Why did God want to KILL Moses? (Exodus 4:24-26)

So, a funny thing happened on the way to Egypt after Moses spoke to the burning bush. 

Something you have probably never heard about.

Even if you have read it before, this is such a bizarre paragraph of Scripture that you probably just read right on through without stopping to dwell on it. 

When most of us tell the story of Moses, we start with his origins in the Nile River, how he was born an Israelite slave and how he came to be raised in Pharaoh’s palace, how he killed a man and ran away into the wilderness, how he got married to Zipporah, the daughter of Jethro. How one day he talked to a Burning Bush who said He was God and told Moses to go back to Egypt and “Let My People Go.” And as we tell the story, he went back to Egypt and started doing the 10 Plagues and you know the rest. 

Or do you? Because there was another really odd moment that happened in the midst of that that nobody ever talks about. It’s right after Moses has just been talking to the burning bush, and he’s returning to Egypt.

Exodus 4:24

24 At a lodging place on the way the Lord met him and sought to put him to death.

Woah, what? The Lord wanted to kill Moses? Moses hasn’t even done anything yet. Like, God sent him back to Egypt, Moses seems to be doing what God said, Moses has been in ministry for like 5 minutes, and yet already he has blown it so bad that God wants Moses killed. 

And then what happens next seems like a complete non-sequitur. 

Verses 25

25 Then Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son's foreskin and touched Moses' feet with it and said, “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me!”

This is perhaps one of the strangest turns of events throughout the entire Bible. 

And after this little event, there’s not really any explanation given. Moses goes to meet Aaron and they go to meet Pharaoh and the story takes off from there. And this little interlude on the way back to Egypt from Jethro’s place often gets forgotten about in the grand and epic story of Moses. 

This didn’t come up in the Charlton Heston 10 Commandments movie.

This wasn’t a scene in The Prince of Egypt. 

This didn’t even end up in the Veggie Tales version of the story. 

(And I’m sure Junior Asparagus was extremely grateful about that).

So why did God want to literally kill Moses 5 minutes into his ministry before he even got into Egypt? And why did his wife follow that up with circumcising her son and calling Moses a bridegroom of blood?

I find this to be awkward…and kinda gross…and weird…and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible. 

Turn to Exodus 4, and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Introduction

3:00 - Reviewing the Context

8:15 - A Tale of Three Sons

16:55 - Families Need Spiritual Leadership

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Hosted by Luke Taylor