Exodus 4:26

26 And he let him go. Then she said, A bloody husband -- because of the circumcision.

Exodus 4:26 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 4:26

So he let him go
That is, the Lord let Moses go; suffered him to go on his journey without any further interruption; as the Targums, "it", the angel, ceased from him, or left him; or the disease and trembling departed from him, as Aben Ezra, and he was quite well and easy; though Grotius, after Lyra, understands it of Zipporah, she departed from him, that is, from Moses, and returned to Midian again, as it seems she did; but this the grammatical construction of the words will not bear, being masculine, though sometimes the masculine is used of women, as in ( Exodus 1:21 ) : then she said, a bloody husband thou art because of the circumcision;
this is repeated, partly to give the reason of her calling him a bloody husband, because of the circumcision, and partly because of her great joy on occasion of her husband's restoration to her by this means.

Exodus 4:26 In-Context

24 And it came to pass on the way, in the inn, that Jehovah came upon him, and sought to slay him.

25 Then Zipporah took a stone and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, A bloody husband indeed art thou to me!

26 And he let him go. Then she said, A bloody husband -- because of the circumcision.

27 And Jehovah said to Aaron, Go into the wilderness to meet Moses. And he went, and met him on the mountain of God, and kissed him.

28 And Moses told Aaron all the words of Jehovah who had sent him, and all the signs that he had commanded him.

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit. 'bridegroom,' as Ps. 19.5; 'son-in-law,' as 1 Sam. 18.18.