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NASB | Exodus 4:24 ¶ Now it came about at the lodging place on the way that the LORD met him and sought to put him to death. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Exodus 4:24 ¶ Now it happened at the lodging place, that the LORD met Moses and sought to kill him [making him deathly ill because he had not circumcised one of his sons]. [Gen 17:9-14] |
Subject: Who was God going to kill? |
Bible Note: It is my understanding that God does not desire the death of the disobedient person. Ezekiel 18:23 “Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?” saith the Lord GOD: “and not that he should return from his ways, and live?” Ezekiel 33:11 Say unto them, “As I live”, saith the Lord GOD, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die …?” 2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is … not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. The Lord had no more intention to kill Moses or his son than he had of destroying the people of Nineveh (Jonah 3,4) or than Jesus had intention of going further (Luke 24:28). The God who knew that Abraham would direct his family in the right way (Genesis 18) knew that Moses’ family would accede to his demand for circumcision of the male. It does not take away from the fact that God is just and will punish sin. The soul that sinneth, it shall die (Ezekiel 18:4,20). The wicked will be turned into hell (Psalm 9:17). But God looks forward to our repentance and to his chance to forgive us. We might not do well to delve into the foreknowledge of God because it could lead into a discussion of predestination, and that is not the purpose here. But would it not be interesting if God would have chosen Moses to deliver the children of Israel from Egypt and then turned around and killed him (or his son) before he had had a chance to do that? It seems then that God’s threat of death is to remind us that he is a God of justice, but he never wants to follow-through on that threat. He will kill some, as he did Er (Genesis 28) and Korah (Numbers 16), and Uzzah (2 Samuel 6) and those who refuse to repent and trust in Jesus (John 3:16). But he knew he would not have to kill anyone in Moses’ family on the way to Egypt. I agree with you that someone would have died if atonement was not made. But atonement would be made there, and on the cross, by Jesus, and no one needs to die. I speak here of spiritual death. |