A Curious Comment Part Four

 

But why out of the seven did he choose Zipporah?

Moses agreed to settle down there with the man, who then gave his daughter Zipporah (Bird) to him for his wife. – Exodus 2:21 (MSG)

In Luke 5:4 we read,

Now go out where it is deeper (NLT) Here, Jesus was speaking to Simon (Peter).

Too many of us prefer to remain on shore or venture only to where the water gently laps the sand; it’s where we feel safe or most comfortable, and that’s okay. But Jesus Himself tells us to “go out where it is deeper”.

Are you ready? If not, remain where you are, in your comfort zone, on the surface of the pages. If you are ready, let’s dive right in…under the surface where the words come alive.

Zipporah was already pregnant.

Wait, wait, before you, like Haman did for Mordecai, build a gallows for me, stay under the surface of the words for a while longer.

Let us move forward in bible time to 2 Samuel chapter 11. David and Bathsheba. Remember? David has his way with Bathsheba while her husband, Uriah, is away fighting in David’s army.

Later she sent word to David: “I’m pregnant.”

And what did David try to do? Remember? David called Uriah back home and tells him to have relations with his wife, because king David’s plan was to pass this baby off as Uriah’s to avoid the scandal.

Ezekiel chapter 22 tells us of all the lewd activities that were commonly practiced in those days and after Moses lead the Israelites out of Egypt, God’s commandments in Leviticus 18, condemned and forbade their incestuous sexual conduct. And these people were Israelites.

At that time there was no Christianity, no Holy Spirit indwelling to convict. There was the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob worshipped by the Israelites and there were gods, worshipped by Gentiles.

Reuel and his daughters were Midianites. Gentiles. You may argue saying “But Abraham was his grandfather” and you are correct, but his father Midian was cast away by Abraham (Genesis 25:1-6). Midianites worshipped multiple gods. Reuel was an idol worshipping priest, owner of an idolatrous temple, which more than likely, as was customary, would have housed temple prostitutes.

There is no mention of Reuel’s wife, or the mother of his seven daughters. It would not have been uncommon for Reuel to have an incestuous relationship with one or all of his daughters.

Moses himself, before Exodus chapter 3, did not know God either. For all intents and purposes, he was an Egyptian, educated in Egyptian ways and customs, after all he was only 3 months old when he was given to Pharoah’s daughter to be raised as her son.

Beloved, understand that these biblical characters were real people living at a real time in history.

Stay under the surface of the words for a while longer.

Zipporah was already pregnant.

Reuel, the priest, saw Moses as a solution to his problems. It wasn’t just about sheep.

If David’s initial plan hadn’t failed, Uriah would have believed that the baby Bathsheba was carrying was his.

Moses believed that Gershom was his son, his firstborn son, but Moses did not “refuse to let him go”

God had spoken,

And I say to you, Let My son go, that he may serve Me; and if you refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay your son, your firstborn. – Exodus 4:23 (AMPC)

Zipporah understood what was about to happen, her father was refusing to let them go and she knew the truth.

Stay under the surface of the words for a while longer.

And it came to pass on the way, at the encampment, that the Lord met him and sought to kill him. Then Zipporah took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son and cast it at Moses’ feet, and said, “Surely you are a husband of blood to me!” So He let him go. Then she said, “You are a husband of blood!”—because of the circumcision. – Exodus 4:24-26 (NKJV)

So, beloved, we are back where we started.

Zipporah’s curious comment, spoken not once but twice. She calls her husband, “a husband of blood” after she performs her son’s circumcision.

But before we even get to Zipporah’s curious comment, we need to fathom her curious action.

A 40-year-old man’s mother performs his circumcision. Why? And, as a Midianite, how did she know to do so? This is yet another one of those things Scripture dose not spell out for us.

Was it instinctive? A woman’s intuition? A gut feeling? Or was it something else? The Lord was there, at the encampment. Could the Lord have spoken to her? We are not told.

“It is the glory of God to conceal a matter…” – Proverbs 25:2 (HCSB)

Just as God spoke to Hagar, the Egyptian mother of Ishmael, so too He may have spoken to Gershom’s Midianite mother. Somehow, Zipporah knew exactly what needed to be done to save her son’s life and she did not hesitate to cut off his foreskin. After which the Lord “let him go”

Gershom’s circumcision was necessary for them to be “cut off” from Midian. They could not move forward into this new beginning without this separation. A cutting off that was at once literal and symbolic.

And, with his mother’s act of courage, Gershom was no longer “Stranger” but a Jew, he belonged, he belonged to a new tribe – Israel – he belonged to God; he was now Moses’ son.

Zipporah saved them all, Gershom, her son, Moses, her husband, Eliezer and herself. They were all set free from bondage to Jethro and to Midian. This was a foreshadow of what was to come.

Beloved, God speaks to all individuals in different ways, both Jew and Gentile, slave and free.

Stay under the surface of the words for a while longer.

“Surely you are a husband of blood to me!” …Then she said, “You are a husband of blood!”—because of the circumcision

Zipporah’s act had also cut off her tie to her incestuous father, her blood relative. The removal of the foreskin in circumcision represents the removal of sin. Her action enabled her disconnection from that sinful act and the sinful nation of Midian and its idolatry. Every blood tie was now severed for herself and for her son. God had set them free. She too belonged.  

She cast the foreskin – her sin – not at the feet of her earthly husband but at the feet of the Lord, the Bridegroom, her “husband of blood” to whom she was now tied, “because of the circumcision”.

Zipporah was not speaking to Moses when she made that curious comment; she was crying out to the Lord who was there with them. She was making a declaration to the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses and Gershom.

She broke with her sin-filled past. She was now connected to God. When Zipporah circumcised Gershom’s foreskin, her heart was also circumcised (see Jeremiah 4:4). Hers was an inner circumcision, made, unseen, by the hand of God.

Bird was now free.

photo courtesy O'Reilly Lewis

Beloved, never be afraid to “go out where it is deeper”, for you do not know where the Lord will take you. Proverbs 25:2 continues, “and the glory of kings to investigate a matter”

Amen †

 

Shelley Johnson “A Curious Comment Part Four” © August 27, 2025