Exodus 4:24
in Exodus 4Now at a lodging place along the way, the LORD met Moses and was about to kill him.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And it came to pass on the way at the lodging-place, that Jehovah met him, and sought to kill him.
KJV
And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the Lord met him, and sought to kill him.
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This verse in Exodus 4
Commentary
9 notes on this verseBy the way in the inn - See Clarke’s note on Gen 42:27. The account in this and the following verse is very obscure.
This site's exposition
by the way in the inn
on Exodus 4:24-26
Three verses report an attack on the road and the account is compressed to the point that its pronouns carry no names. The text does not say whom the LORD sought to kill, and readers divide over whether it was Moses or the son, over which son was circumcised, and over what Zipporah meant by a bloody husband. Matthew Henry and John Gill both read the danger as falling on Moses, taken to account for leaving his own household outside the covenant sign of Genesis 17:10 while going to demand a nation's release. Keil and Delitzsch read it of the uncircumcised boy, and the passage itself names neither.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
We ask first, whom did the angel wish to kill? Was it Moses, because Scripture says, "The angel approached him and sought to kill him"? For whom will he be thought to have approached except him who was in charge of his entire people and by whom the others were led? Or did the angel seek to kill the boy, whom his mother aided by circumcising him? Then one would understand that the reason why God wished to kill the child was that he was not circumcised and thus sanctioned the precept of circumcision by the severity of the punishment. If this is the case, it is unclear of whom it was said previously, "he sought to kill him," because we do not know who it was until we discover it from what follows. It is a remarkable and unusual expression to say "he approached him and sought to kill him" about someone who had not been mentioned before. But there is such a usage in a psalm: "Its foundations are on the holy mountains; the Lord loves the gates of Zion." For the psalm begins at that point and had not said anything about the Lord or about that city whose foundations were meant to be understood when the psalm said, "Its foundations are on the holy mountains." But because of what follows, "the Lord loves the gates of Zion," the foundations, either those of the Lord or of Zion—"of Zion" yields the better sense—are understood as the foundation of a city. But the gender of this pronoun, "its," is ambiguous, for it can be masculine, feminine or neuter. In Greek, however, the feminine is autēs, whereas the masculine and neuter are autou, and the Greek text has autou, so we must understand that the foundations are those not of Zion but of the Lord. […]
We must also inquire who that being was of whom it is said in Exodus that he wished to kill Moses because he was setting out for Egypt. And afterwards, who is it that is called the "destroying angel," and who also is he who in Leviticus is described as Apopompeus, that is, the Averter, of whom the Scripture speaks thus: "One lot for the Lord, and one lot for Apopompeus"?
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
It seems the sin of Moses, was neglecting to circumcise his son, which perhaps was the effect of his being unequally yoked with a Midianite, who was too indulgent of her child, and Moses so of her.
And it came to pass by the way, in the inn,....
Note, (1.) Omissions are sins, and must come into judgment, and particularly the contempt and neglect of the seals of the covenant; for it is a sign that we undervalue the promises of the covenant, and are displeased with the conditions of it.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
To dishonor that sign and seal of the covenant was criminal in any Hebrew, peculiarly so in one destined to be the leader and deliverer of the Hebrews; and he seems to have felt his sickness as a merited chastisement for his sinful omission.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
In the inn - Or “resting place.” See Gen 42:27 note. Met him, and sought to kill him - Moses was attacked by a sudden and dangerous illness, which he knew was inflicted by God. The word “sought to kill” implies that the sickness, whatever might be its nature, was one which threatened death had it not been averted by a timely act. Zipporah believed that the illness of Moses was due to his having neglected the duty of an Israelite, and to his not having circumcised his own son; the delay was probably owing to her own not unnatural repugnance to a rite, which though practiced by the Egyptians, was not adopted generally in the East, even by the descendants of Abraham and Keturah. Moses appears to have been utterly prostrate and unable to perform the rite himself.
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיְהִ֥י | vayhi | and it was | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| בַדֶּ֖רֶךְ | vaderekh | on the journey | H1870 → | 707 times |
| בַּמָּל֑וֹן | bamalon | at the lodging place | H4411 → | |
| וַיִּפְגְּשֵׁ֣הוּ | vaiyifgeshehu | and he met him | H6298 → | |
| יְהוָ֔ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| וַיְבַקֵּ֖שׁ | vayvakesh | and he sought | H1245 → | 225 times |
| הֲמִיתֽוֹ׃ | hamito | to kill him | H4191 → | 839 times |
וַיְהִ֥יand it was
vayhiH1961 →3559 times
בַדֶּ֖רֶךְon the journey
vaderekhH1870 →707 times
בַּמָּל֑וֹןat the lodging place
bamalonH4411 →
וַיִּפְגְּשֵׁ֣הוּand he met him
vaiyifgeshehuH6298 →
יְהוָ֔הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
וַיְבַקֵּ֖שׁand he sought
vayvakeshH1245 →225 times
הֲמִיתֽוֹ׃to kill him
hamitoH4191 →839 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Leviticus 10:3Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the LORD meant when He said: ‘To those who come near Me I will show My holiness, and in the sight of all the people I…
it leads to
- Exodus 19:22
Even the priests who approach the LORD must consecrate themselves, or the LORD will break out against them.”
- Isaiah 49:3
He said to Me, “You are My Servant, Israel, in whom I will display My glory.”
- Leviticus 21:6
They must be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God. Because they present to the LORD the offerings made by fire, the food of their God, they must be…
- Numbers 20:12
But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust Me to show My holiness in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this assembly into the land that…
- 1 Samuel 2:30
Therefore, the LORD, the God of Israel, declares: ‘I did indeed say that your house and the house of your father would walk before Me forever. But now the LORD declares: Far be it…
- Exodus 19:22
Through
Exodus 3:18The elders of Israel will listen to what you say, and you must go with them to the king of Egypt and tell him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with…
it leads to
- Exodus 9:1
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and tell him that this is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘Let My people go, so that they may worship Me.
- Exodus 7:16
Then say to him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to tell you: Let My people go, so that they may worship Me in the wilderness. But you have not…
- Exodus 9:1
Through
1 Chronicles 21:16When David lifted up his eyes and saw the angel of the LORD standing between heaven and earth, with a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem, David and the elders, clothed…
it leads to
- Numbers 14:5
Then Moses and Aaron fell facedown before the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel.
- Numbers 14:5
Where this verse is studied
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About Exodus
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, QUESTIONS ON EXODUS 11; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Origen of Alexandria, ON FIRST PRINCIPLES 3.2.1.