February 8 - Moses & Zipporah

February 8 - Moses & Zipporah

You know, as I was growing up and learning the stories of the Bible, it just never occurred to me that Moses had a wife! I was in my 30s at least when I read that passage. I was floored. How did this man find time to have a wife?

Then, it hit me. He had time because they became man and wife BEFORE God met him at the burning bush. Let's see how this played out.

Moses grew up in the Pharoah's home. One day while he was out wandering around, he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew. He murdered the Egyptian and thought he had gotten away with it, because he HAD checked to ensure no one was watching. Wrong. And word got out. Just goes to show, evil deeds can't be hidden forever. Pharoah wanted to kill him, so Moses ran to Midian. He sat down by a well. Again, Moses intervened in a situation that seemed unfair to him.

Jethro, the priest, had 7 daughters. They went to the well to draw water for their father's flock, but shepherds drove them away. Moses came to their rescue and also watered their flock. Zipporah was given to Moses in marriage when he decided to stay with the family. They had a child named Gershon. Moses was tending his father-in-law's flock the day that the angel of the Lord appeared in that burning bush. (Exodus 2:11-3:1)

Now, for some reason ... maybe because Zipporah was a Midianite priest's daughter, Moses did not insist that his son, Gershon be circumcised. That came back and bit him. Moses wants to return to Egypt and his wife and sons were going with him.

One night, at a lodging place (hotels during the time of Moses? really?) the Lord met Moses and was about to kill him. But, Zipporah took a flint knife and circumcised Gershon with it. Then, she touched Moses feet with the foreskin and he was safe from the Lord's wrath.

This gets to be a bit confusing, but in the verses just prior to this action, the Lord had spoken to Moses regarding Pharoah. (Exodus 4:22-23) This was the point where the Lord threatened the life of the Pharoah's first-born son if he didn't let Israel leave Egypt. Now, how would it look if Moses went in there threatening Pharoah's first-born in the name of the Lord of Israel and his own son was not committed to the covenant of circumcision? (Genesis 17:11-14)

Zipporah understood and fixed it between Moses and his Lord. She returned to her people in Midian while Moses was busy getting his people out of Egypt. We next see her in Exodus 18. Jethro brings her back to Moses with their two sons before the Israelites enter the desert.

This is the last we know of her. Moses made an impression on Jethro's daughters at the well that day. We don't know if Zipporah fell in love with him or how it was that Jethro decided she was to be Moses' wife, but she cared for him, even to the point of circumcising their son, an action which would not have been normal in her culture. When it was time for Moses to deal with business, she returned to her father, only to come back to Moses when he faced an arduous journey. Sometimes love is a deep, understanding relationship that offers support when it is needed.