BUSH
[Heb., si´ach].
A low, densely branched shrub or a cluster of shrubs. The Hebrew word si´ach occurs only four times, at Genesis 2:5; 21:15; Job 30:4, 7. Some trees in the Palestine region may properly be designated as bushes, including the dwarf juniper, the thorny lotus, the broom tree; while others are often or usually shrublike in size and appearance, such as the acacia, myrtle, storax, tamarisk, and willow trees.
In the wilderness of Beer-sheba, despairing Hagar threw Ishmael under a bush (Ge 21:15), while Job describes persons living in a waterless region "plucking the salt herb by the bushes" and crying out from among the bushes.—Job 30:4, 7.
The burning bush by which Jehovah’s angel attracted Moses’ attention and spoke with him is understood to have been some type of thornbush (Heb., seneh´). (Ex 3:2-5; De 33:16) In referring to this event, the Christian writers of the Greek Scriptures employed the Greek word ba´tos, which means a bramble or any thorny bush. (Mr 12:26; Lu 20:37; Ac 7:30, 35) In Greek the blackberry is called ba´ton (derived from ba´tos), and hence some lexicographers connect the thorny bush (seneh´) with the blackberry bush (Rubus sanctus), which is common throughout Syria and much of Palestine. It is not found growing wild in the Sinai Peninsula in modern times, however. For this reason others favor an association with some type of acacia tree, as these thorny, often bushlike trees are very common throughout the Sinai region. However, no certain identification can be made.



. One day Moses was busy caring for his sheep near a mountain when he saw an amazing thing. A thornbush was on fire, but it was not burning up! Moses went closer to get a better look.
Do you know what happened?— Moses heard a voice calling from the middle of that burning thornbush. The voice called out, "Moses! Moses!" Who was saying that?— It was God speaking! God had a lot of work for Moses to do. God said: ‘Come and let me send you to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and you bring my people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.’ God promised to help Moses do this.
But Moses said to God: ‘Suppose I come to the sons of Israel in Egypt and say that God sent me. What if they ask me, "What is his name?" What shall I say?’ God told Moses to tell the sons of Israel: ‘Jehovah has sent me to you. Jehovah is my name forever.’ (Exodus 3:1-15) This shows that God was going to keep the name Jehovah. He would never change it. God wanted to be known by his name, Jehovah, forever.
When Moses went back to Egypt, the Egyptians thought that Jehovah was just a small god of the Israelites. They did not think that he was the God of the whole earth. So Jehovah told the king of Egypt: ‘I am going to make my name known in all the earth.’ (Exodus 9:16) Jehovah did make his name known. Do you know how he did that?—
Well, he had Moses lead the people of Israel out of Egypt. When they came to the Red Sea, Jehovah made a dry path right through it. The Israelites marched safely through on dry land. But after Pharaoh and all his army entered the dry seabed, the waters that had been held back on both sides fell upon the Egyptians, and they all died.
Soon people in all the earth began to hear what Jehovah had done at the Red Sea. How do we know they heard about it?— Well, about 40 years later, the Israelites came to Canaan, which is the land that Jehovah had promised to give to them. There two Israelite men were told by the young woman Rahab: "We have heard how Jehovah dried up the waters of the Red Sea from before you when you came out of Egypt."—Joshua 2:10.
Today many people are just like those Egyptians. They do not believe that Jehovah is the God of the whole earth. So Jehovah wants his own people to tell others about him. This is what Jesus did. Toward the end of his life on earth, he told Jehovah in prayer: "I have made your name known to them."—John 17:26.
Do you want to be like Jesus? Then tell others that God’s name is Jehovah. You may find that many people do not know that. So perhaps you can show them the scripture in the Bible at Psalm 83:18. Let’s get the Bible right now and find that scripture together. It says: "That people may know that you, whose name is Jehovah, you alone are the Most High over all the earth."
What do we learn from reading this?— Yes, we learn that Jehovah is the most important name there is. It is the name of Almighty God, the Father of Jesus and the One who made all things. And remember, Jesus said that we should love Jehovah God with our whole heart. Do you love Jehovah?—
How can we show that we love Jehovah?— One way is by getting to know him as a Friend. Another way is by telling others what his name is. We can show them right from the Bible that his name is Jehovah. We can also tell about the wonderful things Jehovah has made and the good things he has done. This makes Jehovah very happy because he wants people to know about him. We can have a share in doing that, can’t we?—
Not everyone will want to listen when we speak about Jehovah. Many people did not listen even when Jesus, the Great Teacher, talked about Him. But that did not stop Jesus from speaking about Jehovah.
So let’s be like Jesus. Let’s keep talking about Jehovah. If we do, Jehovah God will be pleased with us because we show love for his name.
Now read together from the Bible a few more texts showing the importance of God’s name: Isaiah 12:4, 5; Matthew 6:9; John 17:6; and Romans 10:13.