“At a lodging place on the way, the Lord met Moses and was about to kill him.” (Exodus 4:24 NIV)
Wait, what?!? Did we read that? Moses was en route; somewhere between Midian and Egypt. He was getting ready to confront Pharaoh and start the process of freeing the Israelites. But then, at some random campsite in the middle, God met Moses with intent of destruction.
I have old question marks scribbled next to this verse, unresolved inquiries from previous trips through Exodus. But today I can’t brush past it. Why was God ready to kill Moses?
I had noticed Moses’ struggle with excuses in previous chapters. God would ask him to do something and Moses quick put up fences as to why he wasn’t able. Moses was slow to say ‘yes’ to God. Previous preaching reminds me “Obedience is immediate and complete. Anything less is disobedience.” I consider Moses’ cowardice amidst the Hebrews, his disproportionate fear of Pharaoh. Perhaps Moses was not yet ready to face off with the King of Egypt? Maybe he still lacked the follow-through needed to go head to head with a false god?
Yet Yahweh met with Moses in the dark night of the open desert. Whatever “about to kill him” looked like, it’s safe to say it put the fear of God in him. The close brush with God’s wrath moved Moses’ fear to the proper place. After that encounter, Moses was far more concerned with offending God than offending his family (Hebrew or Egyptian). Moses left that campsite quite convinced; he was merely a man in the hands of a holy God.
The next scripture reveals how Moses had been living a life of compromise. His Hebrew son had not yet been circumcised. The sacred rite had been skipped over. Was Zipporah the root of the disobedience? Or had Moses been slow to commit his blood in the covenant with God?
“But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son’s foreskin and touched Moses’ feet with it. “Surely you are a bridegroom to me.” So the Lord let him alone. (At the time she said “bridegroom of blood” referring to the circumcision.)”” (Exodus 4:24 NIV)
Moses couldn’t make another step into his purpose without first reconciling his past. Zipporah couldn’t accompany him on his journey without first acknowledging God fully. Their obedience would beget the obedience of many.
“There is often a point of confrontation in the life of a leader where God demands that they lay aside some area of compromise and will not allow them to progress further until the do.”
(David Guzik)
Moses couldn’t lead God’s people to a place he was unwilling to go to first. He needed to know God as holy, fearful and forgiving. The campsite on the way to Eygpt was just the place to learn that lesson and solidify his absolute ‘yes’ to God.
“God puts His finger on the one thing we won’t surrender and says, “You have to be all in. The retention scuttles the whole covenant. Yes, I have called you but I will board you if you will not surrender all.””
(Live Dead Joy, Dick Brogden)
Lord, what about us? What are we holding back? Where are we still on the fence? Make us sure of Your holy, fearful and forgiving nature. Let our obedience be both immediate and complete. We say ‘yes’ to You today. Amen.