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Context No. 177 of 4322 · Exodus

Context · Reflection

Exodus 4:24-31: in context

24On the way at a lodging place, the LORD met Moses and wanted to kill him. 25Then Zipporah took a flint, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet; and she said, “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me.” 26So he let him alone. Then she said, “You are a bridegroom of blood,” because of the circumcision. 27The LORD said to Aaron, “Go into the wilderness to meet Moses.” He went, and met him on God’s mountain, and kissed him. 28Moses told Aaron all the LORD’s words with which he had sent him, and all the signs with which he had instructed him. 29Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel. 30Aaron spoke all the words which the LORD had spoken to Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people. 31The people believed, and when they heard that the LORD had visited the children of Israel, and that he had seen their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshiped.

Moses has finally accepted the commission and is on the road back to Egypt with his wife and sons. This passage contains three verses that are among the strangest in the Bible, and no explanation is given for them.

At a lodging place on the way, the LORD met him and sought to kill him. Zipporah takes a flint, cuts off her son's foreskin, touches it to Moses's feet, and says, surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me. So he let him alone. The passage is opaque in Hebrew as well as English. Who is being attacked, whose feet, and why, are all uncertain. What is clear is that a man sent to demand Israel's release had not carried out the covenant sign in his own household, and his Midianite wife acts fast and saves him.

Then the tone shifts completely. Aaron comes out to meet him at the mountain of God and kisses him. Moses tells him everything. They gather the elders, Aaron speaks the words and does the signs, and the people believe, and when they hear that God has seen their affliction they bow down and worship. A terrifying night on the road, and then the elders bowing in belief. What in my own account of things has no explanation, and am I able to leave it standing rather than smoothing it over?

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