Zipporah's Revulsion?

Who was that, again?
If you don't know who the biblical character Zipporah was, don't feel bad.  Honestly, if I had not been studying Exodus, I would have had trouble remembering too.
Perhaps that is because you don't hear many sermons about this biblical character, and perhaps that is because this is one of the most perplexing short stories in all of Torah, (eclipsed only by the first few verses of Genesis 6.)  Although it has been interpreted in a variety of (and some of them very strange) ways, I am going to go with one of the most obvious, for the sake of illustration.

Zipporah was the daughter of Jethro, a priest of Midian.  Some have thought Jethro was a pagan priest, but the preponderance of evidence in Genesis indicates that he was a godly man.  In fact, later he is called Reuel, a second name, a title or a last name perhaps?  Reuel means "friend of God".  At any rate, he appears to have been a worshipper of Yahweh, since, in Genesis 18 he blessed the name of Yahweh, offered him burnt offerings, and so forth.  Zipporah was one of his shepherdess daughters, whom Jethro gave to Moses as his wife.  She bore Moses two sons.

Zipporah comes to prominence in Scripture in a brief, but important, story found in Exodus 4:24-26 (BSB).

24 On the trip, at an overnight campsite, it happened that the Lord confronted him and intended to put him to death. 25 So Zipporah took a flint, cut off her son’s foreskin, threw it at Moses’s feet, and said, “You are a bridegroom of blood to me! ” 26 So he let him alone. At that time she said, “You are a bridegroom of blood,” referring to the circumcision.

When God called Moses out of Midian, to return to Egypt on his important mission, Moses took Zipporah and their two sons with him.  Along the way, it appears God was dealing with Moses about circumcising his elder son, Gershom.  Whether or not because Zipporah was against it or for other reasons, Moses was not immediately obedient to the Lord on this matter.  Genesis 4:24 relates that God became so displeased with Moses, over his disobedience, He confronted Moses and intended to kill him.  Zipporah, at that point, apparently "got with the program" and circumcised Gershom herself.  She was highly offended and disgusted, it seems.  Her revulsion were illustrated by her words and the fact that she either threw the skin at Moses' feet (some translations) or "touched his feet with it" (original Hebrew).  But, due to their (albeit reluctant) obedience in the matter of Gershom's circumcision, God "left him alone" (referring to Moses).

Now, at some point, whether it was immediately after this fractious incident or some other time before they reached Egypt, Moses sent Zipporah and the two boys home to Jethro.  This is not explicitly stated in Genesis 4.  We know this occurred because in Genesis 18 we learn that Jethro brought Zipporah and the boys to Moses at Mount Horeb/Sinai, after Moses had led the people out of Egypt and across the Red Sea.

Zipporah's disgust and reluctant obedience are not the point of this story, though.

The biggest take-away I get from this tale is a leadership lesson.  Moses failed a leadership test...nearly to the point of being "taken out".  (God don't play.)

God demanded Moses "practice what he preached".  How could Moses speak for God when he was not leading by example, not walking in obedience, regarding the matter of circumcision?   Satan will use whatever is most potent, to tempt us to disobedience.  This includes those dearest to us, who can unwittingly be used by the enemy to turn us aside from God's truth and God's purposes.  In this case, Satan may have used Zipporah to turn her husband from obedience to the LORD.  And, Moses nearly forfeited a mighty calling, to keep peace in the home.

Or, maybe not.
Moses had been circumcised as a baby, owing to the fact his parents were Hebrews; and, the daughter of Pharaoh recognized him as a Hebrew baby (Ex. 2:6).  How else would she have recognized that, except by his circumcision?
Still, for whatever the reason, it could be that Moses was disobeying God's command to circumcise his son, all on his own, and that Zipporah heroically saved his life by intervening quickly to perform the circumcision.  Although her impassioned remarks afterwards seem to indicate she was "not a fan" of the religious rite, the Scriptures do not explicitly say which way it went, do they?

These are just some of the questions this episode generates.  If you really want to "go down the rabbit hole", just go read the two sources below.  Many and varied interpretations!

I find this story very sobering.  Think about it.  Moses was approximately 80 years old at this time (Exodus 7:7).  God had been preparing him for this mission for 80 years!  Yet....circumcision and the obedience which produced it, as well as the integrity of leadership, were so important to God that He nearly rejected Moses as the one chosen for this monumental leadership role.

We may not be Moses, but God takes our obedience very seriously.  When we knowingly disobey Him, we may not immediately see the results/consequences in our lives.  There are always negative consequences, however.

Sources:

https://faculty.gordon.edu/hu/bi/ted_hildebrandt/OTLit/Week3/Allen-Ex4-Bloody-BSac.htm

https://drmsh.com/thoughts-on-the-bridegroom-of-blood/