Why was God going to kill Moses in Exodus 4:24-26?
Exodus 4:24 - 26
ESV - 24 At a lodging place on the way the Lord met him and sought to put him to death. 25 Then Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son's foreskin and touched Moses' feet with it and said, "Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me!
Clarify
•
Share
•
Report
•
Asked July 01 2013
•
Anonymous (via GotQuestions)
Community answers are sorted based on votes. The higher the vote, the further up an answer is.
S. Michael Houdmann
Supporter
God was going to kill Moses because of sin. 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. ...
Login or Sign Up to view the rest of this answer.
Chris Eleam
Supporter
Moses was on his way to Egypt with his wife, Zipporah, and his sons, Gershom and Eliezer, when the following incident occurred: “It came about on the road at the lodging place that Jehovah got to meet him and kept looking for a way to put him to death. Finally Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son’s foreskin and caused it to touch his feet and said: ‘It is because you are a bridegroom of blood to me.’ Consequently he let go of him. At that time she said: ‘A bridegroom of blood,’ because of the circumcision.” (Exodus 4:20, 24-26) Though this passage is obscure and it is not possible to be certain about its meaning, the Scriptures do shed some light on these verses. The account does not explicitly state whose life was in danger. However, we can reasonably conclude that it was not Moses’ life, for he had just received a divine commission to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. (Exodus 3:10) It seems unlikely that on his way to fulfill that assignment, Moses’ life would have been threatened by God’s angel. It therefore would be the life of one of his sons. The law given earlier to Abraham regarding circumcision stated: “An uncircumcised male who will not get the flesh of his foreskin circumcised, even that soul must be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant.” (Genesis 17:14) Moses had apparently neglected to circumcise his son, and thus the boy’s life was threatened by Jehovah’s angel.
Kevin Honeycutt
Supporter
God commands obedience and Moses had not circumcised the son. We know this because that is what stopped Moses from being killed was Zipporah circumcising the boy.
n.l. pearson
Supporter
God wants obedience. He had made a generational covenant with Abraham in Genesis 17:9-14. It was very specific. Every child was to be circumcised. To this day, mankind either forgets or attempts to adjust to fit his own specific needs what GOD has spoken specifically about.
Shirley H
Supporter
See Jesus! Romans 3:25, "God set forth as a propitiation by His blood through faith to demonstrate His righteousness because in His forbearance God had had passed over the sins that were previously committed." Genesis 3:21, "..for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them." (A blood sacrifice) Deuteronomy 10:17, "For the Lord your God is the God of gods!" Genesis 17:10, God instituted the covenant of circumcision. See Acts 7:8 and Deuteronomy 30:6, "..the LORD your God will circumcise your heart...and the heart of your descendants...so that you may live." Notice - "that you may live." Genesis 37, we have Joseph's story. Joseph is a "type" of Jesus. He had coat (tunic) that his brothers envied. His brothers put him in a pit, and drenched his tunic in blood. John 19:23, "Then the soldiers...took Jesus’ tunic...woven from the top down in one piece..." Revelation 1:18, "I am He who lives, and was dead,....I have the keys of Hades and of death." Exodus 3:10 God tells Moses that He is sending him to Pharaoh. He will be a prophet, speaking for God. Exodus 4:11,12, " The Lord said 'Who has made man's mouth...now therefore go...I will teach you what to say..." Exodus 4:19, God to Moses "...return to Egypt you are my representative" Pharaoh believes in pagan God Ra/ Re. This was god all powerful! He believes he embodies this pagan God. He believes people were formed from Ra's tears. He (Pharaoh) is all mighty, all powerful! Exodus 12, the story of Passover is the sacrifice of the Lamb! The believers are protected from the angel of death, by the blood! Genesis 22:7, "But Isaac spoke to Abraham...'My Father!' And he said Here I am, my son.' Then he said, 'Look the fire and the wood, but where is the Lamb, for a burnt offering?" Exodus 4:22,23, Moses’ message to Pharaoh, "Israel is my first born, let my son go, indeed I will kill your son - your first born." Who's son? Pharaoh's son. Exodus 4:24, "the Lord met him - and sought to kill him." Look at Numbers 22:22 - God's anger was aroused and the angel of the Lord took his stand. He had given Balaam permission to speak (22:20) only the word I spoke to you. Genesis 17:14, "And the uncircumcised male child, that person shall be cut off" - the blood covenant will be broken. Moses frustrated God! God's plan to save His people, was through blood sacrifice...Jesus, as a baby. Moses was part of the "stiff-necked" people...Exodus 32:4, the golden calf, "this is your God, O Israel, that brought you out of Egypt!" (The wilderness) Romans 5:9, "Much more than having been justified by His Blood, we shall be saved from the wrath.." Joseph's brothers cast him in a pit... Acts 2:27, ""For You will not leave my soul in Hades, nor will you allow Your Holy One to see corruption." Revelation 1:18, "I am He who lives and was dead... I am alive...I have the keys of Hades and Death." John 19:30, "It is finished." Revelation 9:1, the bottomless pit is the place of jail and also the place of the beast...(Hades) Revelation 20:3, Satan is bound and a seal is set on Him. Moses was not going to be killed. Moses had angered God. This is a picture of how man's redemption would be accomplished by a beautiful boy named Jesus.
