Bible /chat Episode 203: Zipporah, Moses and Exodus 4:24-26

[Music] welcome to bible study chat kevin hi hello it's good to see you wow that was quick and relatively rigid it's like i knew this was coming there really is a little script how did i get here how did i get here why am i sitting here yes you look incredibly nice uh that's a nice colored shirt i look not as nice nice no i don't i'm just fantastic but black fits me because it's it's the whatever that means anyway we'll leave that one alone it's because i'm chubby it's all right nothing else fits me you know what color i look great in nothing skin tone skin color no stay tuned for the next bible slash chat no i'm just kidding um anyway so we have an interesting topic about let's talk about skin go ahead let's talk about circumcision that's good it's in the bible folks it is okay so we had a really yes we had a really good question actually actually this is a remarkable question those young men are churches i can't say names just out of principle but we but we had a question from a very young person in our church who was thinking deeply about the text of scripture which which just on a base level super important that's awesome oh i'm reading something in the bible that seems so crazy and he's thinking to himself how can god allow this why where does this come from god right so um he has some really really important question and it's out of the book of exodus so there's a story in the book of exodus um that in verse exodus chapter 4 verse 24 it says that now it came about at the lodging place on the way that the lord met him and sought to put him to death now this is talking about moses so what's going on in exodus chapter four so moses is going into egypt right and he's gonna now go and confront pharaoh god has called him to this role of confrontation and to lead the people of israel out he moses has our has already been given the signs that he's going to do he's argued with god about whether or not he can speak well all that stuff's already happened and he now has told to go into egypt so god says go in do this thing i want you to bring the people out and specifically with verse you know verses 22 and 23 right prior to that it's basically say to pharaoh yahweh you know thus says yahweh israel is my son my firstborn so i say to you let my son go that he may serve me but you have refused to let him go behold i will kill your son your first part so it's this context of sunshine yeah sunship and position yeah exactly good and so moses now uh has been how many years in the wilderness wandering around as an authority 40 years in the bullets this is this is proof positive that you're really not useful for god until you're old the um he's been 40 years in the wilderness i'm 44 right now so yeah that's a long time in the wilderness yes so he spent 40 years as a sheep herder and during that time he's married this midianite woman named zappora and she's we don't know that much about her but this context all of a sudden she shows up right so it says that god is trying to put to death moses he's at a lodging place on the way to egypt now we don't know anything about the lodging place and we don't know what it means that the lord met him and sought to put him to death in some capacity something has happened where moses is aware that god is trying to take his life so what's going on there why would he try to do that well verse 25 sort of gives us some context about what's happening it says then zapora took a flint and cut off her son's foreskin and threw it at moses's feet and she said you are indeed a bridegroom of blood to me okay so so we have set now this very intense moment right so what's going on here well they've obviously had a son right and he's of age at some at least old enough for these things to be happening um it says she circumcises her son and she takes the foreskin and she throws it at moses's feet and essentially like uh like insults him scoffs him right she's angry at him and then it says verse 26 so he let him alone in other words in other words god left moses alone and he's no longer pursuing him to put him to death he were the capital agency he was a capital agent exactly so what's going on there what's happening in the context well there's a couple things right the first thing is that we see that there's something going on with circumcision that's happened that's caused this situation to occur with god right because before god meets him to put him to death after the son is circumcised he no longer is doing that right so moses had not circumcised his sons why is that a big deal that he hadn't circumcised his son you're asking me yeah yeah well basically that is the sign of the covenant of god's people and so moses marries a gentile right and then is coming in to save israel right save his brother in israel out of egypt and god is also having this message where he's like hey pharaoh i'm going to kill your son right because you're not you're not obeying me and yet moses is coming in with his son and he's not obeying god in that sense and so it's basically saying that god's servants have to be pure in that sense before they serve him yeah good yeah exactly so so moses apparently zipporah i mean moses must have thought of himself as an outcast from israel that he was never going back again and in that position now he's married a gentile and he's no longer keeping covenant right he's no longer walking righteously so he knew the right thing to do was to circumcise his son but he refused to do it basically to placate his wife it appears right and her name is zipporah and she's a really intense woman so i can understand why she he would have been maybe a little bit nervous so this is what's happening in this context right so so god tells him we don't have this in the context but it seems apparent that god is saying the reason why you're in danger right now is because you won't keep the covenant and you haven't kept the covenant and therefore you need to keep the covenant and unless you do there will be consequences for you now here's the question would god have killed him had they not circumcised their son well that's interesting because the way the text is structured it says you know he encountered him and sought to put him to death which is just saying that that is the point right the the only thing we need to know is that god sought to put him to death meaning holiness matters right right and so what you can see is that again god's servants need to be pure in order to serve him at the penalty of death in the com because god is going to punish and kill his enemies and so if god's people are not cleansed or not are not pure or not covenantally pure right then therefore they're in danger too and so it's really being saved from god now would he have no i think because moses was chosen by god to do this but it's showing the severity of the stakes i think yeah that's more so exactly so the purity versus impurity is really the issue the imperial at this point god is going to put to death in israel right in egypt and