OH THE PLACES WE SHOULD GO - THE GREAT OUTDOOR MARKETS OF ALABAMA

(Writing and photography by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

Open air markets are scattered throughout the beautiful state of Alabama.  Every year many locals and visitors take advantage of these wonderful outdoor markets.  Some of my favorites are found in and around the area of Birmingham, Alabama.  

Each market has its own set of interesting qualities.  You leave each one with healthy food and lots of other great finds.  More than likely you will be entertained in some unique way; and you never know what surprises will greet you as you move through the booths in the sunshine.  It is an absolutely lovely way to spend a relaxing day, plus you get the benefit of the good exercise of a nice walk as you stroll along.


When choosing from the many open air markets of  Alabama, please don’t discount the smaller ones.  I’ve experienced lots of fun at the smaller area of outdoor booths open every Saturday in the parking lot of the Faith Presbyterian Church on Valleydale Road in the Inverness area.  They are only open on Saturdays from nine till noon, and there are a limited amount of booths, but they have good live music and tasty refreshments.  I like to browse here first, grab a bite of brunch from the vendors and then move on to the larger markets  that stay open all day later.   The vegetables for sale are great, the people are friendly.   Several unique artists are displaying their wares at fabulous prices in this spot.  I always find something novel and different.  Check it out!  Also, if you don’t find all the veggies you need here, drive straight down the road a bit and look to the right.  A very well organized local curb market called "Pops" sells fresh Alabama grown vegetables, plants and other unique items.  It is well worth a look.  Their inventory is ever changing with the seasons. 

I do love how each open air market seems to take on its own special personality.   The character of the market seems to depend on the people displaying their merchandise, the location of the market, the merchandise itself  and the people living in the area surrounding the market.  No market is ever the same, which makes exploring all of the open air markets an exciting adventure.  I always look forward to checking in with my favorites anytime I find myself free on a pretty summer day.  

Here are two favorites of the locals of Birmingham, Alabama: 

THE MT. LAUREL FARMER'S MARKET

Mt. Laurel is a lovely place, even if you aren’t there on Market Day, but Market Day is very special. 

The day I was there it felt like God had put up His bluest sky just for me!  It seemed He had intensified the landscape with bright blazing colors. The delicious scents of fresh cut flowers and the heavenly aroma of the amazing foods being sold at the market were so inviting.

 

The moment I drove into the community, I felt completely surrounded by beauty.  This urban-type community is conformed to the land, and serves its inhabitants well by keeping everything needed for a rich daily life within walking distance of their homes.  There are beautiful churches, a school, shops, restaurants, a library, a grocery store and a hardware store, as well as other business establishments.  The architecture is lovely, quaint and well planned. 

 Each front door of the homes seem to say "Welcome!  Come visit me today."  I passed rocking chairs on porches that whispered, “Come sit a spell.”  There were comfortable benches scattered in shaded little nooks.  I resisted the temptation to stop at a few of the open houses, though I really wanted to peek into their lovely rooms.  I even resisted the temptation to wonder through the streets and step inside the very interesting and unusual shops and restaurants.  I had to keep reminding myself “it is market day.”  Every little area looked like a place where I would enjoy sitting down with coffee and a good book.   

I had no time for that today though, after all, I was here for the out-door market which is held every Saturday starting in the spring and lasting through the summer.  The day can get away before you know it, and those marketers like to start early in the cool morning air.  I’m told that most of what is sold here is grown local and organic on the community farm property.  The growers host various educational classes to teach people the science of maintaining and growing your own food and eating and living nutritionally.   

I didn’t need anyone to tell me that I had stumbled upon a good thing. 

Who could resist the smell of freshly baked bread?  I certainly could not pass it by.  The samples get you every time, especially when they have all those jars of fresh jam and honey to add to the already perfect baked goods.

If anything can be canned, you can find it here.  Amazing assortments of flavors are just waiting to be tasted.

Veggies and flowers make a perfect combination on any table.  Forget planning out the tablescapes; this is a natural tablescape, totally designed by the greatest of all designers.

 Just look at the beautiful sunflowers!  You know, I'm sure I passed the field they came from on the way in.  It took my breath away.

Do you have a little girl in need of a dance costume?  You've come to the right place.

Or maybe she only needs a pretty hair bow.  You can find them here, and there is even a tea party going on for Moms and daughters.  You will spy it around the corner after the market in the main part of town.

Maybe you would like some cheerful glassware for your summer table.  Aren't these wonderful?

If you don't want to prepare your own veggies for cooking, someone here has done it for you!  Just refrigerate or freeze until you are ready to cook.

