Texts in Conversation
Exodus says Zipporah circumcised either Moses or her son to end God's sudden attack, a notoriously difficult passage. The Samaritan Pentateuch says she 'circumcised her heart,' using Deuteronomy's command to circumcise the heart to explain the story.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Exodus 4:24
Hebrew Bible
22 You must say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the Lord has said, “Israel is my son, my firstborn, 23 and I said to you, ‘Let my son go that he may serve me,’ but since you have refused to let him go, I will surely kill your son, your firstborn!”’” 24 Now on the way, at a place where they stopped for the night, the Lord met Moses and sought to kill him. 25 But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off the foreskin of her son and touched it to Moses’ feet, and said, “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me.” 26 So the Lord let him alone. (At that time she said, “A bridegroom of blood,” referring to the circumcision.)
Date: 750–400 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Samaritan Exodus 4:24
Samaritan Penteteuch
Samaritan
22 And you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Shema says this, ‘Israel is my son, my firstborn, 23 and I have said to you, ‘Let my son go, so that he may serve me. And you have refused to let him go. Look, I will kill your son, your firstborn.’” 24 And on the way at the lodging place Shema met him, and tried to kill him. 25 Then Zipporah took a flint, and cut off the foreskin of her heart, and threw it at his feet. And she said: “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me.” 26 So he left her alone. Then she said: “A bridegroom of blood [you are], because of the circumcision.”
Date: 130–120 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... 4:24-26 “Circumcised her blocked heart” — The Israelite Samaritan version is a special and different version from the Masoretic text and in the case of the incident at the lodging-place pronunciation results a variation. In the Jewish version, verse 25 has the pronunciation of “benah,” meaning her son. In the Samaritan version it is pronounced “binnah" meaning her heart ..."
Benyamim Tsedaka and Sharon Sullivan, eds., The Israelite Samaritan Version of the Torah: First English Translation Compared with the Masoretic Version, trans. Benyamim Tsedaka (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2013), 132–133.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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