Mama Zipporah

OPEN: Jeffrey Sackett once said:

Think of how often in scripture it is the woman who is the vehicle for ministry.

· Who prompted Jesus to perform His first miracle? A Woman! (His mother)

· Who ministered to Christ during His public ministry? The women!

· Who anointed Jesus’ feet? The women! (One a prostitute/ another Mary/sister of Martha)

· Who stayed with Jesus throughout his trial and crucifixion? The women!

· Who were the first witnesses to the resurrected Savior? The women!

· Who makes up the majority of the population of most churches today? The women!

One person has observed that it seems women are more naturally spiritual than men.

They tend to understand the need for God more readily.

And they are often touched by the Holy Spirit easier than men are.

Because of their potential for faith, women often serve as the backbone of many churches and ministries.

And they have the potential to help develop their husbands and sons into great leaders.

Men may often be called to positions of leadership in the church but without Godly women beside them… they’re not going to get much done.

And yet mom tends to be in the background.

She is obscure, perhaps even totally unknown.

When we first learn of the birth of Moses we are not told the names of his parents.

Exodus 2:1 tells us a “man of Levi” married a “daughter of Levi.”

In this case 2 totally unknowns.

You have to dig into Exodus 6 to find the names of Moses’ parents — and what you find may surprise you because later in the Law God would give through Moses such a marriage would be condemned.

But in Exodus 2 we are told that “the woman, the daughter of Levi” conceived and bore a son — a son, that according to Pharaoh's mandate had to be killed.

Exodus 1:15-17 tells of Pharaoh’s post-birth abortion mandate

In John 10:10, Jesus tells us the devil’s plans are to steal, kill and destroy.

That was certainly the case in Moses’ life.

And in Jesus’ life.

Abortion, infanticide.

The devil wants to kill babies.

He wants to keep women from becoming mothers.

So often God sends His deliverance through a child.

A child that has been raised by a godly mother.

Nowhere is the devil’s diabolical plans more evident than in his plan to abort babies.

And yes, I believe abortion comes straight from the pit of hell.

It kills babies — most before birth, but there is a growing movement to kill them after birth — infanticide.

And then abortion STEALS — oh what it steals from women:

Peace — as the devil then beats a woman about the head and shoulders with guilt and condemnation — you killed your baby, your own flesh and blood

How many women deal with such things years, decades after the event?

Regret, horror, self-loathing — all because they believed the devil’s lie that this is convenient, “this is the best thing for you”

Many times, abortion steals the ability to have children in the future.

And yes, abortion DESTROYS.

It destroys the nation that endorses abortion by removing any concept of the sanctity of human life.

When abortion for any reason is the law of a nation, NO life is sacred.

Killing the sick, the elderly, even killing the imperfect, killing the unwanted.

Killing anyone who doesn’t have blond hair and blue eyes.

Wait, that sounds like Hitler’s Germany — exactly!

And the, how many girls have been aborted in China because families could have only one child — it is the flip-side to Moses birth.

This past week we had an abhorrent revelation of the process of the Supreme Court over Mississippi’s abortion law.

Abhorrent because someone leaked a document .

A leak that has never occurred before because it corrupts the process.

And you’ve seen the impact.

Violence, relentless pressure on the Supreme Court — not to rule according to the Constitution but according to supposed public opinion.

Not to rule according to what it true and right, but according to what the devil wants.

There is an Insert in bulletin.

Add each justice’s name: (Read them out)

By overturning Roe v Wade there is the possibility of slowing down the killing of unborn babies.

Whatever you think, whatever lies have been told by the devil’s propaganda machine, mainstream media, overturning Roe v wade will NOT stop abortion — it will only slow it down.

Some states, like New York, will continue to declare open season on babies — overturning Roe V Wade will NOT stop that.

This nation, WE have killed over 60 million babies since Roe v. Wade became law.

60 million!

Let us pray for God to forgive us and turn the tide.

But this morning I want us to consider another woman, another mother.

If we were to consider all the named women and mothers in the Bible (there are many who are not named), the alphabetical list would begin with Abi (mother of Hezekiah) and end with Zipporah, wife of Moses and mother of Gershom and Eliezer.

It is that last mother of the list that I want us to think about this mother’s day morning.

Anticipate Father’s day — same direction.

Let’s begin to read what scripture tells us about this mother:

We will look at Mama Zipporah in 3 acts.

