A Curious Comment

 

Forty years had passed since Moses fled Egypt. Now an eighty-year-old shepherd tending to his father-in-law’s herd, Moses, living in the land of Midian, was married and the father of two boys.

This was when he encountered God in the burning bush.

God commanded Moses to return to Egypt with the assurance, “It is safe for you to go back to Egypt now. The men who wanted to kill you are now dead.” (Exodus 4:19 ERV)

Moses took his family, put them on a donkey and set out for the place where his story began. (v 20). His assignment, to free God’s people from slavery.

But I will harden his heart so he will refuse to let the people go. Then you will tell him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son. I commanded you, “Let my son go, so he can worship me.” But since you have refused, I will now kill your firstborn son!’” – Exodus 4:21-23 (NLT)

Think on what God declares here that anyone who refuses to “let the people go”, their firstborn son will be killed.

The story continues.

But it came about at the overnight encampment on the way, that the Lord met Moses, and sought to put him to death. (v 24 NASB)

The Lord sought to put Moses to death? This makes no sense, some crucial parts between the verses must be written in invisible ink.

Remember, this devotion is titled “A Curious Comment”. Yes, verse 24 is cause to wonder, however, it is not the most curious.

The story continues with verses 25 and 26 in the NASB translation which reads,

So Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son’s foreskin and threw it at Moses’ feet; and she said, 

here it comes,

“You are indeed a groom of blood to me!” 

What just happened? And what a curious comment to make.

So He [God] left him alone. At that time she said, “You are a groom of blood”— because of the circumcision.

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

By now you ought to be puzzled by what has unfolded in what first seemed to be an innocuous story.

We can safely conclude that the “him” who God sought to put to death was not Moses. Moses did not refuse to let God’s people go and he was not a firstborn son. Moses was his birth parent’s third child.

So, who had refused, and who was this firstborn son?

In this whole narrative, there are only two people who fit the bill. Let’s figure out the latter. The only firstborn that we know for sure, is Zipporah’s son. But why would God seek to kill him? Numbers 23:19 holds the answer,

God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through? (NLT)

This is why.

Earlier, I told you to think on Exodus 4:21-23. God declared a thing and He has to carry it through.

Okay, before the Moses family even left for Egypt, before Moses even met Pharoah, there was one person who, if you read Exodus chapter 4 carefully, had a hard heart – Moses’ father-in-law.

Beloved, there’s so much to this story that it requires more than one blog post. It’s filled with intrigue and bacchanal.

It was Zipporah’s father who refused to let them go. Like Pharaoh, he was stubborn. He, a man, was a liar, he pretended to agree to Moses’ first request. Then on their way out of Midian, as a human, he changed his mind, forcing God to enact what He had spoken.

But, but, but wait a minute. If Zipporah’s father refused to let them go, then why kill Moses’ firstborn son?

Let’s look back a bit.

Moses accepted the invitation, and he settled there with him. In time, Reuel gave Moses his daughter Zipporah to be his wife. Later she gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom, for he explained, “I have been a foreigner in a foreign land.” – Exodus 2:21-22 (NLT)

Zipporah gave birth to a son, her firstborn, who was also the firstborn son of the man who refused.

Who was the man who refused?

Zipporah’s comment, “You are indeed a groom of blood to me!”, is curious but this whole story is even more so.

Let’s continue this story another day. Amen?

Amen †

Shelley Johnson “A Curious Comment” © August 25, 2025