Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”
Moses turns aside to look at a bush that burns without burning up. God's first words to him are not about Egypt or Israel. They are about the ground under his feet. Before the commission comes the check: the man God is about to send must first learn what God is.
The First Lesson Before Any Service
God calls Moses by name, then stops him. One writer reads this halt as the first lesson of every relationship with God, and the condition for hearing anything from Him.
Edward DennettGod must remind him of the holiness of the divine presence. "Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground." This is the first lesson that all who approach God must learn: to recognize His holiness. True, He is a God of grace and mercy, and He is love; but He is all these because He is a holy God... But we must take our shoes off, remembering the holiness of the God we deal with. Otherwise we can never receive the gracious communications of His mind and will.
Why the Ground Is Holy
Nothing about that patch of desert made it different from the sand around it. The holiness came from who was there. The same holds for any place God chooses to dwell.
C. H. MackintoshThe place of God's presence is holy, and can only be trodden with unshod feet. God dwells among His people. That gives their assembly a character of holiness, and it is the basis of every holy affection and every holy activity. The character of the dwelling place takes its stamp from the character of the Occupant.
The presence that demands holiness also supplies it.
William KellyHis presence is the true power of sanctification. Forms He could and did use under the law, in tabernacle and temple. But He Himself is more than any or all.
Why the Sandals
The command targets the feet, and sandals had a job to do.
Samuel RidoutShoes are to protect the feet from injury and defilement. The feet are our point of contact with the earth. How important that shoes guard them from its thorns and its soil! In the presence of God the shoes came off, for the ground was holy. Earth must not defile in that holy Presence.
Bare feet also said something about the man himself. One writer reads the removal as an admission:
Leslie M. GrantMoses' shoes must be removed as a confession of his own dependent weakness before God.
"Do Not Come Near" — and What Changed Later
The order to stop marks a boundary. One writer sets it beside a later scene, where a father puts shoes on the feet of the son who comes home.
Morrish Bible DictionaryIt showed that as yet there was no welcome for man into the presence of God. God had not yet made a standing for him, however much goodness and kindness He might show him. Under grace a standing is found. The son who came home received shoes; he was welcome and at home.
The two commands are not in conflict; they belong to two different footings before God.
W. T. P. Wolston"Put shoes on his feet," too. The law said, "Take off the sandal." Grace says, "Put shoes on" — that is, "I will provide him with fitness to tread those courts above." The law says, "Take your shoes off, you are not fit." Grace says, "I will make you fit."
Yet the boundary did not send Moses away.
J. G. BellettLong ago, anyone entering that presence had to take the shoes off his feet, to express the sense of holiness that suited it. But that was all. God did not require Moses or Joshua to withdraw; only to tread softly. They were welcomed and encouraged, while being taught the holiness of such closeness.
Fire That Does Not Consume
The holiness of the spot is tied to the sight in front of Moses. Commentators read the bush as Israel under Egypt's fire, and then look further:
Leslie M. GrantBut the fact of this being holy ground points to a much deeper lesson than this, for it is a reminder of the cross of Christ, where all the awesome fire of God's judgment fell upon the Lord Jesus because of our sins. But that fire did not consume Him.
Summary
- Holiness first. God tells Moses where he stands before He says a word about Egypt. Holiness is the first lesson.
- The Occupant, not the location. Desert sand becomes holy ground because God is there. A dwelling takes its character from the One who fills it.
- Bare feet. Shoes carry the soil of the road. Taking them off confesses the earth's defilement and the servant's own weakness.
- Stopped but not sent away. "Do not come near" set a limit, but God did not send Moses away. He told him to tread softly.
- Shoes given back. What law removed, grace supplies. The fire of judgment fell on Christ and did not consume Him, so the son comes home and receives shoes.