You are a Bloody Husband; Exodus 4:24-26

Hard Verses: Not Your Namby Pamby Bible Study. These Bible Verses are Hard!

Hard Verses Episode 18: You are a Bloody Husband; Exodus 4:24-26. The Problem. Exo 4:20 And Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them upon an ass, and he returned to the land of Egypt: and Moses took the rod of God in his hand. Exo 4:21 And the LORD said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go. Exo 4:22 And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn: Exo 4:23 And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn. Exo 4:24 And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the LORD met him, and sought to kill him. Exo 4:25 Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me. Exo 4:26 So he let him go: then she said, A bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision. 1. What is going on here? 2. Moses seems to be sending his family away while he is going to prepare to go to Egypt. 3. The Lord sought to kill him. Who is him and why does God want to kill him? 4. What is the deal with Zipporah circumcising her son and calling her husband a bloody husband? The Solution. Exo 4:20 And Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them upon an ass, and he returned to the land of Egypt: and Moses took the rod of God in his hand. Exo 4:21 And the LORD said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go. Exo 4:22 And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn: Exo 4:23 And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn. Exo 4:24 And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the LORD met him, and sought to kill him. Exo 4:25 Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me. Exo 4:26 So he let him go: then she said, A bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision. 1. What is going on? Moses just met God at the burning bush in chapter four. He has met with Jethro his father-in-law and asked to be released to go let God’s people go vs. 18. Now he is on his way to Egypt. 2. Where did his family go? Moses set me on an ass (Septuagint states beasts, Hebrew idiom, the ass to mean even the plural of beasts.) or that Zipporah and baby were riding while Gershom led the beast. It would seem that they stayed at the inn before heading back to Jethro. Ex. 18:2-5 speaks of Jethro bringing the family out to Moses in the wilderness. 3. The Lord sought to kill him. Who is him and why does God want to kill him? It seems that Moses was the one stricken by some severe sickness. Zipporah in seeing this, realized that it was because one of her children was uncircumcised and picked up a sharp rock and circumcised the child and threw it at the feet of Moses on which the Lord “let him go.” 4. What is the deal with Zipporah circumcising her son and calling her husband a bloody husband? It would seem that Moses was unable to perform the procedure and worrying that her husband was about to die, picked up the rock and did a makeshift circumcision. It was probably from her disdain of the procedure that it was not done. This would be the reason for the outburst of the bloody husband remark. Gen 17 actually records the first circumcision with Abram and his household. It states that Abram circumcised everyone, young and old and even himself. It does not necessarily say that Abraham did that to himself. The lesson for us today 1. Don’t wait to do what God wants you to do. 2. Even if things are going to be uncomfortable, if God requires it, do it. 3. God is serious about obeying His command. He was going to kill Moses. 2Th 1:7 And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, 2Th 1:8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: 2Th 1:9 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; Tools I Used Burton Coffman (e-sword module) Albert Barnes (e-sword module) Adam Clarke (e-sword module) Jamieson Faucet and Brown (e-sword module) Keil and Delitzsch (e-sword module) Call to action. Subscribe and rate. You can also write a review. (Itunes). There are also the podcasts available on Youtube, look for “hard verses” with some additional videos besides the podcast.