This is truly a fruitful place.  The peaches are to die for.

Soon my tummy and my shopping bag were full of fresh foods and crafts for the home.

I passed the people walking their dogs and the moms pushing their babies in strollers and made my way back to my car.

A beautiful window box caught my eyes as I was leaving.  It looked "just perfect."  It said in flowers how I felt about this beautiful day.  I gave thanks to God for the experience and headed for home to try some of the goodies I had found.

THE PEPPER PLACE MARKET

 There is another jewel of an outdoor market hiding in Birmingham and it is called The Pepper Place.  If you haven’t discovered it yet, you’re missing a great treat!  It is one of my favorite places to buy groceries underneath the bright blue sky.

You must come to The Pepper Place if you love open air markets!

The Pepper Place is located at 2829 2nd Avenue South in Birmingham, Alabama.  It usually opens outside in April.

You won't find the green grass and rolling hills that we saw at Mt. Laurel here; but you will find the skyline of an interesting old historical city.  The art of concrete and steel seem to emerge as a greeting.  Old, almost dead buildings, warehouses and factories seem to have found some type of new life in this place.  The Pepper Place is a modern day portrait of resurrection.  It is as if everything here is waking up from a long, long sleep to a new day and age.  I think if you listen very close, you will hear the stories of eras gone by.

 The streets here DO have stories.  This area was once known as the Lakeview District, and it once had an artificial lake surrounded by a hotel, a pool, a skating rink, a bowling alley and a ball park.  A trolley ran through the area.  Can't you just imagine how special it must have been for the people living in the area back then? 

 That was back in 1893.  Things have changed a bit since those days.  In the 1920's the area became more industrialized.  Two companies took over the main part of the landscape.  They were The Martin Biscuit Company and the Dr. Pepper Syrup Plant.  Dr. Pepper also built a bottling company in the area.   A new viaduct was completed on 24th Street bringing in even more traffic and several light industrial businesses. 

 Now, many years later the area hosts a busy design center, the Farmer's Market and The Terrific New Theatre.  Restaurants, galleries and business offices dot the scene.  

The minute you step onto the property you can feel the energy of this place.  Signs welcome us from all entrances and there are human smiling faces to back them up and make their greetings true.

  

Did you catch that delicious aroma from the gentle breeze of the alleyway?  Can you recognize what it is?  I think maybe a mixture of grilling BBQ, the scent of fresh flowers, the smell of ripe peaches, strawberries, and flavored coffees; as well as some other interesting scents mixed in for good measure and variety.  

The wonderful fragrances compel me to move closer to the busy merchant's booths, seeking to know what else is hiding there.  Just as I am about to indulge in the joys of the sweet tales my sense of smell is speaking of, I am drawn to listen to what my sense of hearing has found.

Out of the street noises comes the sweet melody of a song.  There is music here!  It is indeed very good music.  Several talented musical artists are entertaining openly outside the bistros and inside the coffee shops.  One famous coffee shop is called The Red Cat.   Many a local talent has become well known here.  Their songs float through my head like old friends that I bumped into unexpectedly.  I pick up my feet and walk with a little more rhythm, subconsciously moving to the catchy tunes I hear.   Pepper Place is all about music.

There are others affected in the same way that I am.  I see people walking their dogs, and I see dogs walking their people.  Some ladies pass me pushing puppies in a baby stroller.  They stop and listen to the music too.  Many are sitting around the scattered table areas with lunch and/or brunch, several of them with their pets at their feet, resting, enjoying the sights and sounds of the market. 

I see parents with children, teens, older couples, and grandparents with their grandchildren.  There are no age barriers here.  Everyone is moving and living together.  It is lovely; and I soak it in so as not to forget how all things do not have to fit into neat little categories, but collages are nice and sweet and paint a much better picture of love. 

The people here are relaxed and friendly.  I think a few only came to socialize with their neighbors and to spend quality time with their families.  I see a few wives and husbands as well as dating couples.  I am here with my husband, my daughter and my son-in-law.  It is a great way for us to talk about life, laugh and share our hours. 

The Pepper Place is all about community.

 

Instantly we are captivated by the food.  Some of the local restaurants have booths.  The locally famous cooking college has let its students use the market as a testing place.  I would say the tests have gone very well!  Their food is disappearing fast. 

Local bakeries and even those who are working out of their homes are displaying tempting treats.  Samples are waiting on you at every turn.  Coffees, cheeses, cookies, cakes, candy; the list goes on and on.  Fresh home-baked bread!  It is all amazing.  The Pepper Place is all about wonderful food!

