Zipporah

It is pleasing to the lord - and certainly pleasant to me - that my son has challenged us to read the entire sixty-six Books of the Bible this year.

  Upon reading a passage that may not be readily understood, I hope you'll stop and search out its meaning. In your daily Bible reading, you no doubt will wonder at the action of Moses' wife, Zipporah, in this strange passage: "And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the LORD met him, and sought to kill him. 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. So he let him go: then she said, A bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision" (Exo 4:24-26).

  Did you get that? They're at Motel 6, or wherever it was that they were staying, and God was about to kill Moses! Why would He do that? What's all that about? "Well, you bloody husband. That's all you want is blood."

  I think what happened here is that Moses had come down with a fatal sickness that God allowed and was dying. His wife would be a widow, his children would be fatherless, and his people undelivered. When you are dying you examine your life to be sure all your sins are cared for. His conscience searched every corner of his heart with a lighted torch. Suddenly, there in a far dark corner, crouched a hidden sin. Something he had not taken care of. Moses had apparently not circumcised his youngest son. He should have done that. Here he's going to make sure all of Israel is circumcised, and his own son is not circumcised. How could God bless Moses when he had neglected known duty in his life? Physically unable himself, it seems he required Zipporah to perform the deed. Fearing that her husband would be slain, she got the knife and performed the surgery that he had failed to do.

  You wives, if your husband fails to have family worship - which is his duty - you must lead out in Bible study and prayer to save your family!