But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son's foreskin, and touched it to Moses' feet. "Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me," she said. But ZipporahZipporah, the wife of Moses, is a Midianite woman, which highlights the blending of cultures and faiths in Moses' life. Her name means "bird" in Hebrew, symbolizing perhaps a sense of freedom or swiftness. Her decisive action in this verse underscores her role as a protector and a woman of action, stepping into a critical moment to fulfill a covenantal requirement. took a flint knife
The use of a flint knife is significant, as flint was a common material for tools in ancient times, especially for sacred rites. The choice of a flint knife, rather than a metal one, may indicate adherence to ancient traditions, as flint was often used in circumcision rites, symbolizing purity and the cutting away of the old to bring forth the new. cut off her son’s foreskin
Circumcision was the sign of the Abrahamic covenant (Genesis 17:10-14). By performing this act, Zipporah ensures that her son is included in the covenant community. This act of obedience to God's command is crucial, as it signifies the family's commitment to God's covenant, even amidst their journey and challenges. and touched it to Moses’ feet
The act of touching the foreskin to Moses' feet is a symbolic gesture. In Hebrew culture, "feet" can be a euphemism for private parts, suggesting a deeper connection to the covenant of circumcision. This act may represent the transfer of the covenantal sign to Moses, reaffirming his role as the leader of God's people and the necessity of obedience to God's commands. 'Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me,' she said
This phrase, "bridegroom of blood," is enigmatic and has been the subject of much interpretation. It likely refers to the blood covenant of circumcision, which is a life-and-death matter. Zipporah's declaration may express her recognition of the seriousness of the covenant and the life-preserving act she has just performed. It underscores the idea that through blood, life is preserved and relationships are sanctified, pointing to the future sacrificial system and ultimately to Christ's atoning blood. Persons / Places / Events 1. ZipporahThe wife of Moses, daughter of Jethro, a Midianite priest. She plays a crucial role in this passage by performing the circumcision. 2. MosesThe central figure in the Exodus account, chosen by God to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. In this passage, he is the one whose life is at risk due to the lack of circumcision of his son. 3. GershomMoses and Zipporah's son, who is circumcised by Zipporah in this event. 4. The Lord's EncounterThis event occurs during a divine encounter where God seeks to put Moses to death, highlighting the seriousness of the covenant sign of circumcision. 5. MidianThe region where Moses fled after killing an Egyptian and where he met and married Zipporah. Teaching Points The Importance of Obedience to God's CovenantThe act of circumcision was a sign of the covenant between God and His people. Moses' failure to circumcise his son put him at odds with God's command, showing the importance of obedience. The Role of Women in God's PlanZipporah's decisive action saved Moses' life, highlighting how God can use anyone, regardless of gender, to fulfill His purposes. The Seriousness of God's CommandsThis passage underscores the seriousness with which God views His commands and the necessity for His people to adhere to them. The Concept of Atonement and BloodZipporah's reference to a "bridegroom of blood" points to the idea of atonement and the significance of blood in the covenant relationship with God. Family and Spiritual LeadershipMoses' oversight in his family's spiritual obligations serves as a reminder of the importance of spiritual leadership within the family unit. Bible Study Questions 1. What does the act of circumcision represent in the context of God's covenant with His people, and how does this apply to our lives today? 2. How does Zipporah's intervention reflect the role of women in the biblical account, and what can we learn from her actions? 3. In what ways does this passage challenge us to take God's commands seriously in our own lives? 4. How does the concept of being a "bridegroom of blood" relate to the New Testament understanding of Christ's sacrifice? 5. What lessons can we learn from Moses' oversight regarding spiritual leadership within our own families? Connections to Other Scriptures Genesis 17This passage establishes the covenant of circumcision with Abraham, which is crucial for understanding the significance of the act performed by Zipporah. Joshua 5Describes the circumcision of the Israelites before entering the Promised Land, reinforcing the importance of this covenant sign. Acts 7Stephen's speech references Moses' life, providing context for his mission and the importance of obedience to God's commands. People Aaron, Isaac, Israelites, Jacob, Jethro, Moses, Pharaoh, ZipporahPlaces Egypt, Horeb, Midian, Nile RiverTopics Blood, Bloody, Bridegroom, Cast, Causeth, Cut, Cutteth, Cutting, Flint, Foreskin, Husband, Indeed, Knife, Moses'feet, Private, Sharp, Skin, Son's, Stone, Surely, Taketh, Threw, Touch, Touched, Touching, Truly, Zipporah, Zippo'rahDictionary of Bible Themes Exodus 4:25 4327 flint
5372 knife
5571 surgery Exodus 4:24-26 7335 circumcision, physical Library January 13. "Thou Shalt be to Him Instead of God" (Ex. Iv. 16).
"Thou shalt be to him instead of God" (Ex. iv. 16). Such was God's promise to Moses, and such the high character that Moses was to assume toward Aaron, his brother. May it not suggest a high and glorious place that each of us may occupy toward all whom we meet, instead of God? What a dignity and glory it would give our lives, could we uniformly realize this high calling! How it would lead us to act toward our fellow-men! God can always be depended upon. God is without variableness or shadow of turning. …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth May the Eleventh but -- --!
"And Moses answered and said, But----" --EXODUS iv. 1-9. We know that "but." God has heard it from our lips a thousand times. It is the response of unbelief to the divine call. It is the reply of fear to the divine command. It is the suggestion that the resources are inadequate. It is a hint that God may not have looked all round. He has overlooked something which our own eyes have seen. The human "buts" in the Scriptural stories make an appalling record. "Lord, I will follow Thee, but----" There …
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year May the Twelfth Mouth and Matter
"Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth." --EXODUS iv. 10-17. And what a promise that is for anyone who is commissioned to proclaim the King's decrees. Here can teachers and preachers find their strength. God will be with their mouths. He will control their speech, and order their words like troops. He does not promise to make us eloquent, but to endow our words with the "demonstration of power." "And I will teach thee what thou shall say." The Lord will not only be with our mouths, …
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year A Bundle of Myrrh is My Well-Beloved unto Me; He Shall Abide Between My Breasts.
