Zipporah was the wife of Moses and is known for a rather strange account in the bible. But her act of quick instinctive obedience, though unconventional, saved the life of her husband and allowed God’s plan to proceed in full righteousness.
“At a lodging place on the way, the Lord met Moses and was about to kill him. But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son’s foreskin and touched Moses’ feet with it. “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me,” she said. So the Lord let him alone. (At that time she said “bridegroom of blood,” referring to circumcision.)” (Exodus 4:24-26)
Before Moses became the deliverer to Israel, he was the husband to his wife Zipporah and the father to two sons, Gershom and Eliezer. This was after he fled Egypt to Midian for killing an abusive Egyptian. There he met Jethro, Zipporah’s father in Midian and settled there for a time.
Of course, we all know the story of how God appeared to Moses in a burning bush and spoke to him about delivering the Israelites from slavery.
When it was time to return to Israel, the bible records an unusual account: on their way, the Lord met Moses and was about to kill him.
We do not know the definite reason for why Moses was suddenly the subject of God’s anger and judgement, but we see that his wife Zipporah steps in to take action in order to save his life and the Lord hears.
Zipporah instinctively obeyed the Lord by making sure her family was in right standing before him
We can only assume that Zipporah knew the Word of the Lord (her father Jethro, was a Kenite priest, but scripture alludes to the Kenites as aligning themselves with God during the deliverance of Israel from Egypt) concerning circumcision and it was this very thing that she obeyed the Lord on in order to bring Moses into right standing with God.
Her instincts proved to be right and the Lord let Moses continue in his calling as a result of it.
We can learn from Zipporah that God takes our obedience to all of His Word seriously.
Moses needed to be in right standing for the calling ahead of him. God’s word needed to be obeyed completely in order for the blessing and victory to come.
We must continually examine ourselves in light of the Word of God. If we are not obeying God, in any area, let us repent. Let us align ourselves to right standing in Him.
Zipporah quickly did what she knew to be right in order to save her husband from being killed
Zipporah rightly discerned what was needed and acted quickly.
It is said that delayed obedience in disobedience. We don’t know what Moses’ position was concerning the Word. But we do know that he was in violation of the covenant God made with Abraham:
“Then God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come. This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you.
For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner – those who are not your offspring. Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant. Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.” (Genesis 17:4-9)
Zipporah quickly springs into action, circumcises her son herself and touches the feet of Moses with it. This satisfies the Lord and Moses is allowed to live.
We can learn from Zipporah that quick obedience is met with favor from the Lord.
When we line ourselves up with God’s will, we can expect His favor upon our lives. The Lord always wants to bless His children, but obedience must first be met most times.
God’s laws are not insignificant. There is a reason for every command in His Word and it is usually for OUR benefit. We can learn from Zipporah to be quick in our obedience to God.
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