In The Bible and the Believer, Marc Z. Brettler, Peter Enns, and I explore how biblical scholars from different traditions--Jewish, Evangelical, and Catholic--integrate their historical-critical learning with their ongoing religious commitments. The word "historical" means reading the text in its ancient context, and "critical" means using the power of reason and judgment. Here I want to illustrate with reference to Exodus 3:1-6 how those in the Catholic tradition might do so. The framework is lectio divina ("sacred reading"), an ancient monastic practice that can be adapted to include both historical-critical and religious readings of texts. It has four steps: reading, meditation, prayer, and action.
Here the question is, What does the text say? The context of Exodus 3:1-6 is the account in Exodus 3-4 of Moses' initial encounter with the Yahweh, the God of Israel. It comes after the narratives of his birth and infancy, as well as of his murder of an Egyptian and flight to the land of Midian. The text according to the New Revised Standard Version reads as follows:
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