Exodus 4:21-25
21 And the Lord said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go. 22 And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even my firstborn: 23 And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn. 24 And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the Lord met him, and sought to kill him. 25 Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me.
Say What?
I think we need to look at this a little closer. I lot of people seem to think this passage is saying that the Lord came to kill Moses, for obvious non-compliance with circumcision. Now, I don’t disagree with it having to do with the circumcision rite, but right before this, things appeared to be going well with God and Moses. God didn’t kill Moses even when Moses said thanks for asking me to be the leader of your people, but no thanks. Why would something like this pop up out of the blue?
Let me rehash what I think God told Moses, “Do all the things I told you to do, then tell Pharaoh that Israel is my firstborn.” (Moses needed to stress why God, Himself, was intervening on part of Israel. Then God emphasizes to Moses that Moses needs to pay heed. “23 And I say unto thee (Moses), Let my son go, that he (Moses’ firstborn) may serve me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn.”
So it’s Moses son that the Lord came to kill. Why? Among other things circumcision was a sign that one belonged to God. Moses was about to become the Lawgiver. The Lawgiver had to fulfill the Law that was about to be revealed through Moses.
God knew what the outcome would be. He was making a point here. There is also a connection between the shedding of blood, particularly the firstborn son, in order to fulfill the Law and alleviate from us the consequence of sin. (Praise God that a Son did just that!)