(659) Investigate the Light with reverence. "Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. ...And the Angel of Yahweh appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. ...Then Moses said, ‘I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.’ ...So when Yahweh saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, ‘Moses, Moses!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ ...Then He said, ‘Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.’ ...Moreover He said, ‘I am the God of your father--the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God." (Exodus 3:1-6) As far as we know, this is only the second time in history Yahweh had ever manifested Himself before men in a form other than as a human. The first was when God spoke to Job (probably a near contemporary of Abraham) "out of the whirlwind." But other than this, we are told of no other early face-to-face encounters between man and God in which Yahweh manifested Himself as something other than a man--the pre-incarnate Messiah. We are told that Adam, Enoch, and Noah all "walked with God," and that "God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him." (Genesis 10:8) Abraham received Yahweh as a house guest in Genesis 18, accompanied by two angels, but all three figures are introduced to us as "men." God spoke to Abimelech and Jacob in dreams. Audible instructions were given to Abraham, Hagar, and Isaac by an Entity enigmatically identified as "the Angel (Hebrew: malak--a messenger, representative, or envoy) of Yahweh." And Jacob wrestled with a "man" who turned out to be God (compare Genesis 32:28 with 35:10). Theologians refer to these appearances of God to mankind as "theophanies."

It’s patently obvious why Yahweh uses theophanies when He wishes to manifest Himself to us visually or audibly. If He allowed His full glory to shine through, we’d survive the encounter about as long as a daisy in a nuclear holocaust. God must "dial down" His glory if He wants us to live to tell the tale. That’s the whole point of manifesting Himself as a human being: He wants us to live. When Yahweh delivered the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai (a.k.a. Horeb), the folks down below were so terrified by the "thunderings, lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking," He promised instead to appear to them in a form with whom they could relate without being frightened to death: "Yahweh your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me [Moses] from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear, ...according to all you desired of Yahweh your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of Yahweh my God, nor let me see this great fire anymore, lest I die.’" (Deuteronomy 18:15-16) That "Prophet" would turn out to be the Messiah, Yahshua.

It is no coincidence that Moses’ first encounter with Yahweh had happened at the very same place, Mount Horeb (located in Midian, in today’s northwestern Saudi Arabia). At that time, God manifested Himself as a burning bush--something calculated to draw Moses’ attention, attracting him, intriguing him. Moses investigated the light, and when it became apparent that Yahweh, the God of Creation, was speaking to him through it, he showed appropriate reverence. Men are still attracted to and intrigued by the light of God. Whether they approach Him in reverence or in foolhardy arrogance (or ignore Him altogether) is a matter of personal choice and eternal consequence.

Here is the Yada Yahweh reference:

Ezekiel will describe Yahuweh's spiritual and human forms, as well as His angelic attendants. To paint a word picture of what he observed, this Levitical priest will call upon most every radiant, light emitting, and reflecting term available to him. "I looked and behold (hinneh - calling attention to the details) a windstorm (sa'ar) of the Spirit (ruach) coming in from the north, a great cloud with fire continually taking the form of (yaqah) bright shining light with radiant splendor (nogah - enlightening like the beautiful brightness of daylight) on every side and in its midst, glowing like an alloy of gold and silver (chahmal - a shining substance like an amber stone or glowing metal) in the midst of the fire." (Ezekiel 1:3-4)
The reason this is important is to dispel two myths. First, light energy has physical properties, further confirming that Maimonides was wrong when he errantly concluded that God was incorporeal. Second, the "burning bush," the "mountain top ablaze," and the "upright pillar of fire" that Yahuweh used to manifest His presence among the Israelites wasn't actually "fire" in the sense of plasma gas but instead, energy manifest in the visual spectrum. To our senses, observable energy takes the forms of light and heat, so "fire" was simply the most descriptive term in the Hebrew nomenclature. What the Yisra'elites saw was probably as spectacular visually as Ezekiel's portrait: "bright shining light with radiant splendor, beautifully enlightening like daylight, glowing like gold and silver, and yet warm and pleasing like the translucent color of an amber stone." Yahuweh's radiance is beautiful beyond words.