On the way to Egypt, at a place where Moses and his family had stopped for the night, the LORD confronted him and was about to kill him. But Moses’ wife, Zipporah, took a flint knife and circumcised her son. She touched his feet with the foreskin and said, “Now you are a bridegroom of blood to me.” (When she said “a bridegroom of blood,” she was referring to the circumcision.) After that, the LORD left him alone. [Exodus 4.24-26]
I really don't know why I would select this passage to write about today - I have no idea what it really means. However, it means something, so I am going to at least put some thoughts out there...
This story about God's confrontation of Moses is super interesting because it is full of information beyond the obvious.
Moses seems to have been a man who required a lot of direction. Okay, maybe "direction" is not the exact right word - Moses seemed to object to nearly everything God told him to do! "Strong-willed" might explain Moses better than anything.
And yet, Moses was at a whole other level of intimacy with God than his forebears:
And God said to Moses, “I am Yahweh—‘the LORD.’ I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as El-Shaddai—‘God Almighty’—but I did not reveal my name, Yahweh, to them. [Exodus 6.2-3]
So, I cannot help but think there is something amazing (like grace) revealed in this little excerpt from Exodus I am endeavoring to comment on.
Point 1: God would not have been attempting to kill Moses unless he deserved it. Moses deserved to die. I mean, just from what we can see in the early chapters of Exodus reveals how non-compliant Moses was!
Point 2: Even in light of Point 1, God and Moses had a relationship unlike any other up to this point!
Point 3: There was a previous covenant. Thank God for the covenant and for a good woman who acted upon it!
Point 4: There is a lesson here for us: We deserve to die. God desires relationship with us. There is a covenant. The covenant must be acted upon.
Yep, the covenant must be acted upon. And, even better for us in these present times, the covenant is not one of our own blood (circumcision) but one one of the blood of Jesus (grace).
Here is a good question: How did Zipporah know that her action of invoking the rights of the covenant worked? Because Moses did not die. Whatever was in the process of killing him stopped and he lived. It was an act of faith by Zipporah to do what she did - and her faith was rewarded with life.
Still, I suppose we could get all hung up on the fact that God was trying to kill Moses... but to do that is to somehow have the idea that we have rights before God. The fact is though, none of us deserves to live. It is purely by God's mercy that we exist. So, before we get into our fist-shaking stance before God, we really need to chill out (maybe read the entire book of Job!).
I know these are random thoughts, but, in the process of reading through the Bible each year, I am hopeful that my random thoughts will eventually find continuity with each other and begin, over time, to make better sense to me. And God has been doing just that - so I continue!
Father, Your Word is good just like You are. Help me to absorb every detail of the Bible so that I might gain a better, more complete understanding of You and Your plan for the world. And, thank You for the New Covenant in the blood of Jesus that is my life and my salvation!
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