It seems that God went hunting for Moses to Kill him because he had NOT his son Circumcised.Rem, Zipporah was not Jewish and probably did not agree with this custom. The Lord relented after Moses had Zipporah do the deed because for some reason he could not???? A strange situation to be sure.
Zipporah often gets the blame for this situation, but only recently I learned of the extra-biblical (i.e. not inspired), but still historical book of Jasher (referenced in the bible). If we are to believe the book of Jasher today is the one in the bible, Zipporah was a righteous woman:
Jasher 78:8 "And Zipporah walked in the ways of the daughters of Jacob, she was nothing short of the righteousness of Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah."
The decision not to snip their son was Moses' fault, based on some sort of agreement he had with his father-in-law.
Jasher 79:10 - 12 "For Moses had hearkened to the words of his father-in-law which he had spoken to him, not to circumcise his first born son, therefore he circumcised him not. And Zipporah saw the angel of the Lord seeking an occasion against Moses, and she knew that this thing was owing to his not having circumcised her son Gershom. And Zipporah hastened and took of the sharp rock stones that were there, and she circumcised her son, and delivered her husband and her son from the hand of the angel of the Lord."
Zipporah did the circumcising with a sharp rock, and saved her husband's life. Far from being an unbelieving non-Jew, she was the heroine of the story, who saved her husband and son with her sharp thinking and quick wrist.
As for the unflattering comment about "bridegroom of blood", circumcision is often culturally seen as a male's job, as female's cannot receive it. That Moses' neglected to perform the life-saving ritual, and Zipporah had to do it at short notice to save her menfolk, was probably the reason for her disapproval, rather than the act of circumcision itself.
