So I'm cruising along enjoying reading the beginning of the book of Exodus, when I stop as this verse jumps off the page, (Ex. 4:24), "And it came to pass on the way, at the encampment, that the LORD met him (Moses) and sought to kill him."
Don't know how I missed this in my Old Testament classes, but what is going on here? Somebody enlighten me.
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4 comments:
Good question. My OT professor said its one of those that no one has a good answer for (how did she know to circumcise the son? why is she touching it to his feet? etc)
Many hold that it is a later interpolation into the text since it doesnt seem to make any sense.
I read the same thing today and wondered the same thing. I would love to hear someone's int.
It was Moses' failure to circumcise his son that angered God to that extent.
Zipporah saved his hide by doing it herself.
It is probably meant to parallel the previous passages where God speaks about the firstborns in Egypt being killed. Should not the first-born of Moses be dedicated to God, and if not, why should God spare him?
The argument that some make that this is a later interpolation see it as inserted later when the role of circumcision became a boundary marker between who was and was not part of the people of God.
I think it is probably original, but was over-emphasized or misused later on.
Leaves one final question: How did Zipporah know what to do?
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