 By the time you load up on all the calories you dare to spend in one place at one time, you spot the unique displays by various artists.  Most of them are local.  What an amazing selection! 

Each work of art is a different masterpiece.  This is not your typical arts and crafts show, this is genuine artwork crafted by genuine artists. Most of the artists are local to the Birmingham area.  They tell their stories if you take the time to talk to them.  Paintings, pottery, jewelry, carvings, you name it, you will spy it here.  

I tuck notes in my brain from the creative ideas these craftsmen spark in my imagination for my own projects later.  Their creativity is contagious!  Some of this art is so very unique though that I have to fork out the cash and pay for the originality, because I know I would never be able to duplicate it in quite the same way.  The bright vivid colors paint their own canvas over the day as we wonder through the merchandise.  The Pepper Place is about beautiful works of art!

 

When we get a little warm from all our walking in the sunshine, we begin to explore the other interesting "inside" shops in the old refurbished warehouses that frame the alleyways where the "outside" booths live.  We go inside to cool off, but again we are surrounded by a multitude of pretty treasures and keepsakes.  I make a mental note of the permanent stores that I want to revisit when it is closer to the Christmas season.  I love antiques and collectables, and I am not disappointed. They are here.  I also love modern upscale furnishings, and they are here too.  I fall in love with several pieces and remind myself to start budgeting for them.   The Pepper Place is all about unique and whimsical shops! 

It is all so good, and we haven't even arrived at the main focus of our journey for today......The Farmer's Market. 

It is a common practice these days for the women in Birmingham to skip the large corporate grocery stores that have fruits and vegetables shipped in from other countries.   Why would they spend their money there when they can enjoy their day at this market and buy fresh, locally grown produce?  It is a great way to have fun and keep your family healthy too.  The prices are comparable if you are looking at quality.   So we come to The Farmer's Market with great anticipation.  We are not disappointed! 

 

Every type of vegetable and fruit are displayed along with cheeses, spices, jellies, jams, pickles, soups and other canned goods.  If you don't want to shell your beans, buy them already shelled in handy sizes fresh from this market.  The selection is amazing and the quality is excellent.  Do you need recipes and fresh ideas?  They can be found here in abundance. 

The Pepper Place is all about excellent fresh grown fruit and vegetables.  I fill my shopping bag with luscious food that will serve my family well in the coming week. 

There is a booth in the fruit section selling fresh smoothies.  Delicious!  Also, a good cool treat are the amazing flavors that Steel City Pops sell in their popsicle booth.

 We turn out of the Farmer's Market section and come to an area selling wine grown just for The Pepper Place!  Samples are being poured and we help ourselves.  My daughter decides to purchase a bottle for later in the evening.  This local wine is made, bottled and sold on site.  

We walk through a little trail that takes us into a lovely outdoor garden.  It's Charlie Thigpen's Garden Gallery!   You have to see this to believe it.  The mix of beauty and whimsy is delightful.  No "cookie-cutter" gardening here, it is all very unconventional.  Unusual statues and beautiful plants grow all around the neatest garden supply shop I've ever encountered.  There is also original artwork displayed right beside the rakes and shovels, not to mention that the garden is a work of art in itself. 

   After a lovely walk through the garden and some excellent tips from the proprietor about how to plant for spring, we chance upon a little cantina that is serving up some great plates.  We stop and eat a bite, but not too much, and we go on our way browsing through the other stores in the area.  On the way out my daughter and I had to gander at the lovely flowers in the fresh cut flower section of the market.  Our guys were so nice.  They bought us a bouquet to take home! 

  Moving on through the district, the four of us, my husband and I along with my daughter and son-in-law, stumbled upon some restaurants that were awesome.  If you go to Pepper Place, be sure to check out the fine restaurants as well as the lunch and coffee shops.  Nothing could be better!
We  decided to come back for dinner later because we had also discovered there was a wonderful art exhibit going on this afternoon in some of the nearby warehouse bays.  Off we went to the warehouses anticipating resting over dinner later. 

