Nedarim 32A

מפני שנתעסק במלון תחלה, שנאמר ״ויהי בדרך במלון״.

Because he was occupied with lodging first and did not immediately perform the mitzva of circumcision, as it is stated: “And it came to pass on the way at the lodging-place” (Exodus 4:24).

רבן שמעון בן גמליאל אומר: לא למשה רבינו בקש שטן להרוג, אלא לאותו תינוק, שנאמר: ״כי חתן דמים אתה לי״, צא וראה מי קרוי חתן ⁠— הוי אומר זה התינוק.

Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says: It was not Moses our teacher that Satan wanted to kill, but rather, that infant who was not circumcised, as it is stated: “Surely a bridegroom of blood are you to me” (Exodus 4:25). Go out and see: Who does it make sense would be the one that is called the bridegroom in this instance? You must say this is the infant, since he is the one who entered the covenant of Abraham by means of the circumcision.

דרש רבי יהודה בר ביזנא: בשעה שנתרשל משה רבינו מן המילה, באו ״אף״ ו״חימה״ ובלעוהו, ולא שיירו ממנו אלא רגליו. מיד ״ותקח צפרה צר ותכרת את ערלת בנה״, מיד ״וירף ממנו״.

R' Yehuda bar Bizna taught: At the time that Moses our teacher was negligent about the circumcision, the destructive angels named Af, meaning anger, and Ḥeima, meaning anger, came and swallowed him, and only his legs were left outside. Immediately, “Zipporah took a flint, and cut off the foreskin of her son” (Exodus 4:25), and immediately “He let him alone” (Exodus 4:26).

באותה שעה ביקש משה רבינו להורגן, שנאמר: ״הרף מאף ועזב חמה״. ויש אומרים: לחימה הרגו, שנאמר: ״חמה אין לי״. והכתיב: ״כי יגרתי מפני האף והחמה״! תרי חימה הוו. ואיבעית אימא: גונדא דחימה.

At that moment, Moses our teacher wanted to kill them, as it is stated: “Cease from anger [af ] and forsake anger [ḥeima]” (Psalms 37:8), which indicates that he wanted to harm them. And there are those who say: He killed the angel named Ḥeima, as it is stated: “anger is not in me” (Isaiah 27:4). The Talmud asks: How is it possible to say that he killed Ḥeima? Isn’t it written that Moses himself said much later: “For I was in dread of the anger and anger” (Deuteronomy 9:19)? The Talmud answers: There are two types of anger. And if you wish, say that the army of Ḥeima remained but not the angel itself.