Exodus 4:24

_AND IT CAME TO PASS BY THE WAY IN THE INN, THAT THE LORD MET HIM, AND SOUGHT TO KILL HIM._ Inn - Hebrew, the inn; a halting-place for the night. SOUGHT TO KILL HIM - i:e., he was either overwhelmed with mental distress or overtaken by a sudden and dangerous malady. The narrative is obscure; but the meaning seems to be, that, led during his illness to a strict self-examination, Moses was deeply pained and grieved at the thought of having, to please his wife, postponed or neglected the circumcision of one of his sons, probably the younger. To dishonour that sign and seal of the covenant was criminal in any Hebrew, peculiarly so in one destined to be the leader and deliverer of the Hebrews; and he seems to have felt his sickness as a merited chastisement for the sinful omission. Concerned for her husband's safety, Zipporah overcomes her maternal feelings of aversion to the painful rite,...

24._And it came to pass by the way. _The expression, “the Lord met him,” is here used in a bad sense, for an adverse meeting, or hostile encounter; as though Moses should say that the hand of the Lord was against him to interrupt his journey. In what form He appeared we know not, except that the words pretty plainly imply that Moses was assured of His anger, so as to be aware that his death was near. For had he not been instructed by revelation or by an angel, it would not have at all profited him to be shewn the impending danger. Nevertheless the cause is not expressed for which he perceived that God was so angry with him; except that we may gather it from what follows. For why should Zipporah have taken a sharp stone or knife and circumcised her son, had she not known that God was offended at his uncircumcision? Certain Rabbins, then, are unwise in their conjecture, that Moses had prov...

24-31 God met Moses in anger. The Lord threatened him with death or sent sickness upon him, as the punishment of his having neglected to circumcise his son. When God discovers to us what is amiss in our lives, we must give all diligence to amend it speedily. This is the voice of every rod; it calls us to return to Him that smites us. God sent Aaron to meet Moses. The more they saw of God's bringing them together, the more pleasant their interview was. The elders of Israel met them in faith, and were ready to obey them. It often happens, that less difficulty is found than was expected, in such undertakings as are according to the will of God, and for his glory. Let us but arise and try at our proper work, the Lord will be with us and prosper us. If Israel welcomed the tidings of their deliverance, and worshipped the Lord, how should we welcome the glad tidings of redemption, embrace it in...

Verse Exodus 4:24. _BY THE WAY IN THE INN_] Genesis 42:27. The account in this and the following verse is very obscure. Some suppose that the Exodus 4:23 is not a part of the message to Pharaoh, but was spoken by the Lord to Moses; and that the whole may be thus paraphrased: "_And I have said unto thee_, (Moses,) _Send_ _forth_ שלח shallach, my son, (Gershom, by circumcising him,) _that he may serve me_, (which he cannot do till entered into the covenant by circumcision,) but thou hast refused to send him forth; _behold_, (therefore,) _I will slay thy son, thy first-born_. _And it came to pass by the way in the inn_, (when he was on his journey to Egypt,) that Jehovah met him, and sough...

IN THE INN - Or “resting place.” See Genesis 42:27 note. MET HIM, AND SOUGHT TO KILL HIM - Moses was attacked by a sudden and dangerous illness, which he knew was inflicted by God. The word “sought to kill” implies that the sickness, whatever might be its nature, was one which threatened death had it not been averted by a timely act. Zipporah believed that the illness of Moses was due to his having neglected the duty of an Israelite, and to his not having circumcised his own son; the delay was probably owing to her own not unnatural repugnance to a rite, which though practiced by the Egyptians, was not adopted generally in the East, even by the descendants of Abraham and Keturah. Moses appears to have been utterly prostrate and unable to perform the rite himself....

EXPOSITION EXODUS 4:18-2 If Moses had, as we have supposed, been accepted into the Midianitish nation, he would need permission to withdraw himself from the tribal head. This head was now Jether, or Jethro, Moses' connexion by marriage, perhaps his brother-in-law, perhaps a less near connexion. Nations and tribes were at this time anxious to keep up their numbers, and jealous of the desertion even of a single member. Jethro, however, made no opposition to the return of Moses to Egypt, even though he designed to be accompanied by his wife and sons (Exodus 4:20). Scripture gives no indications of the motives which actuated him. Perhaps the Midianites were at this time straitened for want of room. Perhaps the peculiar circumstances of Moses were held to justify his applicatio

AND IT CAME TO PASS BY THE WAY, IN THE INN,.... As Moses and his family were travelling in their way to Egypt, at an inn where they stopped for the refreshment of themselves and cattle, or in order to lodge all night: so it was, that the Lord met him, and sought to kill him; not the uncircumcised son of Moses, as some think, but Moses himself, who had neglected the circumcision of his son; that from the context, and the fact of Zipporah, after related, seems to be the reason of the divine displeasure, and not his bringing his family with him, supposed to be an hinderance of him in his work, nor of his staying too long at the inn, and not hastening his journey, which are the reasons given by some: and Moses's neglect of circumcision was not owing to the disuse of it among the Midianites, who being the descendants of Abraham, it is highly probable they retained this rite, and that it was u...

KILL HIM (Cf) (Genesis 17:14) The context (Genesis 4:25) interprets v. 25. Moses was forgetful of the very foundation sign of Israel's covenant relation to Jehovah. On the eve of delivering Israel he was thus reminded that without circumcision an Israelite was cut off from the covenant. (Joshua 5:3)....

CHAPTER 4:1-28 MOSES' OBJECTIONS, JEHOVAH'S ANSWER AND THE RETURN TO EGYPT _ 1. The first objection (Exodus 4:1)_ 2. The two signs and Jehovah's assurance (Exodus 4:2) 3. The second objection (Exodus 4:10) 4. Jehovah's answer (Exodus 4:11) 5. Moses' request (Exodus 4:13) 6. Jehovah's anger and answer (Exodus 4:14) 7. The command to return to Egypt (Exodus 4:18

EXODUS 4:24 J. MOSES THREATENED WITH DEATH DECAUSE UNCIRCUMCISED. This is an old and strange boulder of tradition. The incident here follows Exodus 4:20 a. It appears to relate in strongly anthropomorphic phrase a grave illness which Moses's wife interpreted as a punishment for neglect of the rite of circumcision, and remedied by symbolically substituting the circumcision of his son. The rite appears here as one preliminary to marriage, and not in the milder form of Genesis 17*, administered in infancy (_cf._ pp. 83, 99f.). The use of flint is, no doubt, a survival of an archaic practice, begun before metal knives were in use (Joshua 5:2 *). Ritual is ever conservative....