We were greeted by wine and cheese as we walked into the exhibit that Mr. Arthur Price had magically displayed for us.  We browsed through his awesome collection of paintings and spent a good while marveling at each beautiful and interesting creation by this very talented artist who seemed to specialize in beautiful, large canvas murals.  He took the time to speak to us personally about many of his favorite paintings and how his ideas were formed for them.  It was so much fun to get to hear his thoughts regarding his own work.  His favorite work seemed to be a painting of a Spanish scene.  We learned that he is a gardener and a visionary, and that he was born in Alabama.  He has spent his life studying myth, culture, legends and fables from the past and the present.  He lives with his wife, Caren, on a farm near the Cahaba River in Shelby County, Alabama.  He paints on very large un-stretched canvases.  His pieces show serious and fantastical images of people, animals and spirits that are submerged into nature.  He uses interesting and unusual combinations for his subjects, most of them recognizable, yet having a dreamlike appearance.  The best word I could use to describe his style would be "enchanting."  His work still haunts me, especially one painting that I took to be of Ruth and Naomi, yet, I didn't ask him if that was correct.  Some of the paintings captured the beauty of the Native American Indians and their lives.  They were beautiful and ghost-like, not at all typical of the paintings we usually see of this culture.  Each painting carried a story of its own that only the artist could tell. 

I wished we had taken more time here.  The exhibit would only be around for a few days.  The next time we came it will be a different artist. 

 It seems The Pepper Place is all about art and beauty!

  After the much enjoyed art exhibit, we strolled back over to the area of the restaurants and enjoyed some fine food.  We had worked up an appetite by now and this place knew how to make food an adventure! 

It seems The Pepper Place is all about excellence in food! 

We had definitely made a day of it.  We left happy and content at about 9 p.m. after some rather tasty drinks from their bar.  We found ourselves pleasantly tired and ready to go home and bask in the memories of a great day.

So I have given you a taste of just a few  of the good open air markets in the Birmingham, Alabama area to check out.  Don’t be surprised if you discover more on your way to these.  This wonderful way of shopping has become very popular; and you even see the old fashioned curb markets springing up everywhere along the Alabama roads. 

If you want to leave Birmingham and go out to the country a bit, I highly recommend that you take a peek at the flea markets in Collinsville and at an area called  Mountaintop.  They too have vendors with wonderful fresh produce.  There are also many others sprinkled all across the state.  As I mentioned before, not one of them is the same. 

So enjoy life this summer and take in an exciting adventure at an open air market.  You will find it a delightful experience.

SEASONS - RANDOM THOUGHTS DURING THE SPRING HOLY DAYS

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

Another Passover has happened, and we are approaching the end of the Seven Days of Unleavend Bread.  Again, as I have done for the last 25 years; I observed the days by honoring God in my home.    God has shown me so much in these past few days.

What has God shown you this year?  Is God speaking to your heart of new and different things?

I have found each time I observe the Holy Days God speaks to me in new and different ways, showing me things I’ve never seen before.  That is exciting to me!  I don’t know why I’m always surprised to find this out. 

There were several things that happened this year during the times of observance that felt different and new and unordinary to me.  I suppose the main thing I noticed is how much we didn’t miss using the regular bread this year.  We have taken extra steps all year long to improve our health and one of those steps was to almost eliminate bread from our diet.  So this year when I made sandwiches on flat unleavened pita bread, and left out the rolls for dinner, and forgot the biscuits for breakfast, and brought out the Matzoh tray with every meal; it did not feel like we were giving anything up.  It just felt good and nutritious.  I’m hoping that the spiritual symbolism of this is also true! 

The whole point of leaving out the things with leaven in them is to be symbolic of learning to live without sin.  Hopefully, we are sinning less and less and instead focusing our spirits toward God’s will more and more.  I realize men cannot quit sin without God’s help and anything that we do is only because it is God working through us.  I’ll take that accomplishment!  Come Lord Jesus and do your work in me!

CHOCOLATE COVERED MATZOH

I guess I’m trying to say I feel like God is working through our lives more and more these days, and the things of the world are becoming less and less important.  Focusing on the meanings of these holy days helps me to put the things of the world into the right 

perspective.  Thinking of how Jesus made atonement for us by giving his life like an early first fruits offering has set the stage to remind me that once Jesus was resurrected from the grave we all had new and different lives!  What a joyful reminder.  Once the Resurrection proved the power of God to bring new life, it really became easier for all of us to put the things of sin and the world aside because of the resurrection power of Jesus residing in our souls.  He makes all good things possible for us.  What a difference a Resurrected Messiah makes!  Nothing is the same again; all things are made new!

So no wonder we are continuing to eat the unleavened bread for seven days, it is so symbolic of how Jesus has given us the power to clean up our lives and help us to live in God’s will and BE His people.   Why would we be eating the leaven so symbolic of sin right after our risen Savior has proved the power of God for everlasting life?  The unleavened bread seems so appropriate as we remember.

