Tzipporah, Moshe, God and the bris

(24) And it came to pass on the way at the lodging-place, that the LORD met him, and sought to kill him.

(26) So He let him alone. Then she said: ‘A bridegroom of blood in regard of the circumcision.’

(3) (Exodus 18:3) "and her two sons … in a foreign land": R. Yehoshua says "foreign": as stated (i.e., literally). R. Elazar Hamoda'i says: in a land of foreign (gods, i.e., idolatry); Moses said: Since the whole world serves idolatry, I will serve Him who spoke and brought the (whole) world into being. But when Moses said to Yitro: 'Give me your daughter Tzipporah as a wife' Yitro answered: 'If you do what I ask of you, I will give her to you as a wife'. Moses: 'What do you ask?' Yitro: 'Your first son must serve idolatry. All others will be for (G-d) in heaven.' Moses accepted. Yitro: Swear. And he swore, as it is written (Exodus 2:21) "Vayoel Moses, etc.", this being an expression for swearing, as in (I Samuel 14:24) "Vayoel Saul the people" (in context: "And Saul beswore the people.") And it is written (II Kings 5:3) "Hoel (in context: "Swear") and take two talents, etc." Therefore, the angel came forward to kill Moses (viz. Exodus 4:24), whereupon (Ibid. 25) "Tzipporah took a flint and cut off the foreskin of her son … (26) "And he (the angel) let go of him." R. Elazar b. Azaryah says: Repulsive is the foreskin, by which the wicked are demeaned, viz. (Jeremiah 9:25) "for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel is uncircumcised of heart." R. Yishmael says: Great is circumcision over which thirteen covenants was made. R. Yossi Haglili says: Great is circumcision, which overrides the Sabbath, which is liable to kareth (cutting-off). R. Yehoshua b. Korcha says: Great is circumcision, laxity in which did not permit all of Moses' merits to protect him for even a short time. R. Nechemiah says: Great is circumcision, which overrides plague-spots (viz. Devarim 24:8). Rebbi says: Great is circumcision, all of Moses' merits not standing for him in his duress. When the L-rd told him "Take out My people, the children of Israel from the land of Egypt," because he was lax for a short time in (the) circumcision (of his son), the angel sought to kill him, viz. (Exodus 4:24) "and he was on the way in the lodging, etc." R. Yossi says: G-d forbid that that tzadik should be lax in circumcision for even a short while, but Moses thought: Circumcising him (his son) and journey (to Egypt) — that would involve a risk of life (for the child.) Shall he wait and circumcise — the L-rd has said to him: "Go and take My people Israel out of Egypt." But (his lapse was that) he preoccupied himself with his lodging before circumcising, wherefore the L-rd sought to kill him, viz.: "And he was on the way in the lodging, etc." R. Shimon b. Gamliel says: The angel did not seek to kill Moses, but the child, viz. (Ibid. 25) "for you are a groom of blood to me." Who is called a "groom" (in this context), the child or Moses? The child.

(24) On the way to the inn: on Moshe’s way to the inn.

(24) He sought to put him to death: [the angel] sought to kill Moshe since he had not circumcised his son Eliezer, and because he had been negligent he was worthy of the death penalty. It was taught: Rabbi Yosse said – Heaven forbid! Moshe was not [simply being] negligent; rather, he [had a thoughtful consideration] ‘if I circumcise my son and head out on the road the baby will be at risk for [the next]three days. [On the other hand] if I circumcise him and stay [in Midyan] for three days [I will be going against that which] the Holy One has commanded me to do [when G-d said] “Go, return to Egypt!” If so (if his considerations were plausible) why was he punished?! Because [when they reached the place] he dealt first with the issue of lodging [and not circumcision]. In Masechet Nedarim (31a): The angel became like a kind of a serpent and was swallowing him [Moshe] from his head down to his hips, then back, then swallowing him from his feet up to that same place. Tziporah understood that [the attack] was due to milah circumcision.

