“At a lodging place on the way the LORD met him and sought to put him to death” (Exodus 4:24 ESV).
This strange passage of Scripture is difficult to understand. Apparently, Moses had failed to circumcise his son. This was the mark of the covenant that God had given to Abraham. And Moses seems to have been negligent to keep it, perhaps because his Midianite wife, Zipporah, was against it. So, in this terrifying encounter with God, Zipporah ascertained the offense and performed the circumcision herself. When she had cut away her son’s foreskin with a sharp flint stone, God released Moses and let him go.
This event took place after Moses’ encounter with God at the burning bush, where God had called him to deliver Israel from Egypt. Moses took his wife and sons and headed to Egypt. At a lodging place on the way, the Scripture says that “the LORD met him and sought to put him to death.”
Just as Jacob had wrestled with God on the eve of his return to the promised land, so Moses had an encounter with God on the eve of his return to Egypt. While Jacob’s encounter left him walking with a limp for the rest of his life, Moses was at risk of dying in his meeting with God. Before Moses could lead the household of God, he needed to get his own house in order.
Surely this is why the apostle Paul taught Timothy that one of the qualifications for elders and deacons was that they “manage their own households well” (1 Tim. 3:4;12). If a man is to lead God’s people, he must begin with his own house.
PRAYER: Dear Father, we understand that when You call us to ministry, You also call us to live holy lives devoted to You. Yet we often fall short and fail to live out at home what we portray in public. Forgive us our hypocrisy. Strengthen us so that our private lives are as our public lives, devoted to You. In Jesus’ name, amen.