350 The Testimony, September 2004 behold, the judge standeth before the door”. verse 12, would the Jewish saints scattered Again we ask a question, How was the behav- throughout the Roman Empire really be “look- iour of the Jewish saints out in the Roman Em- ing for and hasting” the destruction of their pire relevant to the Roman armies standing homeland? The following verse makes it clear before the door of the Jewish state in A.D. 70? It that Peter was encouraging the Jewish saints to would seem more reasonable to apply this verse look forward to the time when God’s righteous to the judgement seat of Christ that we must all Kingdom would be established on the earth. stand before (2 Cor. 5:10). One other point I would like to make is that I suggest that the coming in 2 Peter 3:4 can throughout the New Testament the return of best be applied to the second coming of Jesus to Jesus is always spoken of as imminent; for ex- establish the Kingdom. The people referred to in ample, Revelation 3:11; 22:7,20. As we know, the 2 Peter 3:4 say, “Where is the promise of his return of Jesus is never further than a lifetime coming?”. Did the Jews see the events of A.D. 70 away. as the promised coming? Also, in relation to Stephen Hughes Zipporah and the circumcision Deborah Hurn ETHRO’S POSITION as priest of Midian re- the custom. This might then explain why only veals that the Truth had survived and even one of Moses’ sons was overdue for circumci- Jflourished amongst some of Abraham’s ‘Ara- sion at the time of their return journey to Egypt bian’ descendants while it was completely ab- (Ex. 4:25). sent in Canaan and in serious decline in Egypt. By way of contrast, it seems that the prac- When Moses first fled to Midian, therefore, he tice of circumcision had totally lapsed amongst was coming to an ‘ecclesia’, much as Jacob had Jacob’s descendants in Egypt, for, according to done many years before when he fled to Haran. Exodus 12:50, “all the children of Israel” were The providential encounter with the daughters circumcised after they came out of Egypt.1 As a of Jethro at the well (Ex. 2:15-20) is strongly nation of slaves, the Israelites would have found reminiscent of Eliezer’s selection of Rebekah for it hard to maintain their religious and cultural Isaac (Gen. 24:10-24) and Jacob’s first meeting traditions. The great majority of them seem to with Rachel (29:1-12), and we can be sure that have lost all but their ethnic and tribal identities Yahweh had guided him to the most spiritual by the time they came to leave Egypt, and were family in the land. Zipporah was therefore an serving all the idols of the land (Josh. 24:14; also eminently suitable wife for Moses, being a be- Ezek. 20:7,8,16,24). It is unlikely that the people liever herself, and from a priestly family. would have resorted to paganism at Mount Sinai if they had never practised it before (Ex. Circumcision amongst the descendants of 32:4; Deut. 9:12). Abraham The final impetus to cease circumcising the The Midianites, as descendants of Abraham, baby boys may well have come around the time would still have been circumcising their male of Moses’ birth, when the persecution was reach- children as a sign of their faith and ethnic iden- ing its peak and the Egyptians were killing all tity, as the Arab races do today. The descend- newborn males. Mothers were no doubt trying ants of Ishmael circumcise their sons in their to hide their sons in various ways, and knew thirteenth year because this was Ishmael’s age that if the babies were discovered and checked when baby Isaac and all the other males of Ab- raham’s household were circumcised (17:25). Jethro was not himself descended from Hagar, 1. In “The circumcision at Marah” (The Testimony, Dec. but from Keturah, Abraham’s ‘Cushite’ concu- 2001, p. 451) I presented the case for Israel’s national bine (1 Chron. 1:32; cf. Num. 12:1). Keturah’s circumcision having taken place at Marah, though it children were later sent to live in Arabia (Gen. is not detailed as such, but encoded in spiritual terms 25:6), where an older age of initiation became and types. The Testimony, September 2004 351 for the sign of circumcision they would meet forced to take desperate action, and, seizing a certain death. Moses and Aaron, sons of faithful flint knife, cut off her son’s foreskin (4:25). Many parents, were possibly among the last to be years later another faithful ‘daughter of Jethro’ ‘done’, since all the Israelite males had to be (Judg. 4:11), Jael the Kenite, also proved to be circumcised eighty years later (see above). very handy with a sharp tool when it was abso- lutely necessary to ‘cut off the flesh’ (v. 21). Moses’ reticence Zipporah’s strong language when she had to Moses had lived nearly all his early life amongst do the deed herself is pitiable (Ex. 4:25,26). It is aristocratic Egyptians, whose anti-Semitic atti- against nature for the mother to do such a thing, tudes would have taught him to be very careful and Zipporah felt both shamed and angry. Jew- not to betray his Hebrew origins. From his panic- ish mothers today, although assenting to the stricken flight from Pharaoh, and his reluctance national practice of circumcision, often stand to return, we can tell that he was a fearful per- aside and cling to female relatives while the pro- son in some ways, and this may go some of the cedure is underway, and cannot witness their way to explain why he resisted the specific com- babies’ pain. mandment of circumcision. It is surprising to The father is primarily responsible for ensur- note that, although Moses obediently circum- ing that the operation takes place, and his baby cised the people upon leaving Egypt, he did not son may be cradled in his own arms while the continue to enforce this law for the rest of the mohel (the Jewish term for the circumciser) does wilderness wanderings, so that the entire gen- his work. Compare the New Testament account eration at the entrance to the Land had to be of Paul taking responsibility for the circumci- circumcised by Joshua (Josh. 5:2-9). It may also sion of Timothy (Acts 16:3), his own “son in the be due to this same reticence that Moses pro- faith” (1 Tim. 1:2). If the father is at all likely to vides no reasons or excuses for why he resisted faint, another senior male relative stands in, or neglected the inevitable for his own son(s). and in many places this has now become the While in Midian, Moses fathered two sons, custom. Gershom and Eliezer (Ex. 2:22; 18:2-6), and had It seems that this frightening and traumatic not circumcised one or both of them by the time scene caused such a rift between Moses and Zip- he came to return to Egypt. Zipporah, raised in porah that they separated, and she and the boys a culture that had retained the patriarchal tradi- went home to her father (Ex. 18:2). This does not tions, may have pointed out to Moses his obliga- appear to have caused any problem in Moses’ tion as father and head of the family. The fact and Jethro’s excellent relationship, for they that an angel arrived to kill him (or his son) is a greeted each other very fondly at Mount Horeb, hint that Yahweh may have reminded Moses to when Jethro brought Moses’ wife and children comply, in preparation for his role as leader and back to him (vv. 6,7). example to the nation. There is no explanation Jethro’s own gracious manners (2:20) and for his procrastination, unless he was concerned Moses’ meekness (Num. 12:3) brought a satis- for his boys’ safety in Egypt, where he feared factory ending to the saga. Zipporah, in the in- that population control might still be exerted tervening time, may have been counselled by over the Israelites by the ‘culling’ of males. her wise father on the value of forgiveness and cooperation. The healing passage of time, and Zipporah intervenes Moses’ successful return as a strong and deci- While Moses delayed, or was unable, to rescue sive leader, would have helped them to secure a himself from the angel’s wrath, Zipporah was smooth and happy reunion. Orthodox Patriarch meets the pope The following is an extract from the pope’s comments on the recent visit to the Vatican of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople: “At our meeting, the realisation . emerged that Catholics and Orthodox are called to work together to ensure that the European Continent does not forget its own Christian roots. Only in this way will Europe be able to carry out her proper role in dialogue between the civilisa- tions and in the promotion of justice, solidarity and the protection of creation across the world”.—Joan Brooks .