Zipporah's Bloody Bridegroom

24 Now it came about at the lodging place on the way that the Lord met him and sought to put him to death. 25 Then Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son’s foreskin and threw it at Moses’ feet, and she said, “You are indeed a bridegroom of blood to me.” 26 So He let him alone. At that time she said, “You are a bridegroom of blood”—because of the circumcision. (Exodus 4:24-26, NASB 1995)

Who was God trying to kill in Exodus 4:24?

In Exodus 4:24, there is an abrupt shift from God talking to Moses about God’s punishment on Egypt by killing their firstborn sons, to God meeting “him” at a place where Moses, Zipporah, and their sons were spending the night on their journey back to Egypt, and seeking to put “him” to death.

The problem is that the pronoun is not clear. The antecedent, the noun preceding the pronoun and how we would normally determine who the pronoun refers to in English, is the firstborn sons of Egypt, or more generically, a firstborn son. The firstborn son in the narrative is Geshon, Moses’ son. But is that who God is seeking to kill? Maybe. Most commentaries agree that the “him” referred to in this verse that God is seeking to kill is Moses. That God sought to kill Moses because Moses’ son was not circumcised. But maybe it means that God sought to kill Moses’ firstborn son because the son was not circumcised, just as He planned on killing the firstborn sons of Egypt. We don’t know, and very educated Biblical scholars disagree. In fact, verse 20 tells us that Moses had at least two sons with him on the journey, so it might not even have been Gershon, the firstborn, who was not circumcised. It might have been the second born son who was not circumcised, though that is less likely given the context of God killing the firstborn sons of Egypt. There are just too many possible “hims” in this passage to be certain.

Zipporah’s response

In response to God’s anger and the impending death of one of her male family members, Zipporah (Moses’ wife) takes a flint, which is a sharp stone, and performs the circumcision herself. Many commentaries accuse her of being the reason that the son was not circumcised and that Moses had been persuaded by her not to perform this covenant requirement, placing the blame on Zipporah. This interpretation seems to come from the belief that the Midianites did not practice circumcision and from what appears to be Zipporah’s anger at Moses in verse 25 when it says she threw the foreskin at his feet. However, some commentaries state that circumcision was common in Midian, as they were descendants of Abraham’s second wife, Keturah. It strikes me that all these commentaries were written by men, who have never been frustrated at their husbands for not doing something they were supposed to do. Since Zipporah knows exactly what to do, and quickly does it herself, ‌her anger could just as easily have been at Moses for putting them all in this situation by not doing what God had called him to do. In a culture where women had no authority, it would have been the responsibility and authority of the husband to perform the circumcision. Had Zipporah wanted to follow the covenant, she would not have had the power or authority to circumvent Moses, her husband. Whereas Moses, the one with the power and authority, would have been able to obey God whether or not his wife wanted him to.

The commentaries stated Zipporah performs the circumcision and not Moses because he is incapacitated by an illness God was using as He sought to kill him. Possibly. Or maybe it had been Moses all along that had put off or chosen not to circumcise his son, hence why God’s anger was at “him” and not “her.” And Zipporah stepped up and did what her husband was unwilling or unable to do - obey God. And she resented Moses for putting her in that situation. A situation he should have protected her from by obeying God initially.

What do we KNOW happened?

With all this uncertainty and conflicting commentaries, what can we be certain of in this passage? God was angry that Moses’ son was not circumcised. God’s anger came with a terrible price - death. Zipporah stepped up and corrected the wrong, circumcising her son. God’s anger was appeased and “he” was allowed to live. 

Who is the “Bridegroom of Blood?”

At this point in the story, Zipporah refers to someone (presumably Moses, but maybe even God?) as a “bridegroom of blood,” which is a very unusual phrase to modern English readers. This phrase is actually stated twice.

The first time, we are told Zipporah says this when she throws her son’s foreskin at Moses' feet. Thus, we assume she is speaking to her literal bridegroom, Moses. He is now a bridegroom of blood because he required the blood of her son.  However, the second time almost implies she was talking to God. “So He let him alone. At that time she said, “You are a bridegroom of blood” because of the circumcision” (verse 26). Notice that the antecedent of the pronoun ‘You’ in this verse is actually ‘He’, God himself. This might imply that she was now acknowledging the covenant of God with the Israelites and that this bridegroom requires a covenant of blood. This is another one of the uncertainties of this passage. 

What does this mean for us today?

But as Christians, we have our own “bridegroom of blood” in Jesus. He was sealed in the promise of the old covenant with his blood at his own circumcision, which his parents had performed faithfully on the eighth day, as the law required. He then shed his blood for us so that we might be saved from God’s anger at our sin and the death that anger requires. Jesus’ bloody sacrifice appeases God’s anger at us. Thus, Jesus is our bridegroom of blood. 

Ultimately, the details of this brief episode on the way to the Exodus might not matter as much as the picture they paint of a future bloody sacrifice - the atonement of our sins through the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

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