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How do you explain Exodus 4:24?

Update:

It sounds like god screwed up and made the penis with too much skin. Why did he not catch this and fix the problem then? Why does he need us to fix his foul ups?

6 Answers

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  • BJ
    Lv 7
    2 years ago

    The account does not explicitly state whose life was in danger.

    However, we can reasonably conclude that it was not Moses’ life, for he had just received a divine commission to lead the Israelites out of Egypt.

    It seems unlikely that on his way to fulfill that assignment, Moses’ life would have been threatened by God’s angel. It therefore would be the life of one of his sons.

    The law given earlier to Abraham regarding circumcision stated: “An uncircumcised male who will not get the flesh of his foreskin circumcised, even that soul must be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant.” Genesis 17:14

    Moses had apparently neglected to circumcise his son, and thus the boy’s life was threatened by Jehovah’s angel.

    Evidently, Moses’ son was in danger of being executed because Moses had failed to circumcise him. Zipporah took swift action and circumcised her son. Consequently, the angel let go of him.

  • 2 years ago

    I explain Exodus 4:24, as Jehovah turn his attention to Moses because of the law of circumcised sent a Angel to take care of what would have cause the death of Moses son by given him the chance to do the right thing and his wife took care of the matter.

  • 2 years ago

    It's a mysterious section and you need to read from verse 18 to verse 26 to pick up all the clues. You also have to know about God's command to Abraham to circumcise male children (Genesis 17:9-14) long before this incident. Note especially how Moses was told by God to speak to Pharaoh about the people of Israel being God's symbolic "first-born" and that circumcision was the sign of the covenant between God and His people. Also, that God would kill Pharaoh's first-born son because Pharaoh had refused to let Israel go.

    It could be that although Moses knew about God's requirement to circumcise baby boys when aged 8 days old, he had failed to have his own son circumcised. That could explain the strange events when God "confronted him and was about to kill him" when Moses' wife, Zipporah, seeing the crisis, circumcised their son.

    Perhaps if Moses had arrived in Egypt claiming to represent the God of the Israelites' ancestors (including Abraham) and yet had not done the one thing God had commanded of his followers at that point, then the people would have been less inclined to follow God in a radically exclusive way. That's supposition. It is not clear as the few verses are difficult to grasp, especially by us who are some 3,300 years removed from such traditions and accounts.

  • Anonymous
    2 years ago

    The account does not explicitly state whose life was in danger. However, we can reasonably conclude that it was not Moses’ life, for he had just received a divine commission to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. (Exodus 3:10) It seems unlikely that on his way to fulfill that assignment, Moses’ life would have been threatened by God’s angel. It therefore would be the life of one of his sons. The law given earlier to Abraham regarding circumcision stated: “An uncircumcised male who will not get the flesh of his foreskin circumcised, even that soul must be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant.” (Genesis 17:14) Moses had apparently neglected to circumcise his son, and thus the boy’s life was threatened by Jehovah’s angel.

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  • Mattie
    Lv 5
    2 years ago

    You read Exodus 4:23 -24, KJV

    23 And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn.

    24 And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the LORD met him, and sought to kill him.

    The Lord met Pharaoh's firstborn by the way in the inn and sought to kill him.

    Obviously, Pharaoh refused to let Israel (God's son), go that they (he), may serve Him.

  • 2 years ago

    And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the LORD met him, and sought to kill him.

    Exodus:4:24

    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.

    Exodus:4:25

    So he let him go: then she said, A bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision.

    Exodus:4:26

    Sought to kill Moses because he didn't circumcised his son. What God has made clean, we cannot call unclean.

    And Moses was content to dwell with the man: and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter.

    Exodus:2:21

    And she bare him a son, and he called his name Gershom: for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land.

    Exodus:2:22

    I think he probably was expecting to marry a woman from home that's why he neglected to circumcised his son's foreskin.

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