:ircumcision ought to have taken place ; but (Knobel, Kalisch, Rosenmilller, Canon Cook); Zipporah had a repugnance to the r.ite, and but the words seem mote approprinte to a deferred it, Moses weakly consenting to the miraculous appearance, like that of the o.n~el to Belaa.m (Num. xxii. SI). Still, it is qmte illegality. At the close of the eighth day, possible that nothing more than o.n illness is when Moses went to rest for the night, he was meant. seized "·ith a sudden and dangerous illness, Ver. 25.-Zipporah took a sha.rp stone. which he regarded, and rightly regvded, as a Literally " e. stone." Stone knives were God-inflicted pnnishment, sent to chastise his commonly used in Egypt for me.king the in- cisions necessary when bodies were embalmed, sin in bre.ak.ing the Divine command (Gen. and were rego.rded as purer than iron or bronze xvii. 10-12). Zipporah nnderstood the matter ones. Joshua ordered the prepo.ration of stone in the same way ; and, as her husband was knives for the circumcision of those born in too ill to perform the rite, she herself with her the wilderness (Josh. v. 2); and the Jews own hand cut off her boy's foreskin, and, still seem to have used stone for circumcision for many o.ges, though before the compilation. of i11dignant at what she blld been forced to do, the Talmud they ho.d changed their practice. cast it at her husband's feet, with the reproach Ca.at it at his feet. Not, certo.inly, the child's -" Surely a bloody husband art thou to me." feet, but her husband's, to whom at the so.me The rite once performed, however reluctantly, moment she addresses herself. A bloo~ hus- God remitted bis anger, and allowed Moses band. Literally, "e. bridegroom of hlood." The words are cleo.rly n reproach ; and the to recover his health, and pursue his journey. gist of the reproach seems to be that Moses Ver. 24.-It oa.me to pa8II by the way in was e. husband who cost her dear, ea.using the the lllll, "Inns," in our sense of the word, blood of her sons to be shed in order to keep were unknown in the East for many ages after up e. national usage which she regarded. as the time of Moses, and are still of very rare bo.rbo.rous. .occurrence. Kha.us or caravanserais take Ver. 26.-So he let him go. I.e. " God let their place. These are nnfnmished buildings, Moses go "-allowed him to escape death, ace open to all travellers, who thus obtain shelter , cepted Zippora.h's tardy act as e. remove.I of gratis, but must provide themselves with food, the cause of offence, and gave her husbu.nd bedding, and all other necessaries. It is be.ck to her. Then she said, etc. This is not qnestioned, however, if even such a place as a second o.ddress of Zippornh to Moses, con- this is here meant. Probably, the mafon of ceived in the same terms, bnt an explanation. Moses' time was a mere recognised halting- of her previons address. She called him " a place, in the vicinity of a well, at which tra- bloody husband because of the_ oiroumoiaion." vellers were accustomed to pass the night. Literally, "of the circumcision.B.11 The two The Lord met him and sought to kill him. circumcisions, of Gershom in Midian, and of A sudden seizure, followed by a dangerous Eliezer on the wo.y to Egypt, are especially in illness, is generally thought to be intended the writer's mind.
HOMILETICS. Vers. 24-26. One small duty negl,ected, may frustrate the whole purpose of a life. To an Israelite the circumcision of his male children on the eighth day was a plain practical duty, resting upon a positive precept, which was unambiguous and peremptory. (See Gen. xvii 10-14.) Moses, probably in deference to the wishes of his wife, who disliked the custom, had allowed his son, Eliezer, to remain uncircumcised beyond the appointed time, perhaps making the excuse to himself that during a journey such a rite could not conveniently be performed. and in tending that the thing should be done when they reached Egypt. But the precept was plain-" He that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you;" and nothing had been said by God of any circumstances under which the rite might be deferred. It was the appointed means by which the child was to be brought into covenant with God; and if he died before the performance of the rite, he would die out of covenant, and so suffer a wrong. Moses probably thought that his 6in was a little matter-perhaps hardly recognised it as a sin at ull. But it was the "little rift within the lute" which destroyed the whole value of the instrument. He w1o "shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, is guilty of all" (Jam. ii.10). God thought the neglect no small.matter, and would have punished it, had it not been repaired, with death. It can never be a small matter to neglect any command of God, be it to perform a rite, or to undergo cne, or to keep a particular day holy, or any othe11, Cll, IV, l!J-29, '!'HE BOOK OF EXODUS. 111
When a posiUve command i~ admitteJ. to have come from God, the obligation to obey it as Bishop Butler observes, is moral. And so this little duty neglected, had nearly cost Moses his life, Zippore.h her husband, the child his natural protector. Moses' death at this period would have left the whole purpose of bis life unaccomplished, have handed over the deliverance of Israel to another, and have caused his special powers and special training to have been wasted. Let men beware, then, of the neglect of little duties, tho allowance in themselves of "little sins." Let them beware especially of being led into such "little sins," by over-complaisance to a. wife, a friend, a companion. Many a man would have stood firm, but for such seductive influence. A man who is truly manlv will resist it, and risk the loss of human affection, secure of the Divine approval.