Hi Mike,

I was hoping you could help me with these verses:

Exo 4:24-26 (Young’s Literal Translation)

26 and He desisteth from him: then she said, ` A bridegroom of blood,’ in reference to the circumcision.

Why did the Lord’s attitude change so suddenly to Moses? I’m sure the circumcision is referring to some presence of sin, but I find these verses rather difficult to understand.

Thanks,  M____

Hi M____,

Thank you for your question. You ask,

“Why did the Lords attitude change so suddenly to Moses?”

Moses is not the subject of the verse in question. The subject is Moses’ son who had not yet been circumcised. Moses was descended from Abraham and had been circumcised before he was given to Pharaoh’s daughter. But Moses wife, Zipporah, was not part of God’s covenant of circumcision, and had apparently resisted having her son circumcised. God was not going to have a man who did not have his own house in order, a man whose own son was not yet circumcised, leading His people out of Egypt. Those who will be in that blessed and holy first resurrection will know what dominion over the flesh and dominion over sin in their lives is while in these vessels of clay or they will not be in that blessed and holy first resurrection. That is what that whole story typifies. Zipporah is us. We do not see the need for such messy things as circumcision and the cross. Life through death simply does not compute. But God requires both circumcision and the cross though in spirit. In fact the spiritual requirement is far more than mere physical circumcision or physical baptism. God now wants our whole lives, our whole heart and our whole mind.

Rom 12:1  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, [ which is] your reasonable service.
Rom 12:2  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Look at the message in the verse before the one you reference. I will put them all together:

Exo 4:22  And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn:
Exo 4:23  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.
Exo 4:24  And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the LORD met him, and sought to kill him.
Exo 4:25  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.
Exo 4:26  So he let him go: then she said, A bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision.

Here is God telling Pharaoh that if he does not let His people go He will slay Pharaoh’s firstborn. In the very next verse God is in type telling us that if we do not give up the things of the flesh, then He will slay us. Circumcision typifies the putting off of the things of the flesh.

Mat 10:39  He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

Col 2:11  In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, i n putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:

I hope this helps you to see that Zipporah typifies Babylon within us all, who resists the ordinances of Christ, and that Moses is Christ to whom we say, “You are a bloody husband unto me, because of the [ spiritual] circumcision.”

Rom 2:28  For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
Rom 2:29  But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and c ircumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God

Your brother in Christ,

Mike