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Exodus 4:26

in Exodus 4

So 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 verse
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

at a lodging place along the way

on Exodus 4:24-26

The Hebrew pronouns carry no names, so readers divide over whether the LORD sought Moses or the son. Matthew Henry and John Gill take it of Moses, and Keil and Delitzsch of the uncircumcised boy.

This site's exposition

So the LORD let him alone

Once the circumcision is done, the danger passes and the LORD withdraws. The writer explains that Zipporah's phrase referred to the circumcision, tying her words to the covenant sign of Genesis 17.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

proposed

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,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

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 & Brown

1802–1910

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 words

Every 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.

  • 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

About Exodus

The Israelites Leaving Egypt, David Roberts, 1829. Public domain.
The Israelites Leaving Egypt, David Roberts, 1829. Public domain.
Exodus: the study guide →Read Exodus 4 →

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.

Read on in Exodus 4 →