Why did God seek to kill Moses?

WHY DID GOD SEEK TO KILL MOSES IN EXODUS 4:24-25?

By Ezekiel Kimosop

This brief passage has puzzled theological scholars and lay Bible readers alike!

It is without doubt a difficult passage given that it is a juxtaposition to the description of Moses's return to Egypt (4:18-31) in furtherance of the divine assignment that God had given him earlier in Exodus 3.

However, given the actions of Zipporah Moses's wife in circumcising the son in a knee jerk manner, we can at least infer that Moses was guilty of a serious act of omission by neglecting to circumcise his son earlier in accordance with the command of Genesis 17:10-12.

Is it possible also that the son was born while Moses was away and Zipporah had apparently initially neglected to perform the rite on the eight day?

There are a number of theological suppositions that have been advanced by scholars to explain this strange incident.

Some say that Zipporah may have initially prevailed on Moses to leave one of their sons uncircumcised until adult age as was the custom of her Midianite people who are said to circumcise a groom on the eve of marriage.

This theory however cannot find the direct support of any passage of the Bible.

Unlike the Hebrew, Bible historians say the Midianites did not circumcise infants.

The second and most plausible reason advanced by scholars is that Moses may have been influenced by Egyptian culture under which he grew up. This is by reason that the Egyptians never circumcised their sons and this may explain why Moses had ignored this Hebrew rite.

There is also a difficult side to the interpretation of this passage which we shall briefly examine below.

Some Bible scholars say that the Hebrew translation of this passage by a number of Bible translation editors is wanting. They cite the NIV among other dynamic thought equivalent translations as an example in which the mention of Moses is not consistent with the literal rendering of the original Hebrew text.

The Young Literal Translation (YLT) which is a respected old literal translation of the Hebrew text does not mention Moses and leaves the male pronoun open to the interpretation that it may have referred to the son rather than to Moses himself.

This then implies that Moses may not have been the subject of God's wrath in this passage but rather that God sought to kill the baby boy probably to teach Moses a lesson!

Whatever the case, the fact remains that Moses was ultimately responsible for performing this rite upon his sons in accordance with Hebrew culture and God's law.

It is therefore not conclusively clear from the passage why this rite was neglected.

Any Hebrew male who was not circumcised could not be counted as a legitimate member of the covenant community of God's people (cf. Joshua 5:2-9).

Notice here that God considered it a reproach to have uncircumcised people among the Israelites (see Joshua 2:9). This suggests that this practice had been ignored for decades since the Israelites left Egypt!

We can conclude that God was perhaps angry with Moses for being a bad example to the Hebrew community that he was about to lead out of Egypt.

However, it is not clear why Zipporah had to carry out the rite on the son yet this was the responsibility of the household head!

Again this could be a pointer to Zipporah's negligence! Moses may have given instructions for the boy to be circumcised in his absence and Zipporah may have objected to it and hence drawing God's wrath.

The moral we can draw from this incident is that God is sorely displeased by our deliberate acts of omission.

When we appreciate that a particular act or omission is sinful, we should expect God's punishment for the dereliction of duty unless we repent and do things right. Of course we are saved by grace and not works but God has His expectations and standards.

The Bible says in Romans 14:23 that whatever is not [done] from faith is sin. Moses should have done better than neglect a duty that he knew was based on God's express command.

We also learn that God is not a respecter of persons. He punishes the low and the mighty alike. The blood of Jesus offers us the only protection from sin.

Finally, we learn from this story that our discretions in life can have far reaching consequences if left unchecked. They can be contagious and can harm innocent people.

God demands unqualified obedience and His standards cannot be lowered to suit ours. We must rise up by His enabling grace and seek to please Him so that His divine purposes are fulfilled in our lives.