Map 050 · The Patriarchs & the Exodus · Exodus 3:1–6

Moses in Midian — The Burning Bush

Forty years in the wilderness as a shepherd — then a burning bush that would not be consumed, and a voice that changed the world

"And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed."

— Exodus 3:2 (KJV)

Map of the Desert of the Wanderings — The Negeb or South Country, Scene of the Forty Years Sojourn — showing the Wilderness of Zin, Kadesh Barnea, Hormah, Beer-Sheba in red, Edom to the east, the road to Egypt via El Arish, and the southern wilderness where Moses tended the flocks of Jethro.

"Desert of the Wanderings — The Negeb or South Country: Scene of the Forty Years Sojourn." This map shows the vast southern wilderness between Canaan and Sinai — the same wilderness through which Moses fled from Egypt to Midian, where he tended Jethro's flocks for forty years. Kadesh and the wilderness of Zin are labeled; Beer-Sheba marks the northern boundary of this wilderness region.

Source: Maccoun, The Holy Land in Geography and in History (1899). Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. · Historical commentary by Michael Knighton · Christians Standing With Israel

🗺 How to Read This Map

① The Road to Egypt — Moses' Escape Route — Find 'Road to Egypt' and 'El Arish Fort' in the upper-left of the map. When Moses killed the Egyptian taskmaster and fled, he went east — toward Midian — crossing the Sinai wilderness. The road along the northern edge of this map led eastward from Egypt into this wilderness zone, eventually reaching the Midianite territory east of the Gulf of Aqaba.

② The Wilderness of Zin and Kadesh — Find 'WILDERNESS OF ZIN' labeled in large letters across the center of the map, and 'Kadish Barnea' (Kadesh-Barnea) highlighted in red to the lower-left. This entire southern wilderness was Moses' territory as a shepherd for forty years. He would lead Israel back through this same wilderness after the Exodus.

③ Beer-Sheba — The Northern Boundary — Find 'Beer-Sheba' highlighted in red at the top of the map. This marks the southern boundary of settled Canaan — the phrase 'from Dan to Beersheba' describes the full length of the land. Moses fled south of this line, into territory outside Pharaoh's easy reach, to the land of Midian east of the Gulf of Aqaba.

④ Mount Sinai / Horeb — The burning bush appeared at 'the mountain of God, even to Horeb' — Mount Sinai. Though Sinai itself is off the bottom edge of this map, the wilderness terrain shown here is continuous with the Sinai Peninsula. Moses led the flocks 'to the backside of the desert' — this deep southern wilderness — when God appeared to him.

What This Map Shows

✦ The Road to Egypt — Moses' original escape route

✦ The Wilderness of Zin — Moses' shepherding territory

✦ Kadesh-Barnea — key southern wilderness location

✦ Beer-Sheba — boundary of Canaan

✦ Hormah — landmark in the Negev wilderness

✦ Edom — eastern boundary

✦ The vast Negev — forty years of wilderness living

✦ The route toward Sinai and the burning bush

Forty Years and a Burning Bush

Moses spent the first forty years of his life as an Egyptian prince. He spent the next forty years as a shepherd in the wilderness. The map before you shows that wilderness — the vast, empty Negev and southern desert between Canaan and Sinai. This is the terrain Moses crossed when he fled Egypt, and the terrain he covered for forty years tending the flocks of his father-in-law Jethro, priest of Midian.

The flight from Egypt is described in Exodus 2:15 with the same spare economy as the rest of Moses' early story: "But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian." He came to a well — find 'Beer-Sheba' at the top of the map as a reference point, then trace your mind south and east toward the Midian territory. At the well, he encountered seven daughters of a Midianite priest being driven away by shepherds. Moses defended them, watered their flocks, and was invited home. He married Zipporah, had a son, and settled into the rhythms of a shepherd's life.

Forty years passed. He was eighty years old. He had long since stopped thinking of himself as the deliverer of Israel. The man who had "supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them" (Acts 7:25) had been reduced to complete anonymity — a shepherd in a foreign wilderness, known only to his wife's family. And then he led the flock "to the backside of the desert" — deep into the southern wilderness shown on this map — and came to the mountain of God.

The bush was burning but not consumed. Moses turned aside to see. And God spoke from the bush: "I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." He had seen Israel's affliction. He had heard their cry. He was coming down to deliver them. And Moses — the man who had fled Egypt as a failed deliverer, who had spent forty years in obscurity — was the one God had chosen to go back. His objection was immediate: "Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh?" (Exodus 3:11). God's answer was the only answer that matters: "Certainly I will be with thee."

Key Scripture References

Exodus 2:11–15 — Moses kills the taskmaster; flees to Midian

Exodus 2:16–22 — Moses at the well; marriage to Zipporah

Exodus 3:1 — Moses leads the flock to Horeb; the burning bush

Exodus 3:2–6 — The fire; God identifies himself; Moses hides his face

Exodus 3:7–10 — God commissions Moses to deliver Israel from Egypt

Acts 7:23–30 — Stephen's summary of Moses' forty years in Midian

Map: Maccoun, The Holy Land in Geography and in History (1899). Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. · Historical commentary: © 2026 Michael Wayne Knighton | Christians Standing With Israel™ | All Rights Reserved.

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