Exodus 4 contains the 2nd part of God's calling of Moses. In their conversation, God showed Moses some miracles so that he could convince the Israelites that God sent him. Even with that, Moses was very reluctant to go until God finally decided to send Aaron with Moses. Then Moses went to seek permission from his father-in-law to go and visit his people. Once Jethro agreed, Moses began his journey with his wife and children. Then the LORD met Moses again to tell him that He would kill the firstborn son of the Egyptians if Pharoah refused to let them go.

Just when we thought everything went well, we suddenly read that the LORD sought to kill Moses in verse 24. What is happening? Why was God behaving so randomly? It was in Zipporah's (Moses' wife) remedy action that we get hints on what caused God to be angry. Apparently, one of Moses' two sons was not circumcised. We do not know why Moses did not circumcise his son. However, we know in many pagan practices, they would have the first son of the man that was married into a woman's family to name after the woman's family. That is to say that the first son belongs to the woman's family, and only the subsequent sons belong to the man's family. If this same custom is applied to Moses, his first son belongs to Jethro and only the second son is considered an Israelite. That may explain why one of his two sons was not circumcised.

Whatever the reason, not having his son circumcised means Moses did not dedicate his son to God. This is not right in God's sight, especially after Moses was called to be God's messenger. Did Moses know that? Of course, he knew, which was why Zipporah subsequently took the right action.

So, what have we learnt? As a messenger of God (the duty of all Christians), we must first put ourselves right with God. We must dedicate ourselves and our families to God before we embark on God's ministry.

Let us examine ourselves daily before we start the day of service. God bless.