Zipporah (Reluctance)

Internal Struggle

Reluctance

Zipporah appears in one of the strangest and most debated passages in the Old Testament. Moses was on his way back to Egypt to fulfill his assignment when God met him at an inn and sought to kill him. Zipporah immediately took a flint knife, circumcised their son, and touched Moses’s feet with the foreskin, saying he was a bridegroom of blood to her. God let him go. Whatever the precise meaning of the event, the text records that Zipporah’s quick action in a situation Moses had apparently neglected was what prevented a death.

What Happened?

Moses married Zipporah, the daughter of Jethro, a Midianite priest, while living in exile from Egypt. She bore him two sons. When God sent Moses back to Egypt and Moses set out with his family, God met him and sought to kill him at a lodging place. The reason appears to be that one of their sons had not been circumcised, which was the covenant sign required of all male descendants of Abraham. Zipporah took a flint knife and circumcised the boy without hesitation. She touched Moses’s feet with the foreskin and said he was a bridegroom of blood to her. The threat passed. Moses later sent Zipporah and the boys back to her father before entering Egypt, and Jethro brought them to Moses after the exodus when Moses was in the wilderness (Exodus 2; 4:24-26; 18).

How Did Reluctance Affect Zipporah?

Zipporah appears to have found the circumcision requirement distasteful, which her words suggest this was not a practice she welcomed
Despite her personal reluctance, she acted immediately when the situation was life-threatening
She performed a religious rite from a covenant she had not been born into, in a moment of crisis, without apparent delay
Her willingness to do what she found difficult when it was necessary saved her husband’s life and preserved the mission
She was later sent back to her father with the boys, which suggests the marriage was not without its difficulties in the context of Moses’s calling
She is one of the few figures in the early Exodus narrative whose decisive action made Moses’s entire ministry possible

The Turning Point

Zipporah’s turning point was the moment she picked up the flint knife. She did not debate the requirement, wait for Moses to act, or allow her personal feelings about the practice to delay her response. She saw what was needed and she did it. Her words suggest she resented it. She did it anyway. That combination, personal reluctance and decisive action in service of something larger than her preference, is what the text records as her defining moment. The mission that would shape history moved forward because she acted in spite of herself.

The Pattern That Led to Healing

Understood the requirement even if she found it personally difficult
Recognized the urgency of the situation without waiting for confirmation
Acted decisively without allowing her reluctance to determine the outcome
Did what was necessary using what was immediately available
Expressed her feelings about it honestly without letting those feelings prevent the action

Practical Steps for Facing Reluctance

Distinguish between things you find personally difficult and things that are actually wrong, they are not always the same
Act on what is needed without waiting until you feel willing to do it
Do not let your emotional response to a requirement become the reason someone else bears the consequence of it being unmet
Use what is immediately available rather than waiting for a better tool or a more comfortable moment
Say how you feel about it afterward rather than before, if the action is necessary the reluctance can be processed once the crisis is past
Ask whether the thing you are reluctant to do is about your preference or about something more significant
Accept that some of the most important things you will do in life will be things you would not have chosen on your own