The NXR Podcast - QUESTIONS - Why Did God Almost Kill Moses In Exodus 4_24-26？

00:00:00.000 reading from exodus chapter 4 verse 19 through 26 are we given any indication as to why god

00:00:09.660 decides he wants to kill moses after he sends him back to egypt from i guess jess uh jeff um yeah

00:00:17.620 so i i've looked up some stuff to answer this question jeff you've asked it several times it's

00:00:21.820 a great question sorry i haven't been able to get to it sooner let's go ahead and look at the text

00:00:25.880 Let's start with verse 21, Exodus chapter four, verse 21.

00:00:29.760 And the Lord said to Moses, when you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all

00:00:35.760 the miracles that I have put in your power, but I will harden his heart, Pharaoh's heart,

00:00:41.000 so that he will not let the people go.

00:00:43.380 Then you shall say to Pharaoh, thus says the Lord, Israel is my firstborn son.

00:00:48.240 And I say to you, let my son go that he might serve me. 0.99

00:00:51.920 If you refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn. 1.00

00:00:55.880 son. Then verse 24, this is what you're getting at. At a lodging place on the way, the Lord met 1.00

00:01:01.580 Moses and sought, it says met him, but I believe it's Moses, met him and sought to put him to death. 0.84

00:01:10.080 Then Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son's foreskin and touched Moses' feet with it and said, 0.86

00:01:16.920 surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me. So he let him alone. It was then that she said, 0.94

00:01:26.320 Zipporah, a bridegroom of blood because of the circumcision. Okay. Yeah. It's a good question 0.91

00:01:33.400 because it is a confusing passage. Let me read a little bit of commentary that I've got from John

00:01:37.320 Gill. So I was looking it up. John Gill, he was the Reformed Baptist pastor in the same church

00:01:43.420 that Charles Spurgeon was the pastor of,

00:01:45.300 and Charles Spurgeon was 100 years later.

00:01:47.840 John Gill is arguably, I think,

00:01:49.540 one of the greatest Reformed Baptist theologians

00:01:52.280 that we have in church history.

00:01:55.480 So here's some of his commentary

00:01:57.180 on this very difficult text.

00:01:59.780 He says, so it was that the Lord met him

00:02:02.660 and sought to kill him,

00:02:04.860 not the uncircumcised son of Moses.

00:02:07.860 So first we have to determine who is him, right? 0.62

00:02:10.340 The Lord met him and sought to kill him.

00:02:12.080 him could be Moses' son. And some theologians and biblical commentators have come to that

00:02:17.920 conclusion. But John Gill is saying, and I agree with him, that the him is not Moses' son, but

00:02:22.640 Moses himself. So the Lord met him, being Moses, and sought to kill him. Not the uncircumcised son

00:02:29.780 of Moses, as some have thought, but Moses himself, who had neglected the circumcision of his son.

00:02:35.980 that from the context and the fact that zipporah after related seems to be the reason of the divine

00:02:42.540 displeasure why was god angry and seeking to put moses to death apparently from the text because

00:02:48.000 moses had neglected to circumcise his son and not hit and not so the divine displeasure being in

00:02:55.760 relation to moses neglecting to circumcise his son rather than god being displeased because of

00:03:01.580 Moses' choice to bring his family with him, supposed to be a hindrance of him in his work,

00:03:07.680 right? There are a lot of commentators. The reason why John Gill is dismantling that as an option is

00:03:12.340 because there were a lot of commentators that that was their conclusion, that the Lord was

00:03:16.180 displeased with Moses because God had called him to go to Egypt, to preach to Pharaoh, to perform

00:03:20.900 all these miracles and signs and wonders, and to tell Pharaoh that Israel is God's firstborn son,

00:03:26.860 and to let his son go that he might serve him.

00:03:30.060 And God was displeased with Moses

00:03:31.580 because God had called him to ministry,

00:03:33.640 but Moses was trying to bring his family

00:03:35.360 along with him into ministry.

00:03:37.480 And his family would slow him down and be a hindrance. 0.90

00:03:39.780 And that's why God sought to put him to death.

00:03:41.780 Some commentators have concluded that.

00:03:43.580 I would say that that is not correct.

00:03:45.600 John Gill would also say that is not correct.

00:03:47.700 God was not displeased with Moses

00:03:49.200 because he was bringing his family with him in his ministry.

00:03:53.080 God was displeased with Moses from what we can tell

00:03:55.620 because he was not functioning properly as the federal head of his family in circumcising his

00:04:03.560 son, okay? Nor of his staying too long at the end. Some have said Moses was staying in the end too

00:04:09.780 long. He was delaying out of cowardice, right? Because this is the same Moses who just a little

00:04:14.260 bit earlier said, well, God, I can't go. I can't be your mouthpiece because I'm slow of speech.

