Moses and the Burning Bush

Poussin painted and drew a range of scenes showing the Old Testament figure of Moses. In the artist’s own day Moses was considered a ”type” – a predecessor – of Jesus, and the narratives of the Pentateuch were seen as foreshadowing the New Testament stories about the Messiah. The painting merges two passages from Leviticus and The Book of Numbers (3:2; 34:3). God appears to Moses in the form of a burning bush that is never consumed by the flames, ordering him to lead the Jewish people out of Egypt. The staff of Moses is transformed into a snake; a miracle that convinces the Jewish people that they should follow Moses. The entire composition exudes the same sense of weight and calm as sculptures from classical antiquity.