Örnen Elyon
Supporter
The answer to your question will be in the book of Jasher (~72-80). Moses was king of Cush for a certain period (when he had run away from Egypt). Then the people didn't want him as king (he never touched the queen, thinking she's a heathen, it was against the law). Then long story cut short: Ruel put him in a deep well for 10 years thinking he was a slave who ran away from cushite people. Ruel’s daughter Zipora kept bringing him food, so when the father went to see if he was still alive was very surprised to find him still alive, and Ruel gave his daughter Zipora as a wife to Moses. When they had their first son, the father in-law commanded him NOT to circumcise the son. Because of the command of his father-in-law he did not circumcise his first son, and he broke a very important law of Elohim. This was considered as an act of disobedience - disobedience is like divination, it was a great sin. He did not know what to do: Disobey Ruel or God. In the end he disobeyed Adonai, and this is why Adonai almost killed him. Elohim's law MUST be followed. Zipora, seeing his distress, circumcised the son, gave relief to Moses' heart, and delivered him from the hand of Adonai. Shalom �
Ezekiel Kimosop
Supporter
This brief text of Scripture has puzzled theological scholars. It is without doubt a difficult passage given that it is a brief juxtaposition to the passage of context of Exodus 4:18-31 which describes Moses's return to Egypt in furtherance of the divine assignment that God had given him earlier in Exodus 3. In Exodus 4, Moses bade farewell to Jethro, his father in law and saddled his family on a donkey. The Bible reports that while Moses was on encampment in the course of his journey to Egypt, God met him and sought to kill him! Why did God seek to kill Moses at this point? At what point in time did Moses offend God? The Bible is silent on details. It does not offer any constructive information on this incident and this leaves the reader making wild guesses. Was Moses perhaps guilty of a transgression after God commissioned him? Was his standing with God the subject of contention at this point? Why would God seek to harm His servant and why did Zipporah, Moses' wife, react in the manner she did? How could she possibly circumcise Moses' son in the presence of the boy's father? Did Moses possibly ignore this covenant ritual? Given Zipporah's action in circumcising the son in a knee jerk manner and throwing the foreskin at Moses' feet, we can perhaps infer that Moses was guilty of a cardinal sin. It is highly likely that he failed or neglected to circumcise his son in accordance with the command of Genesis 17:10-12. There are a number of theological suppositions that have been advanced by scholars to explain this strange incident. Some say Zipporah may have initially prevailed on Moses to leave one of their sons uncircumcised until adult age as was the custom of her Midianite people who are said to circumcise a groom on the eve of marriage. This theory is speculative and does not appear to find the direct support of Scripture. Bible historians say Midianites did not circumcise infants. Could this explain Moses' inadvertence? The second and most plausible reason advanced by scholars is that Moses may have been influenced by Egyptian pagan culture under which he grew up. It is instructive that the Egyptians never circumcised their sons and this may explain why Moses had ignored this crucial Hebrew rite. There is also a difficult side to the interpretation of this passage which we shall briefly examine below. Some Bible scholars say some Hebrew translations of this passage are theologically wanting. They cite the NIV among other dynamic thought equivalent translations as an example where the mention of Moses in v.24 is not consistent with the literal rendering of the original Hebrew text. The Young Literal Translation (YLT) which is an old literal translation of the Hebrew text does not mention Moses in v.24 and this leaves the identity of the male pronoun open to theological inquiry. Some argue that it may have referred to the son rather than to Moses himself. This would imply that Moses may not have been the subject of God's wrath in this context and that God sought to kill the boy probably to teach Moses a lesson! Could God have confronted the son in this context if he was an infant? Whatever the case, Moses was ultimately responsible for performing the circumcision rite on his sons in accordance with Hebrew culture and Levitical law. It is therefore not conclusively clear from the passage why this rite was neglected. It is however instructive that any Hebrew male who was not circumcised could not be counted as a legitimate member of God's covenant people (Joshua 5:2-9). God considered it a reproach to have uncircumcised people among the Israelites (Joshua 2:9). Scripture reveals that the Israelites did not circumcise their males between their departure from Egypt and their entry into the promised land! This could explain the significance of the second generation Gilgal circumcision recorded in Joshua 5. We can deduce from this incident that God is sorely displeased by our deliberate acts of omission.
Add your Answer
All answers are REVIEWED and MODERATED.
Please ensure your answer MEETS all our guidelines.
A good answer provides new insight and perspective. Here are guidelines to help facilitate a meaningful learning experience for everyone.
- Adhere to the eBible Statement of Faith.
- Your answer should be complete and stand-alone.
- Include supporting arguments, and scripture references if possible. Seek to answer the "why".
- Adhere to a proper tone and spirit of love and understanding.
- For more info see The Complete Guide to eBible