00:04:20.780 And the Lord says, is it not I, the Lord who makes man mute?

00:04:25.000 God's saying, I make the healthy.

00:04:26.540 I also make the disabled. 1.00

00:04:27.820 I make the sick. 1.00

00:04:28.900 I've called you to go and I'm going to be with you and you're going to obey.

00:04:32.660 Stop hesitating.

00:04:33.680 Stop making excuses.

00:04:35.420 Obey me.

00:04:36.320 Okay.

00:04:36.820 And so some have said, well, Moses was staying in this inn on his way to Egypt too long.

00:04:41.220 He was again, still cowardly and hesitating. 0.82

00:04:44.040 And that's why the Lord sought to put him to death. 0.97

00:04:46.000 I don't think that's it either.

00:04:47.500 Okay.

00:04:47.740 Let me read a little bit more.

00:04:48.620 and not hastening his journey,

00:04:50.820 which are some of the reasons given by some.

00:04:52.740 Okay, so that's one thing that John Gill says is,

00:04:55.000 who is the him that the Lord is seeking to put to death?

00:04:57.240 It's not Moses' son, who's uncircumcised,

00:04:59.760 but rather Moses himself.

00:05:01.660 And why is the Lord displeased with him,

00:05:03.560 seeking to put him to death?

00:05:04.940 Because he is slowing his journey, 0.84

00:05:08.360 because he is exercising delayed obedience,

00:05:11.460 which would be disobedience by staying at the inn too long

00:05:14.280 or hindering his ministry by bringing along his family.

00:05:17.260 no no the lord is displeased because he has not circumcised his son and i think that's clear from

00:05:22.860 the context because the lord uh the lord leaves moses alone so to speak uh the lord uh lifts

00:05:30.880 this whatever it was that was was going to kill moses the thing that the thing that where moses

00:05:37.500 and his wife zipporah were able to conclude that the lord is seeking to put him to death

00:05:41.200 the Lord stopped seeking to put Moses to death. When what happened? When Zipporah circumcised

00:05:47.760 their son and threw the bloody foreskin at the feet of Moses and touched his feet with it and 0.95

00:05:54.780 said, a bloody bridegroom, behold. So Zipporah, she took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin 0.96

00:06:02.080 of her son, perceiving that it was the neglect of, again, reading from John Gill, the neglect

00:06:07.360 of circumcision of her son that was the cause of the divine displeasure against her husband

00:06:13.020 and he being either so ill through the disease upon him that was that was threatening to take

00:06:20.840 his life or here's another option um so ill because um so ill through the disease upon him

00:06:28.120 or so terrified with the appearance of the lord or the angel of the lord to him in the manner that

00:06:34.840 it was that he could not perform this right himself. So Zipporah undertook it. So even in

00:06:41.280 that, again, John Gill, and I would agree with him, this is not meant to say that Moses didn't

00:06:46.860 circumcise his son and Moses is still refusing to circumcise his son. And so Zipporah is now

00:06:52.880 choosing to go against her husband's will, Moses' will being not to circumcise their son, 0.57

00:07:00.180 but Zipporah going against her husband's will in order to submit to God's will to circumcise

00:07:04.880 their son. That's not what's being said. It seems implicit in the text that Moses,

00:07:10.980 because that wouldn't have spared Moses' life. If God is displeased with Moses to the point

00:07:16.280 of seeking to take his life, that the Lord sought to put him to death because of Moses' sin of

00:07:21.260 neglecting to circumcise his son, and Moses still doesn't want to circumcise his son,

00:07:25.680 and Zipporah is doing it against Moses' will, that would not save Moses' life.

00:07:30.180 so what's implicit is that the reason why the lord spares moses spares his life is because moses was

00:07:37.100 in disobedience but now is in obedience so it's very likely that moses actually told zipporah to

00:07:43.420 go and circumcise their son which then brings up the question why can't moses do it himself

00:07:48.920 because ordinarily the father would do this well implicitly what john gill's getting at is moses

00:07:54.300 probably did not have the physical ability to do it because the lord was seeking his life seeking

00:07:59.920 to take Moses' life, meaning that the Lord was either doing it directly from an angel

00:08:06.140 in a supernatural sense, or the Lord was doing it providentially through illness or some

00:08:11.640 kind of sickness.

