Exodus 4:24

Lifeasweknowit

Lifeasweknowit

"And it came to pass on the way, at the encampment, that the Lord met him and sought to kill him"

I've been reading the bible lately. Picked it up a about a month ago and finshed Genesis; now onto Exodus. I stumble across the scripture above and am flabergasted. I search on the internet, read comentary, but have yet to find a solid explanation for this scripture which seems to stick out like a sore thumb amongst the others. Please, explain what you feel this verse means and how it fits into the surrounding scriptures.
 
The account in this and the two following verses, although rather obscure, seems to imply, that on their way to the land of Egypt, an angel appeared to Moses, and sought to kill his son, on account of his father's non-observance of the Lord's positive command to Abraham, that every man child of the Jewish nation, or born in his house in servitude, should be circumcised on the eighth day; and the Zipporah, at the command of Moses, immediately fulfilled the injunction, and thus averted the wrath of God, denounced against the disobedient: "The uncircumcised man child, whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people." Gen 17:14

That is an explanation from the "e-sword".
Love, little flower
 
Lifeasweknowit said:
"And it came to pass on the way, at the encampment, that the Lord met him and sought to kill him"

I've been reading the bible lately. Picked it up a about a month ago and finshed Genesis; now onto Exodus. I stumble across the scripture above and am flabergasted. I search on the internet, read comentary, but have yet to find a solid explanation for this scripture which seems to stick out like a sore thumb amongst the others. Please, explain what you feel this verse means and how it fits into the surrounding scriptures.
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I would accept the explination from "little flower". That has been my understanding of the verse you question for many years. It would have been a violation of the Abrahamic covenant.

Good job......LF!

I would add that IMO this is a "Christophany ( A visible manifestation of the pre-incarnant Chrust).
 
The original Hebrew word for "sought" is 'baquash'. One possible translation for that is "to desire".
Thus the verse would read "...the Lord met him and desired to kill him."
So here is not said that The Lord 'tried' to kill him, but that it was His desire at this point.
 
This verse still doesn't make any sense. Moses was to formulate Noah's Ark...he's was set up for something so big. Why on earth would God even "desire" to kill him. Didn't he know before Moses was even born...before God chose him to do all that he had been doing, that he wasn't circumcised?
 
Lifeasweknowit said:
This verse still doesn't make any sense. Moses was to formulate Noah's Ark...he's was set up for something so big. Why on earth would God even "desire" to kill him. Didn't he know before Moses was even born...before God chose him to do all that he had been doing, that he wasn't circumcised?
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1st, Moses had nothing to do with the Ark Tinker.

2nd, The verse you have chosen is one of the most speculated and hardest to understand in all of the Bible.

Just taking a moment to look up some old commentries........I found:

Ryaarsdam, a rationalistic critic who states............(pp 882-83)
"It is of value to us in that it emphises the jungle of primitive superstitions out of which the religion of Yahweh was developed".

Childes in his "The Book of Exodus, A Critical Theological Commentary, pp 95-101 says..............
"The plain meaning seems to be that by sudden and schocking means God was reminding Moses that the penality for uncircumsion was to be cut off from the people."
 
Major said:
1st, Moses had nothing to do with the Ark Tinker.
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Oops sorry, but with Pharaoh/land of Egypt, definitely.
Major said:
2nd, The verse you have chosen is one of the most speculated and hardest to understand in all of the Bible.

Just taking a moment to look up some old commentries........I found:

Ryaarsdam, a rationalistic critic who states............(pp 882-83)
"It is of value to us in that it emphises the jungle of primitive superstitions out of which the religion of Yahweh was developed".

Childes in his "The Book of Exodus, A Critical Theological Commentary, pp 95-101 says..............
"The plain meaning seems to be that by sudden and schocking means God was reminding Moses that the penality for uncircumsion was to be cut off from the people."
Click to expand...

Well the first commentary makes no sense to me, for obvious reasons.
The second commentary could make sense, but doesn't, because God chose Moses to do all of what he did in the land of Egypt. He could have chosen someone else who was already circumcised. I guess it's one of those versus I'll never understand.
 
Dirtyrottensinner said:
Glad to see you picking up the Word Tink! Enjoy.......:)

The answer is between Genesis 1:1 and Revelation 22:21
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Thank you Dirty, but in all seriousness, the rest of the bible doesn't quite explain that particular scripture. I'm simply going to have to move on. I'm starting to see now why unbelievers question the OT especially. It appears very story like since God is making people perform all of these miracles as apposed to just snapping a finger and having them done. The whole point, however, is for us to have the Word and understand him and his magnificence better. Otherwise, we would know too little of Him, and you can formulate/maintain a relationship with someone you don't know very well.

Calv...you there?
 
Not over-complicating anything...this seems to be a controversial scripture for many. I don't think I'm "special". Not sure where that is coming from.:confused: Please tell me I'm misinterpreting the "special" part of your post.
 
Lifeasweknowit said:
Not over-complicating anything...this seems to be a controversial scripture for many. I don't think I'm "special". Not sure where that is coming from.:confused: Please tell me I'm misinterpreting the "special" part of your post.
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Oh come now Tink- that was not personally directed at you- just pointing you to another thread for enlightenment without clogging up this one on a tangent...

(I think your special...;))
 
Well Moses was a bit of a whiner in the flesh, and he wrote the first 5 books of the Bible. I am sure if the Lord had you in His grasp-you might not be having a good day right then. Plus I find it interesting Moses' "heathen" wife saved his but after his disobedience....

very interesting...
 
If God had just "snapped His fingers", there would not have been an opportunity for Moses to repent or correct the situation. We see God's anger at disobedience, and we see His grace in not simply smiting Moses on the spot. This, to me, seems consistent with the rest of Scripture. It does kinda give you a "wait...what?" moment when you're reading along, though, doesn't it?:)
 
I think the part that tripped me up was that he "tried/saught" to kill him. That's what throws me off. Thank you Rumely, you always have a way I'm explaining things that puts one to ease. :)
 
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