(24) ויפגשהו ה', in this instance a reference to the Lord’s angel. Moses’ sin consisted of needlessly slowing down the carrying out of his mission by taking his wife and children along.

after she had been sent away: When the Holy One of Blessing said to him in Midian, “Go, return to Egypt” (Exod. 4:19), “and Moses took his wife and his sons, etc.” (4:20), and Aaron went forth “and met him on the mount of God”(4:27), he [Aaron] said to him [Moses], “Who are these?” He [Moses] replied, “This is my wife, whom I married in Midian, and these are my sons.” "And where are you taking them?" he [Aaron] asked. “To Egypt,” he replied. He [Aaron] retorted, “We are suffering with the first ones, and you come to add to them?” He [Moses] said to her [Zipporah], “Go home to your father.” She took her two sons and went away. — [from Mechilta]

(24) ויהי בדרך במלון, Rashi explains that because he busied himself with the lodging first teaches insie the explanation that he should have circumcised him first thing. This seems questionable, seeing that immediately after leaving the inn the baby would be exposed to the dangers of traveling in the desert!

We must therefore answer that this baby was in the place they lodged after Moses met Aharon, and he said “We are suffering with the first ones, and you come to add to them?” He did so although members of the tribe of Levi such as Moses and Aaron were not required to perform menial labor in Egypt, because in any instance he did not want them to come to a place where they would see Israel suffering, and from there Tziporah returned with her sons. And if this is so, since they thought that they would return, there was no excuse for not performing the circumcision before dealing with the lodging. Tzipporah would have stayed on at the inn until the infant had recovered from the circumcision. This is why Moses was punished.

(24) ויהי בדרך במלון, when he was on the way from the desert to Midian with his wife and children. The Torah tells of this incident after concluding the report of how G-d appointed Moses as the leader of the Jewish people.

(24) ויפגשהו ה', God encountered him on the 8th day on which he should have circumcised his son occurred because on that day the presence of the Lord, שכינה is present in the brit (circumcision), as with (Abraham) he was circumcised "and God appeared to him" (Gen. 18:1). Perhaps this is the source of the practice to place a chair of honor in the place where a the circumcision is happening.

(24) [When the time passed without Eliezer being circumcised] The angel in charge of circumcision requested to kill Moses for being negligent.

(25) ותאמר כי חתן דמים אתה לי. I have done this seeing that when I became married to you and you were my bridegroom you stipulated that our sons would have to be circumcised and that we would extract a certain amount of blood as the mark of the covenant with G-d. Tzipporah said all this to the angel who wanted to kill her husband in his defense.

(24) And it happened in the way - They had a tradition that an eight-day son should not be circumcised if he was sick or traveling since there wasn't a possibility for delaying the travel. And this was because Moses could not be delayed in his Divine mission. He saw by his own counsel not to circumcise, since the youngster would be in danger if he was put to travel. And behold, HaShem sent an angel to remind Moses to pause himself and circumcise the child and go on his way on his own. And the youngster would stay with his mother until he healed, and behold the reason of "he met him" is that sickness from HaShem came to Moses because he didn't think of it. And this is "he sought to kill him" if he didn't circumcise his son. And due to the trembling that seized him he wasn't able to circumcise his son, and Tzipporah circumcised him, because he revealed to her the secret. And do not be surprise to read "HaShem met him" because it was an angel/messenger of HaShem. And like [this verse, we have] "And HaShem walks in front of them during the day" (Exodus 13:21) and there it is written "And God's angel traveled" (Exodus 14:19). And Rav Shmuel ben Chofni says God forbid that God would want to kill Moses, who goes in a Divine mission to save his people! He just wanted to kill Eliezer. And the sign is that "he met him" and "he wanted to kill him", and after "him" is explained to be Eliezer, because it is written "the foreskin of her son", and this is not explicit in the beginning, since his name had not been given yet. And like [this verse, we have] "And it was on her giving birth, and he put his hand" (Genesis 38:28)