Excerpt from
Love the Lord Bible Studies: (used with permission)
Exodus 4:24 "And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the
LORD met him, and sought to kill him."
It appears that God's anger at Moses was for a very serious
offense, and the Lord was to bring swift punishment. Probably, God
struck him very sick. It appears from the next few verses, that Moses
had listened to his heathen wife, and had not circumcised his 2nd son
on the 8th day, as Abraham had agreed to do in Genesis.
God keeps covenant with His people, but expects His people to keep covenant with
Him. This child was, probably, born after God's conversation on the
holy mountain and just before this trip was begun, because this anger
seems to be suddenly kindled against Moses. Moses' wife, as you can
easily see in the following Scriptures, did not approve of this Hebrew
practice. She thought it to be barbarian. Moses should not have
listened to his wife. He was the head of the house, and he knew very
well the importance of keeping the Abrahamic covenant with God. Many a
man's downfall is when he listens to bad advice from his wife, it
is a very sad thing in our society today, that not many men come to
church. They leave the spiritual obligations to their wives. God is
not pleased with this.
I am happy, though, that the women are keeping it going.
We see here in verse 25, that Zipporah knows what the
problem was and to save Moses' life, she performed the circumcision
herself. If the man does not fulfill his duty to God, the wife must do
it to save their family.
Exodus 4:25 "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."
Here ,we see Zipporah performing the actual circumcision to save
Moses' life, while all the time. she was angry with him for this blood
covenant with God. She actually threw the cut off skin at Moses' feet
in contempt. It was as if she disapproved of Moses as a husband, because
of his belief in God. This knife blade was made of stone, instead of
metal, to keep down infection.
Exodus 4:26 "So he let him go: then she said, A bloody husband
[thou art], because of the circumcision."
At first, here, she was speaking to God, asking him to let Moses
go. She expressed her dislike, again, for the practice of circumcision.
