Bridegroom of Blood-It Ain't Pretty - Exodus 4:1-5:21; Psalm 22:19-31; Proverbs 5:15-21

God had just told Moses to return to Egypt and deliver the Israelites. And God was going with Moses. But not all was well.

 

At a lodging place on the way, the LORD met Moses and was about to kill him. – Exodus 4:24

 

When God had made his covenant with Abraham, part of the covenant was that all the males in his household were to be circumcised. It was an important part of the covenant, too—so important that uncircumcised males were to be cut off from the rest of the covenant people.

 

We can assume that Moses was circumcised because he was three months old—well beyond the eight-days-after-birth time limit for circumcisions—before his mother put him in the Nile River. But he had not circumcised his child.

 

There’s some question as to whether the text says that God was going to kill Moses or his son. It seems to point to Moses, but his son was the uncircumcised one. However, I tend to stick with Moses, God’s appointed deliverer of the Hebrews, as the one God intended to kill. His son Gershom couldn’t help being uncircumcised. He was just a child, and I hope never to hear that any eight year old attempted his own surgery.

 

But Moses should have known better. His failure to circumcise his son showed a lack of respect for his people’s covenant with God. Perhaps he had been talked out of circumcising his son by his non-Israelite wife Zipporah, but this is one thing he should not have allowed himself to be talked out of. Moses stood responsible… and he had failed.

 

Zipporah apparently knew exactly why God was threatening Moses’ life. She circumcised their son and lay his foreskin on her husband’s feet with the bitter words, “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me.” I’m guessing no mother wants to circumcise her own son, and Zipporah apparently found it revolting.

 

Being a part of God’s covenant people has never been attractive by earthly standards. From the start, it was bloody and nasty. And it has continued to be disgusting to this day. Think about it. We trust in a God who became a man and eventually suffered a terrible beating, a crown of painful thorns, and a horrible execution on a cross. Even his death was confirmed in a nasty way, with a spear thrust into his side so that fluids poured out of his body. Only those who believe that He rose again and offers a hope beyond suffering and death, a hope of glory and life, would want to commit themselves into His hands.

 

Father, help me to learn from Moses’ mistake. Help me never to be ashamed of the bloody side of following You. Remind me never to avoid it to keep others comfortable. Our covenant has been sealed by the shedding of blood, and apart from it I have no hope, no security, no life. Thank You for the blood that ties us together.