7047. 'And said, Surely a bridegroom of blood are you to me!' means that it was full of every kind of violence and hostility towards truth and goodness. This is clear from the meaning here of 'a bridegroom' as a representative of the Church or the external aspect of it since the representative Church itself is 'the bride' (in these three verses 'Moses' represents that nation, and a representative of the Church among them, see above in 7041. While 'Zipporah' represents the representative Church, 7044; and since 'Zipporah' represents the representative Church and 'Moses' the external aspect of it, Zipporah does not call him her man or husband but 'a bridegroom', for a bride can represent something dissimilar from that which the bridegroom represents, unlike man or husband and wife since the bond of marriage makes them one); and from the meaning of 'blood' as violence done to charity, dealt with in 374, 1005, and also as truth falsified and rendered profane, 4735, 6978, thus hostility towards truth and goodness.

7044. 'And Zipporah took a flint' means that the representative Church used truth to demonstrate the actual nature. This is clear from the representation of 'Zipporah' here as the representative Church; and from the meaning of 'a flint' as the truth of faith. The use of knives made of flint to carry out circumcision meant the use of the truths of faith to carry out purification from filthy kinds of love, 2039, 2046, 2799; for circumcision was an act that represented purification from those kinds of love, 2799. The reason why purification is effected by means of the truths of faith is that these truths teach what good is and also what evil is, and so what ought to be done and what ought not to be done. And when a person knows those truths and wishes to act in accordance with them, he is being led by the Lord and purified by the Divine means that are His. Since the truths of faith teach what evil is and what good is it is evident that 'Zipporah took a flint' means the use of truth to demonstrate the actual nature. The fact that 'Zipporah' represents the representative Church is clear from the things that follow in these verses.