery in Biblical Egypt through the strength of their deity named Yahweh, who according to the story chose them as his people. The Israelites then journey with the legendary prophet Moses to Mount Sinai, where Yahweh gives the 10 commandments and they enter into a covenant with Yahweh, who promises to make them a "holy nation, and a kingdom of priests" on condition of their faithfulness. He gives them their laws and instructions to build the Tabernacle, the means by which he will come from heaven and dwell with them and lead them in a holy war to conquer Canaan, which has earlier, according to the myth of Genesis, been promised to the "seed" of Abraham, the legendary patriarch of the Israelites.
Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1075, a 3rd or 4th century CE manuscript showing part of Exodus 40
Finding of Moses in the Dura-Europos synagogue, c. 244
Geography of the Book of Exodus, with the Nile River and its delta, left, the Red Sea and Sinai desert, center, and the land of Israel, upper right
Worship of the Golden Calf, Gerrit de Wet, 17th century