When the Bride, or rather the lover (for she is not yet a bride), has found her Bridegroom, she is so transported with joy, that she is eager to be instantly united to Him. But the union of perpetual enjoyment is not yet arrived. He is mine, she says, I cannot doubt that He gives Himself to me this moment, since I feel it, but He is to me, as it were, a bundle of myrrh. He is not yet a Bridegroom whom I may embrace in the nuptial bed, but a bundle of crosses, pains and mortifications; a bloody husband …
Madame Guyon—Song of Songs of Solomon Preaching (I. ).
Earthen vessels, frail and slight, Yet the golden Lamp we bear; Master, break us, that the light So may fire the murky air; Skill and wisdom none we claim, Only seek to lift Thy Name. I have on purpose reserved the subject of Preaching for our closing pages. Preaching is, from many points of view, the goal and summing up of all other parts and works of the Ministry. What we have said already about the Clergyman's life and labour, in secret, in society, in the parish; what we have said about his …
Handley C. G. Moule—To My Younger Brethren To the Saddest of the Sad
I often wonder what those preachers do who feel called to make up their message as they go on; for if they fail, their failure must be attributed in great measure to their want of ability to make up a moving tale. They have to spread their sails to the breeze of the age, and to pick up a gospel that comes floating down to them on the stream of time, altering every week in the year; and they must have an endless task to catch this new idea, or, as they put it, to keep abreast of the age. Unless, indeed, …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 34: 1888 The Sweet Uses of Adversity
Now, I propose to address myself to the two classes of persons who are making use of this question. First, I shall speak to the tried saint; and then I shall speak to the seeking sinner, who has been seeking peace and pardon through Christ, but who has not as yet found it, but, on the contrary, has been buffeted by the law, and driven away from the mercy-seat in despair. I. First, then, to THE CHILD OF GOD. I have--I know I have--in this great assembly, some who have come to Job's position. They …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 5: 1859 "For if Ye Live after the Flesh, Ye Shall Die; but if Ye through the Spirit do Mortify the Deeds of the Body, Ye Shall Live.
Rom. viii. s 13, 14.--"For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die; but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." The life and being of many things consists in union,--separate them, and they remain not the same, or they lose their virtue. It is much more thus in Christianity, the power and life of it consists in the union of these things that God hath conjoined, so that if any man pretend to …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning The Hardening in the Sacred Scripture.
"He hath hardened their heart."-- John xii. 40. The Scripture teaches positively that the hardening and "darkening of their foolish heart" is a divine, intentional act. This is plainly evident from God's charge to Moses concerning the king of Egypt: "Thou shalt speak all that I command thee; and I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and multiply My signs and wonders in the land of Egypt. But Pharaoh shall not harken unto you, and I will lay My hand upon Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit The Quotation in Matt. Ii. 6.
Several interpreters, Paulus especially, have asserted that the interpretation of Micah which is here given, was that of the Sanhedrim only, and not of the Evangelist, who merely recorded what happened and was said. But this assertion is at once refuted when we consider the object which Matthew has in view in his entire representation of the early life of Jesus. His object in recording the early life of Jesus is not like that of Luke, viz., to communicate historical information to his readers. …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament Flight into Egypt and Slaughter of the Bethlehem Children.
(Bethlehem and Road Thence to Egypt, b.c. 4.) ^A Matt. II. 13-18. ^a 13 Now when they were departed [The text favors the idea that the arrival and departure of the magi and the departure of Joseph for Egypt, all occurred in one night. If so, the people of Bethlehem knew nothing of these matters], behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise [this command calls for immediate departure] and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt [This land was ever the …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel Appendix xii. The Baptism of Proselytes
ONLY those who have made study of it can have any idea how large, and sometimes bewildering, is the literature on the subject of Jewish Proselytes and their Baptism. Our present remarks will be confined to the Baptism of Proselytes. 1. Generally, as regards proselytes (Gerim) we have to distinguish between the Ger ha-Shaar (proselyte of the gate) and Ger Toshabh (sojourner,' settled among Israel), and again the Ger hatstsedeq (proselyte of righteousness) and Ger habberith (proselyte of the covenant). …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah A Canticle of Love
It is not only when He is about to send me some trial that Our Lord gives me warning and awakens my desire for it. For years I had cherished a longing which seemed impossible of realisation--to have a brother a Priest. I often used to think that if my little brothers had not gone to Heaven, I should have had the happiness of seeing them at the Altar. I greatly regretted being deprived of this joy. Yet God went beyond my dream; I only asked for one brother who would remember me each day at the Holy …
Therese Martin (of Lisieux)—The Story of a Soul Exodus
The book of Exodus--so named in the Greek version from the march of Israel out of Egypt--opens upon a scene of oppression very different from the prosperity and triumph in which Genesis had closed. Israel is being cruelly crushed by the new dynasty which has arisen in Egypt (i.) and the story of the book is the story of her redemption. Ultimately it is Israel's God that is her redeemer, but He operates largely by human means; and the first step is the preparation of a deliverer, Moses, whose parentage, …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament Links Exodus 4:25 NIVExodus 4:25 NLTExodus 4:25 ESVExodus 4:25 NASBExodus 4:25 KJV
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