Why Did the Jehovah Seek To Kill Moses?

by John Waddey⁽⁴³⁾
firstcenturychristian

God commissioned Moses to return to Egypt and deliver His people from their enslavement. As Moses and his wife, Zipporah were en route, to Egypt we read that " Jehovah met him, and sought to kill him. " (Ex. 4:24). Virtually everyone who reads this passage asks, " Why would God want to kill the man He had chosen to deliver his people? "

Although this episode is obscure and strange to our Western eyes, the answer to why God did this is found in the text. It clearly had to do with the fact that his young son was yet uncircumcised. (vs. 25). When God made His covenant with Abraham, the father of the Hebrews, he said " This is my covenant, which you and thy seed after thee: every male among you shall be circumcised. And ye shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of a covenant betwixt me and you. And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every male throughout your generations... " (Gen. 17:10-12). Moses had been selected by God’s to deliver the Hebrews, yet he had set forth on his journey without having initiating his own son into God’s covenant by circumcising him. In failing to do so, he was in violation of God’s ordinance.

Why might Moses not have circumcised his son? His wife, Zipporah was the daughter of Jethro Ruel, a Midianite priest (Ex. 3: 16-21). These Arabic people were also descended from Abraham and they also circumcised their boys. However, they did so when the child was thirteen, since that was the age at which they believed Ishmael had been circumcised (Gen. 17:26). Possibly, she may have insisted that if he was circumcised at that time, he would not be able to travel and thus she could not accompany her husband. Although the details are not provided, evidently Moses had yielded to the wishes of his wife in the matter of the circumcision. God’s command to circumcise on the eighth day was ignored.

At the end of a day of travel through the wilderness, they stopped for the night. Since there were no inns, as we know them, in those early days, we should understand this reference to an oasis or well where they could water their beasts, refresh themselves and rest.

In the night something happened to Moses that put him in fear of his life. The text says that " Jehovah " met him, and sought to kill him. " The ancients attributed every thing to the actions of God. This is seen in God’s statement, " I will harden his (Pharaoh’s) heart " (4:21). Yet we know that Pharaoh " hardened his heart " (Ex. 8:15). Remember God is omnipotent. If He had wanted Moses dead, nothing would have been able to save him. As to what actually happened to Moses that night, we are not told. Two possibilities present themselves. Moses may have become violent ill and feared that death was upon him. The Angel of the Lord may have appeared to him, threatening to take his life, as He did at a later time to Balaam the false prophet (Num. 22:21-35).

The actions of Zipporah tell us what the problem was and what had to be done to resolve it. Perhaps Moses was able to tell her what must be done, or perhaps she remembered what her husband and said in days past about the importance of circumcising the child. At any rate, she quickly took a flint knife and performed the painful surgery on her son (Ex. 4:23). It seems that this rite was always performed with the stone blade (See Josh. 5:2).

Although she did that which was necessary to save her husband’s life, she was evidently unhappy at having to do so. She cast the foreskin of her son at his feet; and said, " Surely a bridegroom of blood art thou to me....because of the circumcision " (Ex. 4:25-26). Some interpret her words as referring to a Midianite custom that no marriage was acceptable except the husband be circumcised. But it was not Moses was needed to be circumcised, it was her son. It is commonly held by conservative bible scholars that Zipporah’s words were grudging, bitter and resentful because she had been forced to do that which was contrary to her maternal wishes to save her man. The context implies that she cast the tad of flesh at Moses’s feet rather than those of the heavenly visitor since her reproaches were toward her husband.

The deed done was sufficient for God to remove his judgment on Moses " So he let him alone. " Soon Moses was able to continue his momentous journey into history of humanity. The lesson of this text is simple. No man is prepared to lead God’s people, who has not himself fully complied with God’s expressed will.

Article submitted Thursday, July 16, 2009 & read 60 times.

Please log in to leave your comments.
No comments yet.

34-4-0-1-6-ADSM

Most Recent

Sponsors: