That's a great question. Then she said, "You are a husband of blood!" To this point, Moses has not submitted his own firstborn to God. Why did the Lord try to kill Moses in Exodus 4:24? (1-3) Moses relates all the words of the LORD and all the judgments to Israel.. Now He said to Moses, “Come up to the LORD, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar. Exodus 3 – Moses and the Burning Bush. We must not judge of men by the readiness of their discourse. cs] Exodus 4:24-26 is one of the most obscure and enigmatic passages in the Hebrew Bible. But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son’s foreskin and touched Moses’ feet with it. God has called Moses forward as His representative deliverer. As Jesus exhorted the Pharisees, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! The sin of Moses in Exodus 4:24-26 is not stated explicitly, but the surrounding events give substantial clues as to the nature of Moses’ transgression. God met Moses, i.e., visited him with a sharp attack of illness, which threatened to be fatal. Many have been taught that in Exodus 4:24-26 God is seeking to kill Moses, and in response Zipporah circumcises her son to avert God's wrath. Exodus 4:24–26 24 At a lodging place on the way f the Lord met him and g sought to put him to death. Explaining Exodus 4:24-26. by Carey Scott "And it came to pass on the way, at the encampment, that the LORD met him and sought to kill him.Then Zipporah took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son and cast it at Moses' feet, and said, "Surely you are a husband of blood to me!" Pharaoh has taken advantage of and subjected God’s firstborn son, Israel. On the journey, at a place where they spent the night, the Lord came upon Moses and would have killed him. 5. Then Zipporah took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son and cast it at Moses' feet, and said, "Surely you are a … Zipporah believed that the illness of Moses was due to his having neglected the duty of an Israelite, and to his not having circumcised his own son; the delay was probably owing to her own not unnatural repugnance to a rite, which though practiced by the Egyptians, was not adopted generally in the East, even by the descendants of Abraham and Keturah. Study the bible online using commentary on Exodus 4 and more! The Book of Exodus begins in chapter 1 with a brief recital of He knows that Aaron, a Hebrew, is his brother. And as I read it, I am left wondering: Whaaaaat? But the existing Hebrew text is probably correct. What we need is able scholars to make sense of the … 3. Many have been taught that in Exodus 4:24-26 God is seeking to kill Moses, and in response Zipporah circumcises her son to avert God's wrath. (l) God punished him with sickness for neglecting his ordinances. My job is “the Lord’s work”. A Commentary on Exodus (Kregel Exegetical Library) by Duane A. Garrett With an onslaught of movies coming out covering the first few books of the Bible, our culture is immersed in the stories of the early people of God. What follows in the next three verses is so unexpected, however, that I really haven’t been able to follow it for years. (At that time she said, “A bridegroom of blood,” referring to the circumcision.) Hebrew scholars are still undecided whether God sought to kill Moses or his son. Second Reading of Exodus 4:24-26 Now we turn to the second reading of Exod 4:24-26. A. God’s call to Moses from the burning bush. the Lord met him, and sought to kill him—that is, he was either overwhelmed with mental distress or overtaken by a sudden and dangerous malady. Then Zipporah took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son and cast it at Moses ' feet, and said, "Surely you are a husband of blood to me!" The first nine plagues, awful as they will be, will prove merely inconvenient in comparison with what will come in the tenth plague: Because Pharaoh has not released and returned God’s firstborn to Him, it will ultimately cost him his own firstborn son, at which point his will–and the will of his own people–is broken. Exodus 4:24-26 explanation [Note: One person whom I had been working with asked me a question about this passage of scripture. 25 Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me. (Exo 4:24-26) Moses’ life is spared on the way. I minister to students and their families. It is time for Moses, who grew up as a prince among the Egyptians and lived as an alien among the Midianites, to embrace his true identity: a son of Abraham and member of God’s covenant people. Hebrew scholars are still undecided whether God sought to kill Moses or his son. Exodus 4:24. I have been reading in Exodus this morning and found my way into Exodus 4, where God is commissioning Moses to go into Egypt to lead His people out of captivity. As I have explained earlier, the second reading is an explicitly christological reading of the Old Testament. But if Moses was to carry out the divine commission with success, he must first of all prove himself to be a faithful servant of Jehovah in his own house. Exodus 4:24-26. In Exodus 13, in His instructions for the Passover, God makes the declaration that every firstborn of every womb belongs to Him as well. Pharaoh refuses God’s demands and keeps God’s people–His firstborn son–in slavery. But Zipporah took a piece of flint and cut off her son’s foreskin and, touching his person, she said, “You are a spouse of blood to me.” Then God let Moses go. God had instructed his messenger to warn pharaoh to free Israel or pharaoh would lose his firstborn son (Exodus 4:21-24). It’s a strange scene: God has just stripped Moses’ of his final excuse as to why God has the wrong man; Aaron will go along as Moses’ mouthpiece. have ἄγγελος κυρίου, “an angel of the Lord; “and so the Targum of Onkelos and the Arabic versions. But essentials cannot be ignored or put aside merely to do things that are good. 25 But Moses’ wife, Zipporah, took a flint knife and circumcised her son. Exodus 4:24-26 explanation [Note: One person whom I had been working with asked me a question about this passage of scripture. Exodus 4:24-26 (NLT) 24 On the way to Egypt, at a place where Moses and his family had stopped for the night, the Lord confronted him and was about to kill him. 24 And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the Lord met him, and sought to kill him. The answer is simple: Moses has failed to consecrate his own son to the Lord. Exodus 4 Commentary, One of over 110 Bible commentaries freely available, this commentary, by the leading authority in the Church of Christ, presents a verse level look at the Bible. 4. Moses appears to have been utterly prostrate and unable to perform the rite himself. He ordered a royal palace to be set up among them for himself, called a sanctuary, or holy place, or habitation. Why Did God Try to Kill Moses (Exodus 4:24-26)? But Pharaoh’s overestimates his position, thinking he, with the collective strength of the God’s of Egypt, has it in himself to resist the demands of the God of Israel. 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