Exodus 4b
03 Apr 2026 - Theology
The Lord Came to Kill Him
Exodus 4b
Exodus 4:18-31
What is happening here?
Problems:
- Why does the Lord show up to kill Moses?
- Is the Lord there to kill Moses, or is He there to kill the uncircumcised son?
- What does “bloody husband” or “bridegroom of blood” (NIV) mean?
- How does Zipporah know what to do?
- Why is Moses’s son not carrying the sign of the covenant (circumcision)?
This story is reflecting on the complex identity of Moses: is he a Hebrew, or is he an Egyptian?
Why does the Lord show up to kill Moses?
The language used in the story is not clear whether the Lord came to kill Moses or his firstborn son Gershom.
To solve this mystery we must go back to Genesis 17, where the Lord uses circumcision as the sign of His covenant with Abraham.
Genesis 17:14 - “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 was part of the covenant that all men must be circumcised to be considered as part of the covenant and to be considered as the people of God. This verse describes the punishment for those who are not circumcised and do not possess the sign of the covenant.
Going back to Exodus 4, we see that Moses’s son Gershom was not circumcised.
Exodus 4:25 - “Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son [Gershom], and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me.”
But how did Zipporah, a Midianite woman, know what to do, that Gershom must be circumcised? The Midianites were not part of the people of God (at this time), so how did she know the sign of the covenant?
This story is a preview of a future event in the Exodus narrative: the Passover. We will read more about this later in Exodus 12. For now, we see that the Lord describes it here in Exodus 4:22-23.
Exodus 4:22-23 - “And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even my firstborn: 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.”
God says He will kill all firstborns in the land of Egypt. In Exodus 12 we see that this includes the firstborn of Israel, if they do not take the blood of a lamb and spread it over their doorposts. Here in Exodus 4, we see Gershom, the firstborn son with Hebrew and Midianite heritage, is saved by an act of surrender to God’s will.
Zipporah is another example of a non-Israelite who seems to grasp the terms of the covenant more than an Israelite.
More Examples:
- Melchizedek - Genesis 14:17-24
- Abimelech - Genesis 20
- Pharaoh (time of Joseph) - Genesis 41:38
References
- The Hebrew - Greek Key Study Bible (KJV Version)
- The BEMA Podcast, Episode 17: A God Who Hears the Cry
- The Bible Project Podcast: Did God Try To Kill Moses? [37:49-47:35]