***There is a missing piece of audio a bit after 13 minute mark during the discussion of 4:24-26. Here are my notes from that section:***

• ​​In order for any of this to make any sense, we have to answer the question: Why was circumcision the sign of the Abrahamic Covenant?
  • Circumcision was the sign of the Abrahamic covenant given back in Gen. 17  because it was a lifelong reminder of the promise of a coming offspring who would crush the head of the serpent and be a blessing to all the nations.
  • This meaning behind circumcision explains why the language of firstborn son in 21-23 is immediately followed by this “random” threat to Moses’ firstborn.
    • Moses’ lack of obedience to the sign of the covenant of the promise of a coming offspring immediately followed the discussion of God preserving his firstborn, his offspring, Israel, and threatening Pharaoh’s firstborn, his offspring.
• The second thing that helps us understand what is going on is that the word for “touch” used in 25 when Zipporah “touches” Moses’ feet with the foreskin is the same word used in the Passover for when the blood “touched” the lintel and the doorposts.
  • There is a purposeful parallelism between this account and what is about to happen at Passover - Deliverance from a threat by God through the touching of blood where he sees the blood and ceases judgment.