BE A BLOODY HUSBAND

Exodus 4:16-26

Most preachers with any sense would skip over this passage of Scripture.

But I guess I don’t have any sense.

There are things in this text that are very difficult to really put together.

I think that is for a couple of reasons:

One, there are things about God we do not understand – He is complex.

For instance:

Why would God harden Pharaoh’s heart?

If it is His intention to let His people go, why would He not simply soften Pharaoh’s heart so He let them go easily?

The general answer is that God knew Pharaoh’s heart was hard and used that as a part of His plan.

Have you noticed that God seldom allows us to get things the “easy” way?

All through the Bible you find that. 

David apparently had an easy time killing Goliath, but nothing was easy about it afterwards. Saul got jealous and David had to run for his life for about 14 years before he became king of Israel

And then, why would God tell Moses to go to Egypt and do these wonders only to seek to kill him when he was on his way?

I wrote in a devotion the other day these words:

Psalms 99:8  

Thou answeredst them, O LORD our God: thou wast a God that forgavest them, though thou tookest vengeance of their inventions.

Our God is complex. 

• We learn from Scripture that we cannot work for our own salvation but we are to work out our salvation
• We learn from Scriptures that we can do nothing without Christ, yet we are called upon to do good works
• We also learn from Scriptures that our God forgives sinners while still taking vengeance against their sins.

Rather than being put out by this complexity I find comfort in it. God is bigger than I can understand. If I could understand Him then he would be little more than human.

Two, the passage assumes several things and we have to read the passage carefully to pick up the assumptions

For instance 

• Vs 20 sounds as if Moses is in Egypt
• Vs 24 Sounds like he is still on his way

Then there is this whole issue about the bloody husband.

It sounds to me like Zipporah is angry at her husband for circumcising the child.

And I still believe that is the case.

But in studying this passage I found this comment

“….not in an angry upbraiding way, as if he was a bloody cruel man to oblige her to do such an action, but rather in a congratulatory way, as being thankful and rejoicing, that by this means, through the blood of the circumcision, she had saved her husband's life; and as it were in that way had bought him, and afresh espoused him to herself as her husband; or otherwise it would have been all over with him, but now to her great joy he was delivered from the threatened destruction…… the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem paraphrase the next verse,"then Zipporah gave praise, and said, how amiable is the blood of circumcision, which hath delivered my husband from the hand of the destroying angel.'….”

That got me to thinking

And led me to my message tonight.

I want to preach on the subject, Be a Bloody Husband

One of the complaints we fundamentalists have of the religious modernist and liberal movements is that they remove the “blood” from the faith.

We mean by that of course, the blood of Jesus Christ.

But they water down just about everything else about Christianity too.

• They don’t like Amazing Grace because it calls people a “worm.”
• They don’t like standards because it makes people live a certain way.
• They don’t like some parts of the Old Testament because it depicts battle scenes and death.
• They don’t like the book of Revelation because it speaks of the Lake of Fire and Brimstone and judgment from God

We had a lady call the church this week to complain about one of the phrases we had on the reader board.

Brother Wilder had put up there the following:

“Warning: Exposure to the Son (Jesus Christ) may prevent burning.”

That is just about as harmless a statement as we could make.

Yet she called offended and said, “I imagine I am not the first to call and complain!”

She was the only one.

She just represents the modern religionist who does not mind to claim there is a God – just not the one in the Bible.

The commentary suggests that Zipporah was actually rejoicing because her husband had made her do the right thing – and God had blessed them for it.

I want to give you five points I notice in the text:

I. HE RECOGNIZED THE ANGER OF THE LORD

Vs 24

It is possible to become too afraid of the Lord.

There are those who misunderstand the fear of the Lord and refuse to do anything for God.

They are like the wicked and slothful servant in Matthew 25 who told his master 

Matt 25:24-25

Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed:

And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine. (KJV)

Jesus said 

“All power is given unto me….Go ye therefore…”

And we are told to “come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

On the other hand, the Bible still speaks very highly of the man who fears the Lord.

