3. (Exodus 4:24-26) Moses’ life is spared on the way.
And it came to pass on the way, at the encampment, that the LORD met him and sought to kill him. Then Zipporah took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son and cast it at Moses’ feet, and said, “Surely you are a husband of blood to me!” So He let him go. Then she said, “You are a husband of blood!” — because of the circumcision.
a. The LORD met him and sought to kill him: This is a mysterious event; but it seems that God is confronting Moses — in the strongest possible way — because Moses had not circumcised his son. God demands that this be set right before Moses enter Egypt and begin to fulfill the call of God.
i. There is often a point of confrontation in the life of the leader where God demands that they lay aside some area of compromise and will not allow them to progress further until they do.
ii. “There can be no doubt that for some reason unrecorded Moses had failed to carry out the divine instructions concerning circumcision… Obedience completely established, everything moved forward.” (Morgan)
b. Surely you are a husband of blood to me: Perhaps Zipporah objected to the rite of circumcision. She was not an Israelite and may have thought it a barbaric custom. Perhaps this was why God held Moses accountable (for not doing what was right, even though his wife didn’t like it), but disabled Moses so that Zipporah had to perform the circumcision itself.
i. Some wonder why Moses’ wife seems so bitter here. Perhaps for the first time she recognized the serious nature of her husband’s call and how important it was for their whole family to walk in the ways of the LORD.
ii. “Stone instruments like [flint knife] were retained for ritual purposes long after the introduction of metal implements.” (Kaiser)
Running Down Vimy 