On the way at a place where they spent the night, the Lord met Moses and was about to kill him. One of the most cryptic and disturbing verses in Exodus. Moses, just commissioned to deliver Israel, is suddenly in mortal danger from God. The reason is not stated until the next verse: his son has not been circumcised. The one sent to enforce the covenant between God and Israel has not kept the covenant sign in his own family. Circumcision was the mark of belonging to Abraham's line, instituted in Genesis 17:10–14 with the explicit warning that the uncircumcised man shall be cut off from his people — he has broken my covenant. Moses cannot be the covenant mediator while neglecting the covenant's most basic requirement. Romans 2:21 asks: you who preach against stealing, do you steal? The integrity of the messenger must match the message. The crisis in verse 24 is the enforcement of that principle.

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