Act 1:

Text: Exodus 2:15-22

Zipporah - The Wife of Moses

This morning I would like for us to consider the account, the example, of the last named mother in the Bible.

This morning let us consider a woman named Zipporah, the wife of Moses.

From what we read in Scripture, it seems that Zipporah deeply loved her husband

And deeply loved her children

First of all, in scripture, a person’s name is often significant.

Take Moses, an Egyptian name that, according to Exodus 2:10, means “one who draws out.”

How appropriate for the name of the man who would lead God’s people out of Egypt!

Zipporah, a Midian name, means “a little bird,” “a sparrow.”

She may have been Moses’ “little bird” as a wife.

As we will see Zipporah is anything but a “little bird” when it comes to her sons.

Like many mothers, she can be fierce, a mama bear.

Last night, when I came home from church, Sandra had the movie Breakthrough on TV.

Remember? from 3 years ago?

It’s about the boy who fell through the ice in Lake St. Louis near where I got saved as a teenager.

He died from the experience, but because a mama bear held onto God and bucked the system, God did a miracle and brought him back to life.

Zipporah too was a mama bear.

Zipporah was one of the seven daughters of Jethro who is also called Reuel and Raguel in scripture.

It was to the home of this shepherd-priest in Midian that Moses came when at forty years of age he fled from Egypt, and meeting the seven girls drawing water Moses assisted them.

Arriving home earlier than usual they told how the Egyptian had helped them.

Invited home, Moses was content to live with Jethro’s family, and married Zipporah, eldest of the seven daughters.

Two sons were born of the union, Gershom and Eliezer.

The Issue of Circumcision

Act 2

Exodus 4:19-20; 4:24-26

Here we see Moses 40 years after marrying Zipporah.

For those of you have been married a while, 40 years is a significant amount of time.

You aren’t newlyweds.

At the same time, Moses and Zipporah are raising 2 boys.

I don’t know how old they are, but raising kids at 80 years old doesn’t sound like fun.

Maybe Moses “robbed the cradle” when he married Zipporah and she was half his age.

That still puts her at 60 years old raising kids.

Oye vay!

This is also after his burning bush encounter.

God has called him to a mission.

Naturally, Moses loads up his family in the minivan and takes them on a road trip to Egypt.

Partway there, at a Motel 6, things go really bad.

God decides that if Moses can’t be obedient to Him, if he honors his wife and her desires over the living God, then this mission is over before it even began.

God says, I’ll kill Moses and start over again with someone else.

That’s how serious God is about obedience.

If Jesus is our Lord, our lives are NOT about our preferences.

If it were, I would NOT be here this morning.

If you think I WANT to be a pastor, you are crazy — because only crazy people, generally masochists, WANT to be pastors.

I am a pastor out of obedience to the call of God.

Yes, there is fulfillment — because God gifted me, shaped me through my experiences, prepared me for this call.

But WANT to be be a pastor?

No way!

I am afraid of anyone who WANTS to be a pastor.

You had better be called or you are in for a lot of disappointment!

But like I said, God is serious about obedience.

Samuel told Saul, the first king of Israel: 1 Samuel 15:22–23 (NLT) “What is more pleasing to the LORD: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams. 23 Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft, and stubbornness as bad as worshiping idols. So because you have rejected the command of the LORD, he has rejected you as king.”

Jesus said: Matthew 7:21 (NASB95) “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does [who obeys] the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.

As a non-Jewish woman, Zipporah was not probably familiar with the requirement of circumcision.

Zipporah, as a woman of Midian, did not share the spiritual values of her notable husband who found himself acting against the sacred tradition of Israel.

Apparently she first became aware of it after the birth of their first son: Gershom.

Became aware, and probably incensed that it had been done to her first-born.

Probably said: “NEVER again!”

But then we see Moses and Mama Zipporah and their 2 sons on their way to Egypt to accomplish the mission to which God had called Moses.

I don’t know what you visualize when you hear about the call of God to missions or pastoring or evangelism.

But it WILL involve some hard things.

The Bible tells us in Exodus 4:24-26 that God stood against Moses to kill him.

You know, the one He had just commissioned at the burning bush.

But Moses had apparently put his wife’s preferences above God’s command with the birth of their son Eliezer.

It seems, that to keep the peace, Moses compromised with his unbelieving wife and withheld circumcision, the sign of God’s covenant, from his youngest son Eliezer.

ILLUS: I once read the true story about a family gathering where the women were being teased by their husbands about how they always seemed get their way. Of course, the women weren’t going to take that laying down.