Besides seeing the everyday evidence of so much symbolism as we progressed through these days, I have also enjoyed the delightful taste and the constant feeding of the unleavened bread.  I found myself looking forward to consuming it, even craving it.  This was a pretty new concept, compared to many years gone by.  In the past I have dreaded having to substitute the leavened bread for eating purposes.  This year I have craved doing this.  I hope it is a physical example of how I more and more crave Christ in my days instead of the old life of sin.  The things of God are more delicious to me and the things I used to desire, I no longer crave.  This feels good and hopeful and it would have been harder to really grasp or understand if I had not actually carried out the observance or gone through the days as God commanded.  By adding these commandments of God into our lives, we have received more blessings, over and above what we would normally receive.  They come in little small ways, and in simple everyday messages of profound truth.  It is God’s Spirit seeping into the dark places, bringing the light that makes us wake up again and remember to start living and be joyful.  It is just as important to put the things of God into your days as to take the things of the world out of your days.

CHILDREN'S SEDER (FOR TEACHING TODDLERS ABOUT PASSOVER)

Last year I decided that my early first fruits offerings to God had to be more personal.  I gave to Him my greatest talent, my writing.  I felt like I was giving God back an old present that He had given to me long ago.  By giving it back to God  I do not mean I gave up my writing for God; I mean that I devoted myself to using my writing for God’s glory.  This past year God has blessed that offering in tremendous ways.  I have seen my offering returned to me over and over again, not so much in a financial manner, but in a feeling that the writing is finally being used in a fruitful way.  I feel like my writing is finally becoming an open window that people can enter to see more of God and the things of God’s Kingdom.  That has been the desire of my heart.  That was what I intended with my offering, and God has blessed this.  Looking back after the first year of being offered up to be poured out like a drink offering; I feel He will continue to bless it. 

This year my offering has been to take better care of my physical body because I know it is the temple of God and it is the place where God resides inside of me.  It is so easy to get distracted with day to day living and forget that you are living in a temple.  My temple needed attention.  It had been neglected.  God showed me this, and I have responded.  Immediately after I made this offering to God on Early First Fruits, God began to show me new things.  He is teaching me how to remove the bad and replace it with the good.  Just like boards rot and windows break and we see them so often that we forget to notice, our souls and our bodies need repair and upkeep.  I feel like I’m being coached by the coach of all coaches, and every day I realize something new in relation to maintaining good health and keeping this Temple of The Holy Spirit clean. 

THIS YEAR WE ENJOYED THE SEVEN DAYS OF UNLEAVENED
 BREAD BY EATING OUTSIDE A LOT.

I guess the point I’m trying to make here is that if I had not kept the holy days and not observed Passover, Early First Fruits and The Days of Unleavened Bread as God has commanded, my life would not be as whole or as good, and I would not be so content or so excited about the days to come.  I would still KNOW God, but the KNOWING would not be as much and our relationship would not be as deep.  I continue to recognize this as I count the days after First Fruits up to Pentecost.  The ancients call this “counting the omer.”  I have a friend who thinks it should be phrased as “counting the weeks” (there are 7 Sabbaths in the count up to Pentecost that are mentioned in the scriptures, and it is true we are told to count them as weeks, not the physical omer itself; if you want to get technical) because the Omer is an object of measurement, not time.  I can see a little beyond that though, in that if you actually think of the grain that was contained in the Omer when the sacrifice was brought and offered up to God and discern that our days offered up to God are symbolically like those little pieces of grain.  God takes them and uses them a little at a time.  An accumulation of our times is eventually measured out just as the grain.  It is saying that all the little things we do make up the big picture to God.  Each day builds onto the next and the next and the next and your measure of grain (your first fruits) will come together for a beautiful spiritual harvest in the end, once another ingredient is added – God’s Holy Spirit on Pentecost.  

All of man’s efforts would be a waste of time without God being a part of them.  

Observing Passover, Early Frist Fruits and Unleavened Bread without counting up to and observing Pentecost would be like mixing all the ingredients of a cake together, setting it on the counter and watching it, but not adding any milk or putting the mix in the oven.  Your cake would never get baked, because you would be missing a vital part that makes it work – God’s Holy Spirit, which is given at Pentecost. 

It is pondering these things that brings me joy!  I have so many friends that are feeling sad about growing old.  I’m just not feeling that way; though I am getting on up in years, I am feeling God coming closer and closer.  I am feeling anticipation for what He will do next in my life, in my home, in my marriage, in my family, in my work.  I don’t think I would be feeling the same way if I had ignored God’s Holy Days all year and said they are old antiquated days made only for the Jews and not for me.  It simply isn’t true and the proof to me is the way God reveals so much life to me in the observance of them. 

