A few mornings ago while doing some quiet time with God and reading the Bible. This particular morning I was reading through Exodus 4. I had recently started from the beginning of the Bible and am journeying through scripture to see how God speaks to me at this time in my life. Anyway, I had one of those experiences of “Hey, I’ve never seen that before in scripture.” And this one shocked and amazed me. Actually there were two points. Let me show you the scripture.
At a lodging place on the way, the LORD met {Moses} [b] and was about to kill him. 25 But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son's foreskin and touched {Moses'} feet with it. [c] "Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me," she said. 26 So the LORD let him alone. (At that time she said "bridegroom of blood," referring to circumcision.)
So, I had that moment of I had never seen this before, but then I started to dig into it and try to find some meaning. This whole chunk of scripture is set in the scence where Moses is about ready to go back to Eqypt and meet with Aaron so that they can confront Pharaoh.
1. Why would the Lord be so brutal to Moses for his son not being circumcised?
In Genisis 17 God gave Abraham the “Covenant of Circumcision.” I understand all of that and I am fine with that. But there is no indication in scripture that God had communicated that with Moses. Yes, it is true that Moses had a very close, intimate relationship with God; He was in fact speaking directly with him. But was he aware of the Abrahamic covenants? Could God hold Moses accountable unto death for something he knew nothing about? Our minds want to go and say of course Moses knew and he was either being willfully disobedient or just not being diligent in his completes of his duties, but that does not appear to be clear in scripture. Either way, this is a warning about the requirements of our God for obedience. Yes, I know things are different now, we are covered by the blood of Christ etc but, we way to easily shrug of the need for obedience. This to me is a huge red flag. God is holy, obey his decrees!
2. Moses’ wife Zipporah, a Median not a Jew was very discerning and took immediate action.
Why did she immediately understand the gravity of the situation and take action while Moses appeared to be in the dark? That again is not clear in scripture. This point may shed some light on the previous point. If Zipporah knew the requirement, it was probably common knowledge. She discerned the purpose of the visit of the Lord and she knew that immediate obedience was the only solution.
The message I get from all of this is:
1. Even a great man of God may stumble in a way that may lead to death.
2. Obey God’s decrees. That is the only way!
Through his wife Moses finds God really to begin with doesn't he? She encourages him and helps him in his Faith struggles as any good wife does.
I particularly enjoy the stories of Moses. My wife is who helped bring me along to my own faith and without her I likely would not have come so far to God.
I think this passages says something about women's roles as well. Women have such strong supportive roles throughout the bible, but unfortunately they don't go noticed so much as the men of God do.
My wife is very much a woman of God as Zipporah was and I believe God gives us these strong Faithful wives for a reason.
Great post.
Posted by: Fish | October 07, 2005 at 09:44 AM
interesting. there's so much to be learned from some of these obscure passages that never seem to get a mention, they're tucked away there and you really have to look for them. but those who do are most definitely rewarded. what i see is the truth that "many will come from the east and the west and will take their places ar the feast with Abraham, Issac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 8:11. and in Romans 2:12-16, there are those who are not under the law, but it's in their hearts and they obey it anyways, they please God. Moses' wife is an example of that.
Posted by: Ellie | October 07, 2005 at 10:11 AM
Fish, I think Moses' wife helps him find God in the Charlton Heston version of the movie...lol
Posted by: Wayne M | October 07, 2005 at 01:41 PM
Both of you are of course correct!
Posted by: Wayne M | October 07, 2005 at 01:42 PM