the pure are the israelites and they're going to be protected under the covenant that god made with abraham moses is not under a covenant with abraham because he's disobe disobedient to the covenant and so god says listen you must do this and if you don't you will be put to death just like the egyptians will be put to death yeah you're in the same category when you don't keep covenant yeah yeah that's so interesting so what can we take from this text what are some applications man i think obviously you know the point about serving god from covenantal purity right right like not like hopping into those uh positions of service without yourself being you know covenantally pure covenantally set apart in that sense um so i think there's definitely a warning you know towards um you know attempting to serve god or be his hands and feet without yourself being um you know even metaphorically circumcised in that sense right yeah like hard circumstances yeah where it's like that yeah holiness and purity is like a prerequisite for all of that and so all service to god you would say requires a heart circumcision purity yeah all service to god requires holiness right in the heart like like unconfessed sin would keep us from serving god with a pure heart and would keep us from walking in the spirit yeah you see an illustration of that with circumcision in particular but you have you know in 1st timothy 1 5 right the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart in a good conscience and an unhypocritical faith yeah and so it's like that's our goal that's what we're aiming for is that that integrity yeah of people and especially with you know we talk about pastors being approved you know being men of integrity being approved in that sense um but anybody serving in ministry the same principle uh i think is visible with different outlets and so so would you say this is only for those in ministry like that that that principle of purity now i'd say i'd say directly that's probably the most you know like forward principle but i think the principle does apply to people um serving everyone everywhere serving in some way regardless of the you know the death penalty i think it's like you have you know you do have god's concern for holiness when it comes to something like the sacrament of communion yeah where paul is saying you know you're doing this in a an unworthy way and because of that some of you guys are dead yeah like some of you guys are sick and some of you guys are dead meaning god still cares about holiness practical holiness with his people yes we're forensically justified 100 secure our eternity is safe however in our lives um we are we are saved to holiness you know and so that actual practical holiness uh is important that's what christ bought for us you know and so to see that i think you see that with you know in in first corinthians seven um are in first corinthians with with communion and then also in acts you know with ananias and sapphira they're coming in you know serving the church and yet they're they're harboring sin and god kills them as a testimony to his church and it says fear went over the whole church yeah and and then they they feared god from that so it's actually a helpful warning like a cautionary tale not to say you know god kills anyone who serves them yeah i think yeah because obviously this in this context we're talking about a time when god is going to put people to death very eerie yeah and in the mosaic law moses was in in violation of allah so in a sense he's scoffing at god which was punishable by death yeah i mean the law hasn't been written yet but that idea is essentially he's putting himself outside the people of god so that in that economy that was happening in the new testament economy god allows for those miraculous events to take place death of enemies and sapphira you know death in first corinthians and first corinthians 11 when people are disobedient but that like those are different contexts but the principles same ultimately is what you're saying is applicable yeah that's the main point i think i'm just flipping to james when it says is anyone among you sick right yeah then he must call for the elders of the church and there to pray over him anointing him with oil in the name of the lord and the prayer offered in faith will save the one who's sick and he will raise him up and he's commit if he's committed his sins they will be forgiven him therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another right so that that confession of sin you as you mentioned like serving with unconfessed sin in that sense um that sickness appears to be the the heavy hand of god you know to bring that out and so in in that sense with that statement you made of yeah like serving with unconfessed sin or living with unconfessed and that is something god cares about yeah and it's his love to reveal that yeah and he will reveal it he'll care for his children yeah yeah so in many ways this text even though it seems gruesome was actually a mercy of god god was mercifully putting moses disciplining moses so that he was back under the covenant back in obedience to god the same is true about an assassination sapphire there's mercy because the fear falls on the whole church there's mercy in in all the discipline of god because ultimately it yields that peaceable fruit of righteousness that comes out of us as we submit ourselves to him yeah it's that when i heard one guy say it's like the plowing with view of the harvest right it's like yeah it's like you're you're tearing into dirt right but like but with the view of oh there's going to be fruit from this yeah so so we can take discipline however that looks with with a view towards oh there's going to be righteous fruit from this right like and that's why that's why i can gladly embrace you know confessing sins that's why i can gladly embrace those kinds of things that's fine sorry i just get excited i don't know that's so good you're preaching i like that no yeah we i'm so sorry yeah we can gladly embrace quenching [Laughter] [Music] you know so what happens is when we bump the table we're sitting there's the table sitting here for those of you watching the video yeah when we bump the table the video bounces and so kevin was getting preachy he was like which i like it's so good um and very helpful but then bumping the table and giving us a little bounce you're gonna stand up here exactly we can just get you a pulpit right no just kidding anyway no i think that's super helpful and hopefully that's a clear answer to that question and maybe some really cool implications for the way that our hearts need to deal with sin and how we can even understand discipline and correction cool keep reading your bible good buddy exactly yeah thanks for the question as always if you have any questions you can always email us at info faithbibleoc.org thanks so much

Channel: Bible /chat

Views: 537

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Id: 2PO4yIEqIOw

Length: 13min 13sec (793 seconds)

Published: Thu May 19 2022