LOVE THINKING ABOUT THE CHESED ATTRIBUTES OF GOD'S PERSONALITY IN THE FIRST WEEK OF COUNTING THE OMER.  I TRY TO KEEP REMINDERS ALL OVER THE HOUSE.

So before I ramble even more, I will end this time of pondering.  But first; I would like to encourage everyone everywhere to pick up your bibles and study Leviticus 23 and learn how to observe God’s Holy Days.  Don’t listen to all the Pharisees out there who will give you their legal list of rules.  Just study God’s word and apply what He shows you.  He will lead you.  As long as you are focused on worshiping God, you will not make unrepairable mistakes.  God looks at the intentions of your heart, not the rules and regulations and technicalities.  You will be blessed, I promise.  

COME AS A CHILD LESSON 117 THE ODDEST THINGS CAN HAPPEN ON THE WAY TO EGYPT

^{(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)}

 God told Moses to go back to Egypt.  God said that Moses should not be afraid because all of those who previously wanted to kill him were now dead.  Does this not remind you of Jacob going back to the land of his birth after so many years of working for Laban?  Both men had fears of returning, and God needed to reassure both of them.  I have found many parallels between the story of Jacob and the story of Moses as he left Midian to go to Egypt to do the will of God.  

Both Moses and Jacob had a strong influence in their lives from women.  Moses' life was saved several times by women, first the midwives, then his mother, then his sister, then Pharoah's daughter, then his wife Zipporah.  The part Zipporah played in saving Moses' life is in our lesson today.

 

Before leaving for his task in Egypt, Moses went back to Midian and spoke with Jethro (his father-in-law) and said to him, “Let me return to my own people in Egypt to see if any of them are still alive.”

Leaving Jethro must have been hard for Moses.  He had been like a true father to him.  This might have been even harder for Jethro.   Moses had been living with Jethro for 40 years now.  He had worked with him every day, tending his flocks.   Jethro had taken Moses into his home at a time when Moses was a homeless fugitive, and he had even allowed his daughter, Zipporah to marry Moses.  Now Jethro had two grandsons by Moses and Zipporah.    

The oldest grandson of Jethro was named Gershom (meaning I have become a foreigner in a foreign land), and the youngest, who was probably just born around the time that God called Moses out to go back to Egypt, was Eliezer. (Eliezer’s name means God delivers.) Though Jethro loved these two grandsons, he was not selfish and he did not think of himself.  He did not try to persuade Moses to stay for his sake.  He seemed to grasp the larger picture of the Hand of God on the life of Moses.  Jethro simply said, “Go, and I wish you well.”  This was similar, yet a complete opposite of the experience of Jacob with Laban.  Moses left his father-in-law on good terms, and Jacob left Laban on different terms.  Both men though, had foreign father-in-laws that they had to leave in another land.   Both men took away the daughters and grandchildren with them.

So Moses packed up his wife, children and possessions and set out traveling south toward Egypt.  He carried the staff of God in his hand as they traveled. 

The LORD spoke with Moses as they were on the way and said “When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do.  But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go.  Then say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the LORD says:  Israel is my firstborn son, and I told you, “Let my son go, so he may worship me.  But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son.” 

Moses listened to what God wanted him to do and must have thought this over all the way to Egypt.

Soon they had journeyed for a whole day and it was beginning to be evening.  They came to a place where they set up camp to rest for the night.  Many scripture passages say this was an inn, but it is mistranslated because there were no inns in the dessert between Midian and Egypt at that time.  There were resting stations here and there with empty shelters if you had your own provisions, but people basically just camped on the side of the road, wherever they were when evening came. 

Once Moses and his family arrive at their camp for the evening, we find out there is a very strange turn of events.  One minute everything seems to be fine, but suddenly we hear “in this place the LORD met Moses and was about to kill him.”

Would God kill Moses?  Now????

Why on earth would God do that?  He had just recruited Moses to go to Pharaoh and tell him to let His people go.  Apparently, Moses was being prepared for this moment his whole life.  Now on the first evening of his journey to do God’s will we hear that God comes looking for Moses to kill him!  Very strange words!  

It gets even stranger!  We then read of Zipporah coming to Moses’ rescue by taking a flint knife and cutting off her son’s foreskin and touching Moses’ feet with it!  What on earth could this mean?  Then she screams “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me.”

What an odd thing to say; but apparently those were just the right words because the next thing we know God has let Moses go, and all seems to be well again.

A better translation of the words of Zipporah would be “How beloved is the blood that has delivered the bridegroom from the hand of The Angel of Death.”  Does that sound a little different to you?  The wording of the scriptures makes all of this very hard to understand.  

