But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son’s foreskin and touched Moses’ feet with it. “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me,” she said. So the Lord let him alone. Exodus 4:25-26 NIV
This is one of the most difficult passages in the Bible to interpret. But if you look at the message and don’t get bogged down with the details, it’s a powerful story of a wife reminding her husband who he is. That woman is Zipporah, wife of Moses.
Years earlier, Moses, an Israelite, fled the bondage and slavery of Egypt to live in Midian. As he arrived in Midian, he sat down by a well while seven sisters arrived to draw water. Some shepherds came by and began to harass the sisters and chased the ladies away. Which means they would be going back to their home with thirsty livestock. And what could only be described as a scene straight out of a Marvel movie, Moses came to their rescue, fought off the shepherds, and watered their flock.
One of those sisters was Zipporah, whom Moses married. If you remember the upbringing of Moses, he was born an Israelite, but as a baby was found by Pharoah’s daughter, floating in a basket down the Nile River. So, he was raised in affluence in the Pharoah’s court. So even in Midian, everything about him was still Egyptian, except for one thing. He was circumcised as a sign of the covenant God made with Abraham.
In this passage, Moses is about to return to Egypt to tell the Pharoah, to “let my people go.” His time in Egypt had caused Moses to forget his roots—his identity—as a descendant of Abraham. He was contaminated by his Egyptian upbringing. Alas, he had forgotten his bloodline. He had not even circumcised their son Gershom. This may be the reason why it says in verse 24 that the Lord met Moses and was about to kill him. Moses had forgotten who he was. His heart was not in the mission that God had given to him.
But the courageous Zipporah stepped in and performed an impromptu circumcision on the son. And proclaimed that Moses was a bridegroom of the bloodline of Abraham. So, the Lord let him be. Refreshed by the blunt reminder from his wife, he ventured on to Egypt to confront the Pharaoh. Zipporah stands as a faithful prophet to us all, to remember who we are.
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