00:08:12.660 But in both cases, either by Moses being physically paralyzed by fear, if it was a supernatural

00:08:18.940 route of an angel threatening to take Moses' life, like the angel that appears to Joshua,

00:08:24.740 remember later on and holding a sword and joshua falls on his face in fear prostrate and and ask

00:08:31.300 are you for us or against us neither i am for the lord um it could be that it could be that

00:08:36.500 moses could not circumcise his son but his heart he was willing his will was there to obey the lord

00:08:42.040 he recognized i i was in disobedience neglecting to do something god had commanded me to do

00:08:46.780 and i want to put it right but i'm just physically not able to do it so my wife is going to do it for

00:08:51.480 me. I'm physically unable because I'm either paralyzed by fear because of the supernatural

00:08:55.500 threat on my life from an angel or paralyzed physically from illness because of God's,

00:09:02.420 again, a divine threat on my life, but providentially through sickness. Okay.

00:09:08.060 Last thing from John Gill. Then Zipporah gave praise and said, how amiable, this is John Gill's

00:09:14.460 interpretation of the bloody bridegroom. What does that mean? How amiable, how likable, how pleasant

00:09:20.780 is the blood of circumcision, which hath delivered my husband from the hand of the destroying 0.78

00:09:27.460 angel. I have a bloody bridegroom, a bridegroom of blood, meaning I have a bridegroom, my husband, 0.78

00:09:35.540 the bridegroom, I have a husband who has been atoned for by blood. That's what Zipporah is 0.97

00:09:42.440 saying. So she says, surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me. Meaning surely you are a bridegroom 0.92

00:09:48.580 God, it's basically what Zipporah is getting at is stop with, you know, for a second, put aside 0.78

00:09:55.440 the blood factor and just a bridegroom for me or to me. Well, he was already her groom. Moses was 0.86

00:10:02.980 already her husband. Surely you are a husband to me. Well, of course, like why is that revelation

00:10:08.080 novel? Why is that new after this experience? Well, I think the reason why it's novel, why

00:10:12.760 Zipporah is saying this is she's saying, surely you're a bridegroom to me, meaning I've got

00:10:18.540 my husband back. You've been returned to me, which again implies that Moses was on his deathbed.

00:10:25.180 He was an inch from the grave. Again, whether it be supernatural fear from the angel of the Lord

00:10:30.100 holding a sword before him, threatening to chop him down, or whether it be some kind of

00:10:36.460 terrible sickness that was threatening his life, some kind of terminal sickness that he was an inch

00:10:42.680 away from death. In both cases, Zipporah, the reason why she's saying, surely you're a bridegroom 0.64

00:10:47.200 to me. What she's saying is, not surely you're my husband. Like she just recognized that Moses was

00:10:52.120 her husband. She already knew that. But what she's saying is, surely my husband, praise God,

00:10:57.240 I get to keep my husband. Surely my husband has been restored to me. My husband who was,

00:11:04.780 for all intents and purposes, every sign was pointing to the fact that he was going to die,

00:11:09.040 that I was going to lose my husband. He is now returned to me. Okay, so that's what she's saying.

00:11:13.780 She's saying, surely you are a restored bridegroom, a restored husband to me.

00:11:19.140 I've gotten my husband back from the jaws of death.

00:11:22.200 But she doesn't just say that.

00:11:23.420 Now we're ready for the blood component.

00:11:25.140 Surely you are a restored, revived husband of blood to me.

00:11:31.220 So what is she saying?

00:11:32.820 I think in simple, what she's saying is she's saying, surely my husband who was about to

00:11:38.020 die has been revived and given back to me.

00:11:41.100 and he has been given back to me because of blood,

00:11:45.920 because his sins have been atoned by blood.

00:11:50.520 And so all that being said,

00:11:52.000 why did the Lord seek to put him to death, right? 0.86

00:11:53.940 The Lord just called Moses to be his mouthpiece to Pharaoh

00:11:57.300 and to do signs and wonders.

00:11:58.680 And so you're right, it seems random.

00:11:59.800 It's like God just set up Moses to be this hero in Israel,

00:12:03.200 to be the deliverer.

00:12:04.460 And then all of a sudden in the very next breath,

00:12:07.080 and the Lord sought to kill Moses.

00:12:09.560 The Lord calls Moses, and then the Lord seeks to kill Moses, and it does seem random.

00:12:14.560 It's hard to understand, but I think the reason why is because the Lord just called Moses, 0.98

00:12:18.780 but Moses better obey.

00:12:21.460 The Lord, yes, the Lord just appointed Moses to be a deliverer of Israel, his mouthpiece

00:12:25.720 to Pharaoh, to perform mighty works and signs and wonders.

00:12:29.500 All this is true, but the Lord just ordained Moses, we could say, but an ordained man who

00:12:37.920 has been ordained by the Lord to ministry, he better live in accordance with that.

00:12:42.920 He better meet those qualifications.