People have been trying to explain this strange scripture passage for ages.  There are many different interpretations and I have simply studied a lot of them and picked the parts that I feel are right.  I do not claim to know.  I am simply reporting what I learned from my own studies.  Don’t take my word for it.  Study it yourself and see the reason behind all the logic with your own eyes.  Do your own research and see if you agree or disagree.  This is a very hard passage to interpret! 

A good place to start the study would be to grasp a full understanding of the covenant of God with Abraham (this is a subject we have already covered in previous lessons) and to have a clear understanding of the ritual of circumcision. 

Remember in the covenant of Abraham there was a cutting ceremony with a heifer, a goat and a ram.  Their parts were laid out with an aisle between the two divided parts of each slaughtered animal.  It was customary for the weaker party of the covenant to pass between the body parts and pledge his loyalty to the stronger party by saying “May it be unto me as with these slaughtered animals if I fail to be loyal.”  It is very surprising that God was the only one to pass through the body parts in His covenant with Abraham.  That act put all the responsibility of keeping the covenant on God.  Abraham had absolutely nothing to do!  All of the oath of fulfilling the covenant fell on God.  God made Abraham unconditional promises.

It wasn’t until much later that Abraham took his oath to God by passing under the knife in the act of cutting his foreskin in the act of circumcision.  This was the same as Abraham saying “May I and my offspring be cut off if I do not act in loyalty toward God.”

Now it seemed that Moses had not kept the covenant of Abraham with God in that he had neglected to circumcise his first born son.  Moses had grown up in Egypt and these things would not have been so obvious to him when his first son had been born.  Yet, he knew of his own circumcision that had most likely been performed properly on the eighth day after his birth.  He was a foreigner in Midian, and had not been with his true people even growing up in Egypt.  Was it possible that Moses didn’t seem to know what was proper?  At his age, he probably DID know what would have been proper for a Hebrew.  Perhaps he could only realize what his Midian Father-in-law had shared with him.  Maybe it was the custom in Midian that the practice of circumcision did not to take place until a boy was 13 years old (as a rite of passage) instead of on the 8^th day after his birth, very similar to what their neighbors (the Ishmaelites) practiced.)  These things are unclear, but the thing that WAS clear was the fact that a child of Moses, a descendant of Abraham had not been circumcised.  

There is also the possibility that Zipporah did not understand the necessity of keeping Abraham’s covenant with God and did not wish to subject her son to the bloody ritual and therefore maybe she persuaded Moses that this act was not necessary.  This would have been long before Moses had the burning bush experience; so it might not have seemed so important or relevant to them at the time. 

Surely though, God knew all of these "ifs", "ands" and "buts."  They did not seem to matter.  We must remember that God looks at things from outside of time.  He knows the beginning from the end, the whole story, where we only see where we are standing now.  God KNEW that every firstborn son would die in Egypt unless they were protected by blood over their doorpost.  That would be the sign for the Angel of Death to pass over.  God had explained to Moses that he should tell Pharaoh these things, but was Moses being as stubborn as Pharaoh in neglecting to give his own son the protection of God that came from circumcision?  God could not have a man as guilty as Pharaoh commanding Pharaoh.  Moses’ disobedience in this matter needed to be tended to. 

It seemed to be clear that God was very angry and his wrath was coming toward Moses.  It was a righteous anger.  Maybe though, even this isn’t all it appears to be on the surface.  Some scholars have suggested that this wrath and anger and the fact that the scriptures say God was coming to kill Moses might have been just another form of speech which actually meant God was holding Moses in a “death grip.”  In other words, perhaps Moses was wrestling with God in a spiritual battle that affected him physically, very similar to the time when Jacob wrestled with God when God changed Jacob’s walk.

Moses needed very much to change his spiritual walk.  How could the leader of the people whom God had chosen to bring about the Messiah have violated the very sign that identified his descendants with God?  Could Moses proclaim God’s law to the people later when he had not even been observant of such things in his own life?  Any leader worth his weight must be true to the things he teaches to others.  Moses had been too careless.  God was about to change his attitude. 

It was obvious that whatever was going on between God and Moses had Moses totally debilitated to the point that when it became clear that God’s anger was all about not performing the act of circumcision, Moses could not even move or break loose to perform the act. Zipporah had to quickly step in and take the necessary action.   

Perhaps Moses was wrestling with God in the “death grip” in order to save the life of his son; most likely his first born son, since the new son might not yet be even eight days old. 

