oh, now i remember...

last sunday, the sermon was on exodus 1. and it made me think about how i usually tend to avoid reading the old testament. well... not in all cases. i enjoy psalms and proverbs. my favorite chapters are in job. my favorite book is ecclesiastes. i have a verse from isaiah tattooed on me. but really, i've read through the entire new testament like 4 or 5 times by now. and i've read through the entire old testament exactly once. i'm not really sure why. i guess when i think of the old testament, i tend to think of the long lists of rules and laws that i'm no longer bound by (therefore, irrelevant) or i think of the tedious genealogies that i usually skim anyways (boooooring) or i think of stories of ancient races of people being totally slaughtered (God did THAT?!). but the sermon brought back to mind how many COOL stories there are back there! stories of God's love and faithfulness and wrath and vengeance that those of us who grew up in church tend to get bored of due to the watered-down-for-children versions we heard over and over and over all the time in sunday school.

so this week i've been reading - like, REALLY reading - exodus. the grown up version. and for the first time i can remember, i am truly ENJOYING the old testament.

but when i got to chapter 4, i remembered another reason why i usually don't read this part of my Bible. it confuses me. more like it confounds me. i don't really understand why a lot of what happens is going on. here's what i got hung up on...

v. 19: While Moses was still in Midian, the Lord said to him, "Go back to Egypt, because the men who wanted to kill you are dead now." (this is right after Moses saw the burning bush and got in an argument with God, and God was all, "look here, boy, you will do what i say because i am God and i made you and if i say you can, you can. and if you STILL don't believe me, throw that little stick in your hand on the ground and just SEE what happens.")

so moses packs up his new wife, his kid, and he sets out. here's where it gets good.

v. 24 - 25: As Moses was on his way to Egypt, he stopped at a resting place for the night. The Lord met him there and tried to kill him. But Zipporah took a flint knife and circumcised her son. Taking the skin, she touched Moses' feet with it and said to him, "You are a bridegroom of blood to me."

WHAT?! God JUST got done telling Moses to do as he is told, Moses obeys, and then God tries to KILL HIM?! He must not have been trying very hard though. i mean, seriously? moses didn't stand a chance. and there's no explanation. no background. no reason. no battle scene. no play by play. just that one tiny sentence and it's over. and then there's the "but". as if what zipporah did was to somehow counter what God was doing. because yeah, that is everyone's first reaction when... oh, never mind. that is gross.

sighhhhh....