One woman said to her husband "Honey, when I get my way, that’s a compromise."

"What is it when I get my way?" he asked.

She smiled and replied, "That’s a miracle!"

It’s natural, in a healthy marriage, for a husband to listen to his wife.

Ephesians 5 tells us that a husband should be the head of his house, but this leadership in the home includes treating his wife with respect. And listening to her opinions is a vital part of showing her proper respect.

A Godly man wants his wife’s input, her insights, her agreement on what is to be decided.

However, there are times when a husband is trying to follow God’s will that he finds his wife doesn’t like the direction he’s going.

That seems to be the case here.

Apparently Zipporah had her way about the circumcision of one of her sons — most likely the baby Eliezer.

She stood against it.

Can I let another Mom tell you another side of circumcision?

The mother of Timothy, Eunice talks about it in this modern version of Timothy’s story.

Zipporah obeys God

The Lord intervened, and as a sign of divine displeasure, Moses is stricken with a mortal disease.

Both Zipporah and Moses became conscience-stricken over the profanation of God’s covenant, and Zipporah yields.

Maybe Moses is too sick to take a knife and circumcise the child, so his wife severed the boy’s foreskin and, throwing it down before Moses said, “you are a bridegroom of blood!”

One of Zipporah’s problems here was that when faced with God’s requirement for belonging to His covenant, she refused to do it God’s way.

She refused to “sign God’s contract” in God’s way.

In Genesis 17 we’re told that Circumcision was sign of the Old Covenant.

Those who were not circumcised under that covenant were to be cut off from fellowship.

In refusing to have her child circumcised, Zipporah was basically telling God

“I know this is what Moses has said You wanted, but it doesn’t appeal to my religious background. I’m not going to do it Your way. I want to do it mine.”

But God doesn’t take rejection of His commands lightly.

If circumcision was required as part of the Old Testament Covenant then circumcision was what you had better do.

But now, in the New Testament that changed.

In the book of Acts we’re told that God no longer had the intention of using circumcision as the sign of the covenant for Christians. In fact He replaced it with an entirely new sign. Do you know what that was?

In Colossians 2:9-12 we’re told:

"… in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. IN HIM YOU WERE ALSO CIRCUMCISED, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with Him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead."

In other words, according to Colossians, the mark of the New Covenant was to be baptism.

It was to replace physical circumcision because it better symbolized what God wanted His people to remember. He wanted us to remember that when we became Christians,

· we died,

· we were buried

· and we rose again from a watery grave - resurrected to live a new life

When Moses was restored to health relations in the home were not congenial, for he went on alone to Egypt, and Zipporah and the two sons went back to her home in Midian.

As we will read, the contention between Moses and Zipporah is so bad Moses SENDS her and the boys back to her daddy’s house.

Considering the things Moses faced from this point on, at least in the sense of having to worry about his family on top of doing God’s will for Israel, it was probably for the best.

Reunion

Exodus 18:1-7

After Moses became the mighty leader and law-giver of Israel, there was the episode when Jethro, his father-in-law came out to the wilderness to see Moses and brought with him Zipporah and the two sons.

The reunion was apparently pleasant enough, because Moses graciously received them and neither disowned nor ignored his wife and sons.

But after this visit during which Jethro gave his over-burdened son-in-law some very practical advice, nothing more is said of Zipporah.

She disappears without comment from the history of the Jewish people in which her husband figured so prominently.

“Neither as the wife of her husband nor as the mother of her children did she leave behind her a legacy of spiritual riches.”

How different it would have been if only she had fully shared her husband’s unusual meekness and godliness and, like him, left behind footprints in the sands of time!

Zipporah is far from being an inspiring character with which to end our alphabetical coverage of all the named women of the Bible.

One could have wished for a nobler and more godly example of female biography as a fitting conclusion to this section of our study.

Whatever was thus written in former days was written for our instruction, that by [our steadfast and patient] endurance and the encouragement [drawn] from the Scriptures we might hold fast and cherish hope (Romans 15:4, Amplified Bible).

What Can We Learn?

As we close this service this morning I would like to encourage moms:

Even if it is hard, save yourself a lot of grief and be obedient to God and His way in raising your kids.

But the wise wife and mother (and father/ grandparent/ uncle or aunt) realizes that if you want God’s blessings… you do things God’s way.

Put obedience to God 1st place in your life.

Have you done that?

Salvation appeal.

Pray over ALL women.