 It was clear from God’s commandment to Abraham about circumcision that all who were not circumcised would be cut off from their people.  It was the circumcision that identified the people as those who followed and believed God.  The bloody foreskin was a sign of God’s protection over them; just as the blood over the door post later became a sign of God’s protection over the first born sons while in Egypt.  God wasn’t just randomly getting mad and killing people who were uncircumcised, as some might have supposed. God was merely wanting his people to be clearly identified to others.  They were not to blend in with all the cultures around them.  

God wasn’t just making threats in anger; He was simply stating facts.  Moses’ son needed to be marked for God and not the pagan cultures around him.  Circumcision stood for proof of obedience to God.  When God had explained to Abraham that all who refused circumcision would be cut off God wasn’t just making idle threats.  God was simply stating the truth of the matter.  God wasn’t bringing punishment for unjust reasons, His anger was about the carelessness of decisions of disobedience that brought harm to the innocent.  

The cutting off was simply from the cause and effect of the wrong decisions of men; not the wrath of God.   God had offered them life.  If you cut yourself off from life; you die.  All of this comes simply from the cause and effects that men create for themselves whenever they are disobedient to God.  All of our choices have consequences.  God told Adam from the very beginning not to eat from the wrong tree, if he did; it resulted in death.  God told the people of Abraham to be circumcised, if they did not; they would be cut off.  It wasn't God's wrath that caused the troubles, it was the wrong decisions of the people.

So perhaps we should be looking at this text from a different perspective.  Instead of thinking “if we don’t circumcise ourselves, God will get angry with us and kill us, we should be remembering that  God doesn’t ask the impossible of us.  God wasn't angry with Moses' son.  He was angry with Moses.  

NO ONE IS ABLE TO CIRCUMCISE THEMSELVES.  Circumcision is something that someone else has to do for you.  Like Abraham’s covenant; all that matters is what God will do.  You can do nothing for yourself.  Everything depends on God and God alone.  But you must CHOSE to TRUST GOD.  You must allow yourself to receive the circumcision, which is today recognized as the state of our hearts through baptism.  

God had commanded that all Israelites be circumcised on the eighth day after their birth.  At this state the person being circumcised is just an infant, totally incapable of wielding a knife.  The child is circumcised by someone passing the blessing on to them.  They have done nothing to deserve it; and it is a free gift, but it must be passed on in order to take effect. 

Why would anyone neglect doing this?  How could Moses have overlooked something so important to God and expect God to protect them?

 Zipporah woke up to the truth just in time!  She saved her husband from the penalty of death he had brought on himself because of his sin of disobedience by shedding the blood of her son.  Once Zipporah performed this act of circumcision to redeem the sins of Moses, God was pleased and satisfied and He let Moses go. 

Whew!  For a moment I thought a whole nation might be lost!

It is the same situation for us today.  We are all freely blessed by God through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.  Circumcision was only a foreshadow of what happened with Jesus on the cross.  Just as our baptism symbolizes the circumcision of our hearts today.   

Innocent blood was shed to cover the sins of disobedient humanity in order to redeem them from the wrath of God.  There is a “death element” in circumcision as well as in baptism (the modern day circumcision.)  One must die to one’s self and turn his heart only toward God.  Jesus would say at a much later date; “If anyone wants to come after me he must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me daily.” 

All great men of God seem to go through such a time of testing.  The right decisions and the proper things must be done.  Abraham had such a time; Isaac and Jacob had such a time.  Jesus was tested in the wilderness by Satan.  The key to passing any test from God is obedience. In all of this wrestling with God, Moses had to learn to die to himself and be obedient to God.  Once Moses' own house was in order and all were submitted completely to God’s will, Moses was ready for God to begin to change his identity and make him a leader in the eyes of the people.   He was no longer Moses from Egypt, or Moses the Shepherd from Midian.  He became Moses The Leader of Israel, very similar to when God wrestled with Jacob and then changed his name.         

For anyone planning on leading others in a public way, it is always best and right to look at your own home first.  Do you have your personal affairs in order?  Have you done everything that God has commanded of you in the smaller things?  If you cannot handle your own home or you cannot take care of the smaller things of life; how would you expect God to allow you to lead others and take care of the larger things in life?  

God made sure that Moses did his homework before proceding.  All of the large things rested in the completion of many other smaller things.  Once this was taken care of, God and Moses were on the same page again.

What seemed like a really terrible bad day for Moses was actually a foreshadowing of the love of God for all of us in that Christ died for our sins and gave us eternal life.  Sometimes life with God is a matter of trusting and doing, even if you don't see the whole picture, even if you don't understand.  This is one thing that Abraham was good at.  This is one thing that God was determined that Moses would learn.  It is something that we could all take to heart.  Trust and obey - for there is no other way!