Exodus 4:26
in Exodus 4So the LORD let him alone. (When she said, “bridegroom of blood,” she was referring to the circumcision.)
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
So he let him alone. Then she said, A bridegroom of blood art thou, because of the circumcision.
KJV
So he let him go: then she said, A bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision.
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This verse in Exodus 4
Commentary
7 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
So he let him go - i. e. God withdrew His visitation from Moses. Moses sent Zipporah and her children back to Jethro before he went to Egypt, Exo 18:2. The journey would have been delayed had he waited for the healing of the child.
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.
This site's exposition
So the LORD let him alone
Once the circumcision is done, the danger passes and the LORD withdraws. The writer then explains that Zipporah's phrase referred to the circumcision, tying her words to the covenant sign of Genesis 17. Albert Barnes adds that Moses later sent Zipporah and the children back to Jethro, as 18:2 records, since the road to Egypt could not wait for the boy to heal.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
So he let him go - The destroying angel withdrew. But still Zipporah cannot forget, but will unreasonably call Moses a bloody husband, because he obliged her to circumcise the child; and upon this occasion, (it is probable) he sent them back to his father-in-law, that they might not create him any further uneasiness.
So he let him go,....
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.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
So he let him go--Moses recovered; but the remembrance of this critical period in his life would stimulate the Hebrew legislator to enforce a faithful attention to the rite of circumcision when it was established as a divine ordinance in Israel, and made their peculiar distinction as a people.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיִּ֖רֶף | vaiyiref | and he withdrew | H7503 → | 46 times |
| מִמֶּ֑נּוּ | mimenu | from him | H4480 → | 1188 times |
| אָ֚ז | ʾaz | then | H227 → | 141 times |
| אָֽמְרָ֔ה | ʾamerah | she said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| חֲתַ֥ן | chatan | a bridegroom of | H2860 → | |
| דָּמִ֖ים | damim | blood<s> | H1818 → | 360 times |
| לַמּוּלֹֽת׃ פ | lamulot | to the circumcision | H4139 → |
וַיִּ֖רֶףand he withdrew
vaiyirefH7503 →46 times
מִמֶּ֑נּוּfrom him
mimenuH4480 →1188 times
אָ֚זthen
ʾazH227 →141 times
אָֽמְרָ֔הshe said
ʾamerahH559 →5305 times
חֲתַ֥ןa bridegroom of
chatanH2860 →
דָּמִ֖יםblood<s>
damimH1818 →360 times
לַמּוּלֹֽת׃ פto the circumcision
lamulotH4139 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
Where this verse is studied
On this page
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About Exodus
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; 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 and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.