e (7.e.) Appeared to him in ſome viſible ſhape. f Whom ? Me- Jes,ſpoken of and to before. He offered and endeavoured to kill him, - either by inflicting {me ſudden and dangerous Diſe :ſe or ſtroke up- on him,or by ſhe ving himſelf in ſome threatning poſture, poſlib)y as the Ange] did to Balaam, and afterwards ro David,with a drawn Sword in his hand, ready to give him adeadly blow. The reaſon of this ſeverity was not Moſes his diſtruſt of God, or delay in hisjour- ney, nor the bringing of his Wife and Children along with him, (which it was convenient for him to carry with him, both that his Father might not think he intended to deſert them, and for the greater aſſurance and encouragement of the J/raelires, when they faw that he expoſed his deareſt Relations to the ſame hazards with them all ) bur the neglett of circumciſing his Child, which alſo the Lord ſome way or other ſignified to Moſes and Zipporah,as plain- ly appears, 1. From Zipporah's following fa& upon that occaſion. 2. From the Lord's Diſmifſion of Moſes upon the Circumciſion of the Child. 3. From the threatning of Death, or cutting off for this Sin. Gen: 17: 14. which, becauſe there was now no Magiſtrat to do it, God himſelf offers to execute it, as he ſomerimes ſaith he would do in that caſe. And this was a greater Sin in Moſes than in another Man, and at this time than it had been before, becauſe he underſtood the Will and Law of God abour it better than any man, and God had larely minded him of that Covenant. of his with A4bra- ham, &c. whereof Circumciſion was a Seal ;'the Bleſſings and Bene- Hts of which Covenant Moles was now going to procure for himſelf nd for his People, whileſt he remained under the guilt of groſly
'negleCting the Condition of it, Beſides, what could be more ab- 'ſurd than that he ſhould come to be a Lawgiver, who lived in a manifeſt violation of God's Law ? or that he ſhould be the chiefRu- ler and Inſtrutter of the Iſraelites, whoſe duty it was to acquaint them with their Duty of circumciſing their Children, and as far as
* Numb:
22:22,
'he.could, to puniſh the wilful neg'e& of ir, and yet at the ſame
time beguilry of the ſame Sin? or that he ſhould undertake to go- vern the Church of God, that could not well rule his own Houſe, 1 Tim: 3: 5: ? And this was not on'y a great Sin in it Self, bur a great Scandal to the 1/raelites,»ho might by this great Example eaſily be led into the ſame miſcarriage;and moreover might not withour colour of probability ſuſp=& the Call of ſuch a Perſon, and con- clude that God would nor honour that Man who ſhould continue in ſuch a viſible contempt of his law. And therefore it is no wonder that God was ſo angry at Moſes for this Sin. Queſt, How came Moſes to negle& this evident Duty ?/4uſ. From Zipporal's averſeneſs to, and dread of that painful, and. as ſhe thought, dangerous Ordi- nance of God, which ſhe her felfevidently diſcovers inthis place;
and
3 A CRIED IT en 3 ELIT R
x4. 7. ”
IV,
'T: N:I:
kd
1b:
Meet
Chap. IV.
+ Or,knife. * Heb. mate it touch,
eldeſt Son. And as ſhe ſeems to have been a Woman of an eager, and paſlic nate temper, fo Moſes was eminently meek and pliable, and in this matter tco indulgent to his Wife, eſpecially 1n her Father's Houſe, and therefore he put it off til] a more convenient ſeaſon, when he might either perſuade or over-rule her therein.
Uich was a orcat fault, for God had obliged all the Children of Abrabam not cnly to the thing, but to the time alſo, rodo it upon the eighth day, which Seaſon Moſes had groſly, and for ſome con- Cderable time {lipped, and ſo had preferred the pleaſing of his Wife before his Obedienceto God.
25 Then Zipporah g took a ſharp | ſtone 5, and cut off the foreskin of her ſon, and * caſt zt athisfeer z, and ſaid, Surely a bloody Husband art thou to me &.
g Perceiving the danger of her Husband, and the cauſe of it, and her Husbaad being difenabled from performing that work, whether by ſome ſtroke or ſickneſs, or by theterrour of ſo diſmal and unex- pe&ed an Apparition to him, and delays being highly dangerous, ſhe thought ir betrer to do it her ſelf as well as ſhe could, rather than pur it off a moment longer ; whether becauſe the adminiſtra- tion of that Szcrament was not confined to any kind or order of perſons, or becauſe, if it was ſo, the did not apprehend it to be ſo, or becauſe ſhe thought this was the leaſt of two evils ; and that it was ſafer to commit a circumſtantial Error, than to ccntinue-in a ſubſtantial' Fault. 4 Which ſhe took as next at hand in that ſtony Countrey. Lernonethink this ſtrange, fornot only this work, but
+4 the rather becauſe of che experience which ſhe had of it jn her
- the cutting off of that part, which ſome uſed to do, was commonly
performed with a Flint, or a ſharp Stone, as is expreſly affirmed by Herodotus, 1. 2: Plin. 35: 12: See alſo Juvenal, Sat. 6: and Martial. Epigram: 3: 18: Bur the word may be rendred, a ſharp Knife. See Jo]: 5: 2, 3. i The words are very ſhort, and therefore ambiguous, and may be ren:red, either thus, be caſt her ſe]f at his feet, either 1. At the feet of the Angel, as a Supplicant for her Husband s Life. But it is moſt probable that ſhe dire&ts this Ation and her follow- ing Speech to the ſame perſon. Or 2. Thefeetof her Husband, to make requeſt to him, that ſheand her Children might depart from him, and return to her Father, which alſo he granted. Bur neither was ſhe of ſo humblea temper, nor at this time in fo milda frame, as to put her ſelf into tuch a lowly poſture to her Husband, nor was ſhe likely to preſent her kumble ſupplication to him, to whom af the {ame rime ſhe ſhewed ſuch ſcorn and indignation. Or rather thus, ſbe caſt it at his, 7s ee her Husband's feet : 1t, either thz Child, But that being tender, and now in great pain, ſhe would nor ule it
ſo roughly : Or rather the foreskin cut off, or at leaft the blood.