00:12:45.100 He better, if he's been called by God to talk the talk, to preach, to be a mouthpiece, he

00:12:50.020 better also walk the walk.

00:12:51.820 And I think that's what the Lord is doing with Moses.

00:12:53.700 He's saying, I just called you, but lest you get presumptuous, do not think that because

00:13:00.040 I've supernaturally called you and equipped you to perform signs and wonders, do not think

00:13:04.840 that that means that you're a free agent.

00:13:06.940 You work for me, and you abide by my law. 0.83

00:13:10.140 And I told you to circumcise that boy.

00:13:12.020 You know that. 0.95

00:13:13.080 That's what I told to Abraham and your fathers. 0.95

00:13:16.400 And you were to circumcise him on the eighth day. 0.71

00:13:19.580 And I don't want to hear your excuses. 0.94

00:13:21.560 On the eighth day, you were to circumcise an Israelite boy, and you neglected to do it. 0.77

00:13:26.540 And I take holiness seriously. 0.99

00:13:28.760 Yes, you're going to be my mouthpiece.

00:13:30.540 But if you're going to be my mouthpiece, you're going to be a holy mouthpiece. 0.73

00:13:33.420 because in the same way I will not spare Pharaoh in Egypt, 0.61

00:13:37.180 I also will not spare you. 0.69

00:13:38.660 I will not tolerate an enemy, a threat of holiness.

00:13:44.680 I will not tolerate sin.

00:13:47.020 And so whether by illness

00:13:49.120 or whether by supernatural and angel,

00:13:51.380 Moses was, it's not just that he was threatened to be killed,

00:13:54.680 but he was on his way to death.

00:13:57.580 He was an inch away from losing his life

00:13:59.820 to the point where he, obviously,

00:14:03.040 the way that his life was spared

00:14:04.300 is his heart realigns through that threat,

00:14:06.820 through the Lord's discipline of Moses,

00:14:08.380 his heart realigns with obedience.

00:14:10.420 So Zipporah is not acting against her husband's will, 0.59

00:14:12.920 but Moses wants the boy to be circumcised,

00:14:15.200 but he's so heavily under God's discipline

00:14:18.080 that the physical results of that

00:14:22.160 is that he can't even physically

00:14:23.620 perform the circumcision himself. 0.96

00:14:25.640 But Zipporah does, 0.97

00:14:26.420 and then she throws the bloody foreskin 0.99

00:14:29.060 at Moses' feet, on his feet

00:14:30.980 and it's as though the angel of the Lord,

00:14:33.960 whether it be sickness or a literal angel,

00:14:35.900 this angel of death, the angel of the Lord

00:14:37.640 passes over Moses and his life is spared

00:14:40.400 because it's atoned for, his sin is atoned for by blood.

00:14:44.060 And in this, really what we see is the gospel.

00:14:47.060 That's what we see. 0.90

00:14:47.940 Hebrews says that there is no forgiveness of sin 0.93

00:14:51.000 apart from blood.

00:14:52.800 There is no forgiveness of sin apart from blood.

00:14:54.540 And Moses' son, it's his blood, it's his blood in this circumcision that is used ultimately 0.56

00:15:02.800 to atone for Moses' sin.

00:15:05.100 And is it not the blood of God's own son?

00:15:08.460 Better than Moses' son and his blood in circumcision, we have God's own son, Jesus, and his blood

00:15:14.940 in crucifixion.

00:15:16.260 Not just his foreskin, but bleeding out and dying.

00:15:19.340 And it's the blood of Christ, and only the blood of Christ, that causes death to pass

00:15:24.820 over, the angel of death to pass over, that brings us back, that revives us, that brings

00:15:30.360 us to spiritual life.

00:15:32.000 The wages of sin is death, and there is no forgiveness of sin, but by blood.

00:15:37.820 And that's what we see right here.

00:15:39.760 Hopefully that answers your question.

00:15:41.460 Big news, really big news.

00:15:44.560 Our next Right Response Conference is in the works.

00:15:47.520 We've got a number of things already lined up and organized.

00:15:51.120 This is what we've got so far.

00:15:52.620 The whole conference, three days long on post-millennialism and theonomy.

00:15:58.200 And the speakers, Dr. James White, Dr. Joseph Boot, Gary DeMar, and of course, yours truly,

00:16:05.700 Pastor Joel Webin.

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00:16:08.800 We've got great topics.

00:16:10.180 If you want to find out dates and location and registration and anything else, go and

00:16:16.040 visit our website.

00:16:16.840 rightresponseconference.com, rightresponseconference.com.

The NXR Podcast - September 03, 2022

QUESTIONS - Why Did God Almost Kill Moses In Exodus 4_24-26？

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