God Wants Moses Dead?

They probably didn't look like this

So one of my devotional exercises this year is to read through the Bible in a year.  It's a nice pace - about 3-4 chapters a day.  What I wanted was, of course, to read every verse of the Bible.  I have my favorite books of the Bible and I'll confess that there are some things I haven't really read since Seminary ("Song of Songs" I'm looking at you).  So it's good, because there's things I've forgotten since the last time I read through some of these books.

And I know Moses' story - but I had completely forgotten this story:


At a lodging place on the way, the LORD met Moses* 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. “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.) (Exodus 4:24-26)

Did you remember that was in there?  Man, I completely forgot.  I have a hazy, vague recollection of talking about it in Seminary now...but not any of the details, of course.

God wants Moses dead?

Okay, you can do your own digging on this one.  I found all kind of good stuff on it.  It seems to be, by context, that Moses was struck down and prevented from doing this God-charged task of leading the Hebrew people to freedom from bondage in Egypt because his son is not circumcised.

Now...that's not a capital offense, even in the Mosaic Law, right?  Okay - but one thing pointed out by commentators is that writers in the OT aren't concerned about secondary causes.  If God allowed Moses to die because of this, then God wanted him dead.  That's a theory, anyway.  I get it.  Jibes nicely with Job, I guess.  And makes this fit neatly in our understanding of God on this side of the cross.

But I'm okay with the mystery too.  With what's in the white space.  How many times did God warn Moses?  What all is going on?  Was this a test of Mrs. Moses?  There's no missing the unhappiness in her statement.  So why is it she has to perform the deed?

I don't need to have every nuance of God's word neatly tied with a theological bow for me to believe that this is truth.  I'm okay with the weirdness.  I'm okay with the wondering.  And the wonder.









*Hebrew just says "him"