Whom did God try to kill in Exodus 4:24 ?

Question

Exodus 4:24
And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the Lord met him, and sought to kill him.

Does that mean they had adjacent rooms in the inn, and God met him as they passed in the hall, and then God tried to kill him?

And who was it that God tried to kill?

Answer 1

Understandably, the Bible is not clear on whom God was ready to kill, but in the Joseph Smith Translation of Exodus 4: 24, it reads:

"And it came to pass, that the Lord appeared unto him as he was in the way, by the inn. The Lord was angry with Moses, and his hand was about to fall upon him, to kill him; for he had not circumcised his son."

It was then that Zipporah, Moses' wife, took a sharp stone and circumcised their son; afterward casting the stone before Moses' feet with the words, "Thou art a bloody husband."

Through Zipporah's quick action, Moses was spared.

Answer 2

It was talking about Moses. Moses was given a commission to go to Pharaoh and lead the children of Israel out of Egyptian bondage. However, the requirement of God was that he and all that were of his household be circumcised. Moses did not circumcise his son - probably because his wife was so against it which is indicated in the verse following the ones you quoted. She was mad. But to get Moses's attention and to get him to obey what had to be before the deliverance could happen - God "met him" and "sought to kill him." God could have used an angel in human form or this could have been a "theophany" - the manifestation of Christ in human form. Or it could have been simply that God allowed some great calamity to befall him (such as a terrible sickness or some such). The Word does not clarify the specifics, probably because we don't need to know the specifics. The point is that full obedience is required before we can enter into God's plans to use us to bring about great deliverance's and God knows what it takes to get our attention. If God had really wanted to just kill Moses, it would have been as easy as a blink of His eye. But what He wanted was to get Moses to obey Him so that He could deliver Israel. And He accomplished this by a method that Moses could understand.

Answer 3

Moses incurred God's wrath for failing to circumcise his son as he had been instructed. So God's angel was about to kill his son, when Zipporah took the initiative and did it herself. In the following verse Zipporah drops the forseskin at the feet of the angel to show that it had been done. This saved her sons life.