The story revolves around Moses, who was an Israelite in Egypt. He led the Israelites out of Egypt. Moses had gone out to tend sheep and goats that belonged to his father-in-law, Jethro. He had taken the flock far off to the wilderness towards Mount Sinai. As he was still tending the sheep and goats, all of a sudden, an angel appeared to him in the form of a burning bush although the bush was not being consumed. Curious to understand why the bush was not being consumed, Moses went nearer to the bush to know what was happening. As he approached the burning bush, the Lord spoke to him and told him that he should take off his sandals as the place he was holy. The Lord told Moses to go and deliver the Israelites from bondage in Egypt.
The story can be regarded as a mystical experience. This experience happened to Moses and the Israelites at large. This is a mystical experience because it is uncommon to have bushes which are burning and never getting consumed. There was something that this meant. God used this to bring the attention of Moses and therefore go nearer to the burning bush. What prompted the mystical experience was the cry that the Israelites had made to God. They had been oppressed under Pharaoh. They wanted God to deliver them from the bondage. God, therefore, spoke to Moses in the form of a burning bush.
This experience is a genuine instance of revelation. This is a revelation because, first, God appeared to an Israelite and not a Hebrew. In His quest to answer to the cries of the people of Israel, God looked for someone to deliver the Israelites from their bondage. Moses was tending the sheep; the revelation from this is that God wanted someone to tend to his sheep, the Israelites.
Personally, mystical experiences happen because there is something that needs to be solved. When this is the case, the communication with God does not take place in a normal experience. It is common and normal for God to use extra-ordinary things and circumstances to communicate to mankind.
Works Cited
Manz, Mary Simon. Moses and the Burning Bush: A Story of Faith and Obeying God. New York: Tommy Nelson, 2008.
