When reading the Bible, especially the Pentateuch, you must keep in mind that it is a book that compresses time and space. There are times when tens, hundreds, or thousands of years pass between paragraphs, lines, and words.
When I study the Bible, I never try to reject or think that the content of the Bible is wrong. I absolutely support the doctrine of biblical inerrancy. This is because it was written by God and was inspired by God. The history of the Exodus is 3,500 years ago for us. The 3,500-year time and space gap can cause miscommunication. There may have been cases where ancient writers made mistakes in consonants and vowels when copying manuscripts. This can be a case where we can understand the exact facts by comparing manuscripts, or we can misinterpret an event in the Bible because we cannot discern the time before and after.
This is the fact that we are mistaken about the time of Moses and Zipporah’s marriage.
According to Acts 7:22-23, Moses was 40 years old when he fled to the Midian desert to escape from Pharaoh because of the incident of killing an Egyptian.
‘22 Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in words and deeds. 23 When he was forty years old, it came to his mind to visit his brethren, the children of Israel.’
When he arrived in the Midian desert and settled there, one day he met the seven daughters of Jethro at a well, and because of that, he married Zipporah and had Gershom.
In other words, it is thought that Moses met Zipporah and married her as soon as he entered Midian when he was about 40 years old. The Bible verse that led to this idea is Exodus 2:15.
‘15 When Pharaoh heard what Moses had done, he sought to kill him. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian, sitting one day by a well.’
In Exodus 2:19-22, ‘19They said, ‘An Egyptian delivered us from the hand of the shepherds, and he drew water for us and watered the flock. 20But he said to his daughters, ‘Where is he? Why did you leave the man? Invite him to eat some food. ’ 21Moses was pleased to live with her, and he gave Moses her daughter Zipporah. 22She bore him a son, and he named him Gershom, saying, “I have been a stranger in a foreign land.” 23Now it came to pass in the course of many years that the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel groaned because of their bondage, and they cried out, and their cry for help because of their bondage came up to God.’
From Exodus 2:15, 21, 22, we have thought that Moses fled from Pharaoh to the wilderness of Midian, met Zipporah at a well, married her, and had a son named Gershom. Then, in Exodus 4:20, it says that Moses was returning to Egypt with his wife and sons on a donkey.
’20 Moses took his wife and sons and put them on a donkey and went back to Egypt. Moses took the staff of God in his hand.’
Don’t you realize something strange when you read this verse? According to what we know so far, Moses was 80 years old at this time. If Moses met Zipporah at a well as soon as he entered Midian, married her, and had two sons. By this time, Gershom would have been at least in his 30s. Then, Eliezer would have been at least in his 20s. Mother Zipporah carrying her grown sons on a donkey? Father Moses holding the reins of the donkey? Isn’t that so awkward? If that had happened, the poor donkey would have been crushed. Isn’t that right?
On the other hand, in Exodus 4:25, it says that Zipporah circumcised only one of her sons. The contents of Exodus 4:20 and 25 are full of contradictions. This is not because the Bible is wrong, but because we were mistaken.
In Exodus 4:24-26, ‘As Moses was traveling, he was staying at the inn, and the Lord met him and struck him to death. So Zipporah took a flint and cut off his son’s foreskin and touched his feet with it, saying, ‘Surely you are a bloody husband to me.’ So the Lord let him go. At that time Zipporah said, ‘A bloody husband,’ because of the circumcision.’
As I mentioned at the beginning of the article, the Bible says that time is compressed by several decades between one verse and one word. In the Korean Bible, it is translated as ‘stayed and one day,’ not ‘stayed. and one day,’ so I thought there was no time difference between these two words. However, in the English or Hebrew text, it is not ‘stayed and one day,’ but ‘stayed. And one day.’ However, it can be thought that the ‘stayed’ was not one or two days, but a difference of 40 years. Moses hid in the land of Midian for nearly 40 years to escape the pursuers sent by Pharaoh. Acts 7:29-30, ‘Moses fled because of this saying and became a foreigner in the land of Midian, where he had two sons. And when forty years were ended, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush.’
Exodus 2:23 says that the king who was trying to kill Moses died. Moses did not know this, but he knew that the pursuers who were trying to kill him had disappeared. However, later in Exodus 4:19, when Moses was about to return to Egypt, the Lord tells Moses that the Pharaoh who was seeking Moses’ life had died. In that sense, it was because the Pharaoh died at the very moment Moses sensed, when he thought the pursuers had disappeared.
‘The Lord said to Moses in Midian, ‘Go back to Egypt, for all those who were seeking your life are dead.’
That is why he had the peace of mind to meet Zipporah at the well in the village where people lived, and they got married.
Therefore, it is understandable that in Exodus 4:20, the two sons and his wife Zipporah were put on one donkey. In other words, Gershom and Eliezer were very young. Gershom was probably about 2 years old, or at most less than 5 years old. However, no matter how young the children were, the sight of a mother holding her two sons in her arms and riding on a donkey is very disturbing. This disturbing sight is resolved in Exodus 4:25. Zipporah circumcised only one son with a flint knife, and it is certain that the son was Gershom, so why did she circumcise only one son? Because one son, Eliezer, was in his mother’s womb. It is understandable that Zipporah put both sons on one donkey because she was pregnant with Eliezer, and that is why she circumcised only one son in Exodus 4:25. Moses realized that it was unreasonable for his wife, Zipporah, to go on a long journey while carrying Gershom, a son, after this circumcision incident at the lodging, and he sent them to his father-in-law Jethro.
After that, in Exodus 18:1-4, ‘Now Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, the priest of Midian, heard of all that God had done for Moses and for his people Israel, and all that the Lord had done for them when he brought Israel out of Egypt. Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took Zipporah, his wife whom Moses had sent away, and her two sons. The name of the one was Gershom, for Moses said, ‘I have been a stranger in a foreign land.’ The name of the other was Eliezer, for he said, ‘The God of my father was my helper, and he saved me from the sword of Pharaoh.’ In Exodus 18:2,3, Moses is reunited with his wife and two sons. At this time, Eliezer meets his father for the first time since his birth. The father named his son Eliezer, meaning that God saved him from the sword of Pharaoh. Doesn’t this match Moses’ reality? This was after Pharaoh and his army drowned in the water. Also, when he married Zipporah, the name of Gerosom, who was born, meant, “I have become a stranger in a foreign land.”
Don’t you think this name was also appropriate for Moses’ circumstances at the time? It is said that the Hebrews named their sons after names that would be memorable at the time. Genesis 10:25, “25 Eber had two sons: he named the one Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided; and the name of Peleg’s brother was Joktan,” is a very appropriate example. In conclusion, although Moses had to evade Pharaoh’s pursuers for nearly 40 years and run around every corner of Midian, God had Moses study the map of Midian in order to lead the Israelites in the future. And through this, my misunderstanding about Moses was also resolved. Was Moses wasting his time in the Midian wilderness for 40 years, tending his father-in-law’s flock? Jacob had 4 wives and 12 sons in 20 years, and returned to his hometown as a rich man, but was Moses living a life of losing hope for the future and being immersed in the past? I misunderstood. I heard pastors expressing the same thoughts as me in sermons and books about Moses, and now my misunderstanding about Moses has been completely resolved.
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