Question:
In Exodus 4:24, why did Yahweh come to kill Moses? Is it true that it was because he & Zipporah did not circumcise their son? It just seems like such a random part to have in there, but I know it must have some purpose, otherwise it wouldn't be in there for us to read.Answer:
The short answer is, I don’t know. But here is my best speculation:It seems to be because they hadn’t circumcised their sons, a command given hundreds of years earlier to Abraham. Maybe since Zipporah wasn’t Jewish, she didn’t know to do so, and God would have expected Moses to tell her … but it’s hard to say. My feeling is that God was furious at Moses for giving Him such a hard time at the burning bush, and then Moses was going, but still not making things right.
What’s interesting is that Moses wrote this down. Remember he didn't write this to US ... it was written to the people Moses later led from Egypt. So ... what was he trying to communicate to Israel? That God was really serious about obedience? Because if Moses hadn’t recorded the story, no one would have known it had happened. I suspect Moses wanted them to know that even he had a hard time accepting Yahweh at first, and just like many in Israel ... he also hadn't even bothered to follow the "contract" (covenant/testament) God had made with their Father Abraham.
Another thing to remember is that this is one of the first of many incidents where Israelite men married someone who was not Israelite. God warned them that marrying 'foreign' women would cause them to be tempted to follow other gods. Perhaps Israel was supposed to pick up on this as a warning, but of course they did not.
No comments:
Post a Comment