The Torah’s description of Moses’
descent to Egypt to discharge his prophetic calling of leading God’s people out
of their subjugation includes the episode at the inn:
And it came to pass on the way at the lodging-place, God confronted Moses
and wanted to kill him. Zipporah took a stone knife and cut off her son’s
foreskin, throwing it down at (Moses’) feet and she said: “Surely you are a
bridegroom of blood to me.” So He let him alone. Then she said: “A bridegroom
of blood in regard of the circumcision.” Exodus
4:24-26
Yehuda Kiel [Da’at Mikra], in
his insightful analysis, notes that this incident served as a tangible
indication to Moses of the great danger which awaited him on his mission, and a
warning that he must be totally scrupulous in fulfillment of the divine dictate
given him.
As the verses tell us, it was Moses’
wife Zipporah, who saved his life through the blood of circumcision of their son,
which presages the liberation of Israel from Egyptian bondage:
They must take the blood and place it on the two doorposts and on the
beam above the door of the houses in which they will eat (the sacrifice). Exodus 12:7
Just as Moses was saved from mortal
danger through blood, so too were the Israelites saved when God smote the
Egyptians. [ibid. 12:13]
(While the blood which was put on
the Israelites’ doorposts and lintels in Egypt was that of the Paschal lamb,
our Sages [Ruth Rabba 16:1] taught that the blood of the Paschal lamb
was mixed with the blood of circumcision, making the parallel more exact.)
We can add that the fact that it was
Zipporah who saved Moses’ life also serves as a precursor to the liberation
from Egypt, as our Sages taught:
Rabbi Avira expounded: it was in recompense for the righteous women of
that generation that our fathers were redeemed from Egypt. [Babylonian Talmud, Sota
11b]
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