Why Was God Going To Kill Moses In Exodus 4:24?

One key to understanding Exodus 4:24 is to see what kept God from killing him, which is found in the rest of the text, beginning in verse 25:

"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."

Moses' wife Zipporah answers the question: "because of the circumcision". You see, Moses had FAILED to circumcise his own son. It's pretty sad that Zipporah has to step up and do the job. But when she does, the Bible says, "So he let him go."

The picture is of God actually having Moses in His grasp and ready to KILL him when Zipporah circumcises their son and saves her husbands life! High drama...

And we gentiles in the 21st century can lose sight of the reality unless we go back to Genesis 17 and let the word of God sink in. Beginning in verse 9 we read:

"And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations.
"This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised
"And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.
"And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed.
"He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.
"And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant."

This is not a vindictive thing. God is not acting out in rage (as He is falsely portrayed). This is simply a LEGAL matter.

God said that if you ignore or rebel against His covenant requirement to circumcise the firstborn, then there will be a DEATH PENALTY. And it's simply a matter of God's word that He must do what He said He would do.

Numbers 23:19 is very important for us to grasp: "God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?"

God would not be God if He laid empty threats. That would make Him a liar, which would make Him less than God. It's simply impossible that God would tell Abraham that he and all his offspring MUST circumcise all males or DIE and then to ignore that.

The bigger picture is how that this pictures our own situation. God said, "the soul that sinneth, it shall die." (Ezekiel 18:4) and, "For the wages of sin is death;" (Romans 6:23).

For this reason, all who sin must die. We all have a death penalty. And God must require death for our sin, or He'd be a liar.

But the good news is that God Himself became a Man (1 Timothy 3:16 in the KJV), in the person of Jesus Christ and even though He had no sin, He became sin on the Cross and died as our "substitute" (2 Corinthians 5:21). When we believe on Him, God the Father's holiness is satisfied with the death of His Son and that means the believer will NOT die!

"And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." (Philippians 2:8)

So, this story of God's wrath upon Moses for his sin tells us of the holiness of God but also points us to the depths of His mercy and grace in the work of Jesus Christ on the Cross:

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
"For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
"He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
(John 3:16-18)

It's a wonderful thing.

Follow Up Question:

Well, to be clear, that's not the issue. Ignorance is not an excuse.

"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee,..." (Hosea 4:6)

Moses would later be given instructions as to sacrifice for sins done in ignorance, but they were sin, nonetheless, and still required atonement (Leviticus 4:13-21).

Romans 1:18-32 describes the witness of Creation that makes each of us responsible to seek God. If we do not, we will all end up in reprobation.

But if we will respond to the witness of God and seek Him, He makes Himself known to us: "Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near." (Isaiah 55:6)

In Moses' case, he had the witness of Creation and while he was in Pharaoh's house, he knew that he was a Hebrew (Exodus 2:11) and should have known of their ways to a great extent. It would be up to him to seek God and become obedient.

And, finally, I would think that if Zipporah (a Midianite) knew exactly what was going on at the time of the incident, surely she learned that from Moses. That's conjecture, but it's implied by the text (Exodus 4:25-26)

Bro. Greg M.

"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
"For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
"For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed."
Romans 10:9-11 kjv

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