Ps 25:12

What man is he that feareth the LORD? him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose. (KJV)

Ps 112:1

Praise ye the LORD. Blessed is the man that feareth the LORD, that delighteth greatly in his commandments. (KJV)

Ps 128:1

Blessed is every one that feareth the LORD; that walketh in his ways. (KJV)

Prov 14:2

He that walketh in his uprightness feareth the LORD: but he that is perverse in his ways despiseth him. (KJV)

Prov 14:16

A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil: but the fool rageth, and is confident. (KJV)

Prov 31:30

Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised. (KJV)

Acts 10:22

And they said, Cornelius the centurion, a just man, and one that feareth God, and of good report among all the nation of the Jews, was warned from God by an holy angel to send for thee into his house, and to hear words of thee. (KJV)

And it would be wise of us to spend more time cultivating in our hearts the fear of the Lord

He recognized the anger of the Lord

Secondly,

II. HE STOPPED UNTIL THEY GOT THINGS RIGHT

Vs 26

“So he let him go…”

Moses stopped his plans to go to Egypt until God let him go.

Sometimes we are way 

• Too hasty in spirit 
• Too quick to decide what we want to do and
• Too eager to get things done – even things we know God wants us to do.

Isaiah 40:31

But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. (KJV)

Learning to wait upon the Lord may be the lost spiritual discipline of the independent Baptist!

Moses

He recognized the anger of the Lord

He stopped until they got things right

Third

III. HE LED HIS FAMILY TO OBEY GOD

Vs 25

It was typical for the father to perform the circumcision rather than the mother.

Some say that Moses was probably either too sick or too afraid of the Lord to perform the ritual himself so his wife took it upon herself to do it for him.

What I see in the passage though is that both the child and the mother now had bought into the faith of Moses.

It was not just Moses obeying the Lord; it was his wife and son.

Illustration:

I am reminded of my Anita and my first anniversary.

We went camping with some friends of ours, the Pucketts. Lori and Wanda were celebrating their second anniversary on that same camping trip.

Lori and Wanda had a baby, Salina. She was acting up and Anita and I could hear Lori encouraging his wife, “You have to discipline her Wanda. You can’t let her get away with that.”

He was leading his family to obey God.

A wise husband doesn’t do all of the discipline in the house. “You wait until your father gets home!”

All that does is makes the kids think of mom as the kind one and dad as the stern one.

• The kids walk all over mom until dad gets home and
• The kids go to mom for comfort because they believe dad won’t comfort them.

The wise husband leads his wife to discipline as well. 

That way they don’t run over her.

The father’s duty is to walk with the Lord and to lead his family to do the same.

• He recognized the anger of the Lord
• He stopped until they got things right
• He led his family to obey God

Fourth

VI. HE WAS CAPABLE OF DOING WONDERS FOR GOD 

Vs 21

Different times call for different wonders.

God isn’t interested in our turning a stick into a snake and back again today.

But we do need some men who can perform wonders for the sake of their families.

• Who walk with God
• Who have the filling of the Holy Spirit in their lives
• Who can teach the Word of God to their family
• Who can faithfully bring them to the house of God
• Who can overcome the troubles of a day at work and have joy in the house
• Who can teach their kids the work ethic
• Who can be content in the Lord

You want your wife and kids to have confidence in your ability to

• Earn a living
• Pray for them
• Discipline them
• Lead them to walk with God

No wife wants a milquetoast husband with no backbone and who comes home defeated every day.

She wants and needs a man who has victory in his life.

• Who can work a job that may be demanding physically and mentally, but still have the joy of the Lord in his life
• Who can teach her to live on the top side
• Who can lead her to be more Christlike

• He recognized the anger of the Lord
• He stopped until they got things right
• He led his family to obey God
• He was capable of wonders for God

Finally

V. HE SERVED THE LORD AS A DELIVERER

Vs 23

Moses followed the Lord and was used to deliver Israel out of slavery.

And the picture, according the 1 Corinthians 10, is very much like winning them to Christ.

Nothing could be better for a wife and kids to see than to see the husband and father of the home serving God as a soul winner.

Conclusion:

Be a Bloody Husband.

Don’t be afraid of the Cross of Jesus Christ or to take stands for Jesus Christ.

Moses:

• Recognized the anger of the Lord
• Stopped until they got things right
• Led his family to obey God
• Was capable of wonders for God and
• Served the Lord as a Deliverer