Exodus 4:23-25
New English Translation
23 and I said to you, ‘Let my son go that he may serve[a] me,’ but since you have refused to let him go,[b] I will surely kill[c] your son, your firstborn!”’”
24 Now on the way, at a place where they stopped for the night,[d] the Lord met Moses and sought to kill him.[e] 25 But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off the foreskin of her son and touched it to Moses’ feet,[f] and said, “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood[g] to me.”
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- Exodus 4:23 tn The text uses the imperative, “send out” (שַׁלַּח, shallakh) followed by the imperfect or jussive with the vav (ו) to express purpose.
- Exodus 4:23 tn The Piel infinitive serves as the direct object of the verb, answering the question of what Pharaoh would refuse to do. The command and refusal to obey are the grounds for the announcement of death for Pharaoh’s son.
- Exodus 4:23 tn The construction is very emphatic. The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) gives it an immediacy and a vividness, as if God is already beginning to act. The participle with this particle has the nuance of an imminent future act, as if God is saying, “I am about to kill.” These words are not repeated until the last plague.
- Exodus 4:24 tn Or “at a lodging place” or “at an inn.”
- Exodus 4:24 sn The next section (vv. 24-26) records a rather strange story. God had said that if Pharaoh would not comply he would kill his son—but now God was ready to kill Moses, the representative of Israel, God’s own son. Apparently, one would reconstruct that on the journey Moses fell seriously ill, but his wife, learning the cause of the illness, saved his life by circumcising her son and casting the foreskin at Moses’ feet (indicating that it was symbolically Moses’ foreskin). The point is that this son of Abraham had not complied with the sign of the Abrahamic covenant. No one, according to Exod 12:40-51, would take part in the Passover-exodus who had not complied. So how could the one who was going to lead God’s people not comply? The bold anthropomorphisms and the location at the border invite comparisons with Gen 32, the Angel wrestling with Jacob. In both cases there is a brush with death that could not be forgotten. See also, W. Dumbrell, “Exodus 4:24-25: A Textual Re-examination,” HTR 65 (1972): 285-90; T. C. Butler, “An Anti-Moses Tradition,” JSOT 12 (1979): 9-15; and L. Kaplan, “And the Lord Sought to Kill Him,” HAR 5 (1981): 65-74.
- Exodus 4:25 tn Heb “to his feet.” The referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity. The LXX has “and she fell at his feet” and then “the blood of the circumcision of my son stood.” But it is clear that she caused the foreskin to touch Moses’ feet, as if the one were a substitution for the other, taking the place of the other (see U. Cassuto, Exodus, 60).
- Exodus 4:25 sn U. Cassuto explains that she was saying, “I have delivered you from death, and your return to life makes you my bridegroom a second time, this time my blood bridegroom, a bridegroom acquired through blood” (Exodus, 60-61).
Exodus 4:23-25
New International Version
23 and I told you, “Let my son go,(A) so he may worship(B) me.” But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son.’”(C)
24 At a lodging place on the way, the Lord met Moses[a] and was about to kill(D) him. 25 But Zipporah(E) took a flint knife, cut off her son’s foreskin(F) and touched Moses’ feet with it.[b] “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me,” she said.
Footnotes
- Exodus 4:24 Hebrew him
- Exodus 4:25 The meaning of the Hebrew for this clause is uncertain.
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