Today's Reading
Exodus today begins the long struggle between God and Pharaoh. Before Moses arrived back in Egypt, a mysterious event takes place when it seems as if God will judge Moses because he has refused to circumcise his son. Here is at least part of the meaning...
Circumcision was the sign of Israel's covenant with God. The shedding of blood in this way looked forward to the day when blood would be shed to pay for all the sins of humankind. It was, then, a severe violation that Moses hadn't circumcised his son. It was a compromise on Moses' part. Ethnically Hebrew, he had grown up like the Egyptians. When he fled to the wilderness, he married a woman who grew up worshipping other gods. Perhaps it was Zipporah who didn't want to circumcise her son in the custom of the Jews and Moses didn't push the matter. Now, though, they were going back to be among God's chosen people and the true nature of the compromise was seen. God himself would have intervened if Moses' wife hadn't. Why didn't Moses take care of it? What do you think?
Matthew records some strong words and some beautiful promises in today's passage. Your thoughts?
Even as the first part of Psalm 22 was prophetic of the cross, today it looks forward to the spread of the Gospel and Jesus' ultimate reign as King of Kings. I think this is a beautiful passage.
With great wisdom, Proverbs today narrows on a significant temptation for men and the attitude we should have.
I look forward to your responses!
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That little story in Exodus is very interesting. My thoughts are purely just "thoughts" - nothing to base it off of, but maybe Zipporah sensed the Lord and took immediate action. Moses might not have been "listening" to the Lord at the time. I know that sometimes my husband will notice something and take action before I can get to it and vice versa. A marriage is like that. It benefits the marriage if each partner listens to the promptings of their spouse's heart. Just an idea.
ReplyDeleteI like the way the last passage of proverbs put marriage. Like a spring, and all. I think that's quite a lovely way of putting it, and it's good that i study these now and learn from what the Bible says before i get in that, so i don't make any mistakes in the future.
ReplyDeleteWhat struck me today is Moses' argument with God. Moses seemed to think, as I often do, that he should only have to do things he's good at. I often get caught up in wanting to do everything perfectly and so I don't want to do anything I'm not very good at. So I need to remind myself that I'm serving to fulfill God's plan, not to look good...
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think Matt 18:18 means?
I am not sure about the circumcision question you posed, but I like Ranelle's thinking!
ReplyDeleteMatthew 18:16 is bold in my bible: by the testimony of two or three witnesses every fact may be established....why is this in bold? I didn't recognize what the significance of this might be...
Kella, I'm not sure why it's bold, but I think it could be because it's a quote from elsewhere in the Bible. The explanation of notations in the beginning of that particular edition may give you some clue.
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