This curious manuscript illustration, created by an unknown 15th-century artist, was inspired by the famous biblical story of Moses and the burning bush. It was one of three miracles that were said to have convinced Moses to become a champion to the Hebrews in Egypt. The burning bush episode appears early in the Book of Exodus, occurring when Moses was in the wilderness overseeing a flock of sheep that belonged to an Egyptian priest. The religious text described what happened next:
“There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses thought, ‘I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.’ When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, ‘Moses! Moses!’ And Moses said, ‘Here I am.’ ‘Do not come any closer,’ God said. ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.’ Then he said, ‘I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob… I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt’” (Exodus 3:2-10, NIV translation).
In addition to the burning bush episode, the artwork also contains another interesting piece of Moses art trivia. Viewers may have noticed that the illustrator drew Moses with a prominent pair of horns jutting out from his head. This interesting detail comes from a pesky line in the Book of Exodus that caused great annoyances for churchmen who wished to commission artistic renditions of Moses. The line in question is Exodus 34:35, which claims that Moses’ followers “saw that his face was radiant.” Early translators faced a dilemma regarding this line, as the Hebrew word for “radiated light” (Keren) could also be translated to “grew horns.” This latter interpretation of “grew horns” was unfortunately used in the 5th-century Vulgate Bible, produced by St. Jerome, and his awkward translation inspired many an artist to add horns to the top of Moses’ head. Whereas other medieval artists combined the two interpretations and drew or painted horns of light, the illustrator of the artwork above instead chose to add actual physical horns to his depiction of Moses.
Written by C. Keith Hansley
Sources:
