Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem
Moses Returns to Egypt
18 Then Moses went back to Jethro his father-in-law and said to him, “Let me return to my own people in Egypt to see if any of them are still alive.”
Jethro said, “Go, and I wish you well.”
19 Now the Lord had said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for all those who wanted to kill you are dead.” 20 So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey and started back to Egypt. And he took the staff of God in his hand.
21 The Lord said to Moses, “When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go. 22 Then say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son, 23 and I told you, “Let my son go, so he may worship me.” But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son.’”
24 At a lodging place on the way, the Lord met Moses[b] and was about to kill him. 25 But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son’s foreskin and touched Moses’ feet with it.[c] “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me,” she said. 26 So the Lord let him alone. (At that time she said “bridegroom of blood,” referring to circumcision.)
27 The Lord said to Aaron, “Go into the wilderness to meet Moses.” So he met Moses at the mountain of God and kissed him. 28 Then Moses told Aaron everything the Lord had sent him to say, and also about all the signs he had commanded him to perform.
29 Moses and Aaron brought together all the elders of the Israelites, 30 and Aaron told them everything the Lord had said to Moses. He also performed the signs before the people, 31 and they believed. And when they heard that the Lord was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped.
Footnotes
a Exodus 4:6 The Hebrew word for leprous was used for various diseases affecting the skin.
b Exodus 4:24 Hebrew him
c Exodus 4:25 The meaning of the Hebrew for this clause is uncertain.
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One of my favorite TV shows in the 1970's was "Mission Impossible". The agent would pick up a recorded message from a secret source, and listen to the tape for his next mission. It was always something totally impossible. The the tape player would then "Self-Destruct" (thus adding a new idiom to our vocabulary) and the episode would continue with the clever way the Impossible Mission is accomplished.
People have been debating the meaning of today's Passage for thousands of years. Cecil B. DeMille wisely left this scene out of his movie The Ten Commandments, and I understand why.
But I promised that I would NOT leave anything out, so here we are with this troubling verse. Even the footnote by the editors of this translation state :
"NIV footnote c. Exodus 4:25 The meaning of the Hebrew for this clause is uncertain".
And so, I will offer my humble thoughts on this Passage, knowing that it may or may not be the best interpretation.
Moses himself, was probably circumcised. Since it was mandated to circumcise male children at 8 days after birth, and Moses was hidden by his family for three months, it can be assumed that his own family took care of it. This is further supported by Pharoaoh's daughter, who took one look at the little boy in the basket and said "This is a Hebrew child." Moses then was taken into Pharoah's household, but continued to be nursed by his own mother, who got paid for the privilege. One can infer that, along with Mother's Milk, Moses received some religious instruction about The One True God. But he was also being instructed in the arcane arts and sciences of the Egyptian Religion, and, as a grown man, must have known that there was something "different" about him.
Fleeing Pharaoh after committing homicide, Moses finds himself "a stranger in a strange land." But he quickly accomadates himself to his new environment, gets married, has children, and pretty much "goes native". And then came the Burning Bush. We know that Moses was reluctant to accept this Mission Impossible. He tried making excuses, claiming inadequacy, saying that his own people wouldn't listen to him, emphasizing his own disability (speech impedament?), and so on. In a way, Moses was right. It WAS an Impossible Mission. But, as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all learned, NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD. After consulting with his Father-In-Law, Moses heads back to Egypt, with his wife and son.
But, Moses has not even marked his own son with the Sign of the Covenant, and here he was, going back to Egypt to present himself to God's Covenant People? Really? What kind of a Leader and Deliverer was that? This obnoxious hubris , after all that "humility" at the Burning Bush was enough to make God want to ZOT him enroute and cancel the whole mission.
Now, Zipporah, daughter of a Midian Priest, also knew that there was something "different" about her husband. God used her, a foreign, possibly pagan, women, and gave her the knowledge as to what the issue was and how to correct it. It must have been excruciating for her, a Mom, to perform this operation on her own little boy. But, as she was a shepherdess, she must have had some basic surgical skills as they did not have veterinarians back then.
Her words, "Bridegroom of Blood" are so obscure in the Hebrew that they may have been in Zipporah's own Midianite Language.
The Phrase "Bridegroom of Blood" brings out some symbolism that echoes that of the Gospels and the Book of Revelation.
From the time of Abraham, covenants were sealed in Blood. The Covenant of Circumcision sealed God to His People, and the Ultimate Test (an Impossible Mission) was when Abraham was called upon to sacrifice his beloved son Isaac. It is the pivotal point in Genesis, and there are so many parallels to Calvary that it is mind-boggling. There is no way it is coincidence. In fact, it is IMPOSSIBLE.
Without the Resurrection, Calvary would have just been a tragic execution of an Innocent Man. Without Calvary, though, there would have been no Resurrection and No Return of Jesus as The Bridegroom.
In Revelation, before Jesus is presented as the Bridegroom, He is presented as "The Lamb Who Was Slain."
So He is, Indeed, a "Bridegroom of Blood", the Fulfillment of the Covenant, and Our Deliverer.
The awesome thing about the Burning Bush was that it did not "Self-Destruct."
Come and Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem, For Our FRiends in Need, For Persecuted Believers, and For Our Beloved Nation.
"He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification." (Romans 4:25)
God Bless America.
Blessings To All Who Visit This Garden of Prayer.
Hallelujah and Amen
ML/LTOS