page_title: Burning bush
section_title: Alternative theories
hierarchical_section_title: Burning bush / Alternative theories
caption_attribution_description: Moses receiving the Law
context_page_description: The burning bush is an object described by the Book of Exodus as being located on Mount Horeb. According to the narrative, the bush was on fire, but was not consumed by the flames, hence the name. In the biblical narrative, the burning bush is the location at which Moses was appointed by God to lead the Israelites out of Egypt and into Canaan.
  The Hebrew word in the narrative that is translated into English as bush is seneh, which refers in particular to brambles; seneh is a biblical dis legomenon, only appearing in two places, both of which describe the burning bush. It is possible that the reference to a burning bush is based on a mistaken interpretation of Sinai, a mountain described in Exodus 19:18 as being on fire. Another possibility is that the use of seneh may be a deliberate pun on Sinai, a feature common in Hebrew texts.
context_section_description: Alexander and Zhenia Fleisher relate the Biblical story of the burning bush to the plant Dictamnus. They write: 
  Intermittently, under yet unclear conditions, the plant excretes such a vast amount of volatiles that lighting a match near the flowers and seedpods causes the plant to be enveloped by flame. This flame quickly extinguishes without injury to the plant.
  They conclude, however, that Dictamnus spp. is not found in the Sinai peninsula, adding:  "It is, therefore, highly improbable that any Dictamnus spp. was a true 'Burning Bush' despite such an attractive rational foundation."
  Colin Humphreys replies that "the book of Exodus suggests a long-lasting fire that Moses went to investigate, not a fire that flares up and then rapidly goes out."
caption: Icon of Moses receiving the Ten Commandments. The bush is depicted at his feet, lower left (Saint Catherine's Monastery, c. 1050).
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