When thinking of the deliverance of the Israelites from the oppression of Egypt the first time, whose name comes to mind? Moses, right? Did you know that God was almost forced to choose someone else? And not because Moses didn't want the job (although he clearly did not want it). No, God almost had to choose someone else because God sought to kill Moses.
It's true. You can find the story in Exodus 4:24 "At a lodging place on the way, the Lord met Moses and was about to kill him.” (NIV) Now, I have a bunch of questions that rise from this incident. The story of Moses' life from birth to deliverer does not take much space; it begins in Exodus 1, and ends at the end of the incident with Zipporah. After this, Moses is the prophet of God, the deliverer of Israel, and the law-giver. After this, Moses is not perfect (none of God's leaders and heroes are) but he is fully committed to the plans and purposes of God. He faces down the ruler of the most powerful nation on earth at the time. He rises above the whining of the people he is leading and stands between them and God when God wants to destroy the nation and begin again with Moses in the place of Abraham.
But as I said earlier, the story of Zipporah circumcising either Gershom or Eliezer (the two sons of Moses) raises lots of questions. The two main difficulties with the passage involve the identity of the person referenced by "him" in Gen 4:24, and the meaning of "bridegroom of blood". There is little question that the author includes this anecdote for a reason; there is a lot of discussion in interpretive circles as to exactly what that reason might be. For me, the questions have less to do with these scholarly questions and more to do with Moses and his household. Why were Gershom and Eliezer not already circumcised? Why was Moses so clueless that he did not realise that God was coming to kill one of them? What was there in Zipporah that made her not only aware of God's intent and reason for His anger, but also aware of the required actions to turn that wrath away?
On the face of things, Moses should have been more aware of God's commands. Moses, not Zipporah, was the one who had encountered God face to face at the "Burning Bush". Moses was the direct descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Moses was the one raised by Jewish nannies while in the court of Pharaoh. Zipporah was the daughter of a priest of the gods of Midian. Zipporah was raised without knowledge of the God of Israel, and certainly without knowledge of the importance of the rite of circumcision in the relationship between God and Israel's descendants.
The Bible does not give sufficient data to form a clear picture of Zipporah. We do not have much information about her relationship with Moses, or the nature and content of any religious discussions they had. I don't believe we can doubt that these discussions occurred. In ancient times, religion occupied a central place in the lives of everyone. Planting, harvesting, childbirth, diet, and all other aspects of life were governed by the rules of each religion. Zipporah, daughter of a priest of Midian, and Moses, a prophet of Israel, would have faced difficulties in every area of life without these discussions. We can assume that Moses did not 'win' the discussion about circumcision (which was mandated on the eighth day for every male child of Israel).
While we do not know much, we do know that Zipporah's actions saved Moses' life. Can we draw from this that God honours any actions taken in obedience to His commands? Or are we to learn that, even if our attitude is bad, God wants us to do what He commands? As usual in these blog posts, I'm not sure that I can draw any conclusions. What I do hope is that, if you are reading this, that you will re-read the story of Zipporah in Exodus 4:24-26 and see if God has something to say to you. He does promise that His word always accomplishes His purposes.
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