The predicate of this verse is unclear. So the answer to the question, whether or not Moses married an Ethiopian has been answered, and the answer is, Yes! Get Your Bible Minute in Your Inbox Every Morning. "Zipporah: Bible." Moses fled to Midian, which is in modern-day Saudi Arabia. Some women are beautiful in their youth but are repulsive in their old age. Zipporahs uniqueness is the subject of yet another tradition. Because of this pledge, Moses had to return to Midian after he had been sent to Egypt, as it is said (Ex. In Marcel Proust's story Swann's Way (1913), Swann is struck by the resemblance of his eventual wife Odette to Sandro Botticellis painting of Zipporah in a Sistine Chapel fresco, and this recognition is the catalyst for his obsession with her. It is unclear whether she remained with Moses or returned to Midian. Spare The Rod Spoil The Child: Biblical Discipline Explained, Brief Explanation Of Tharbis & Moses Marriage, 19 Old Testament Passages That Foreshadow Jesus, Prophet Like Moses (Deuteronomy 18:18): 11 Likenesses To the Messiah (Jesus), Slavery Bible Verses: Transatlantic Slave Trade Explained, phenomenal woman in the bible: Examples & how to be & Find one, A Quran And Bible Comparison: Why Theyre Not The Same, Canonization Of The Bible: And What We Should Be Reading, Was The Maccabean Revolt successful? Since he himself is apparently always in preparation for meeting with God, we can infer that he never sleeps with Zipporah. Im happy you discovered something new. Marriage takes hard work and clear communication from both sides: Zipporah and Moses did not always understand one another, and sometimes Moses got so caught up dealing with his responsibilities to the Hebrew people he forgot about his duties at home. Therefore, one of the interpretations asserts that God was angry at Moses because his son was not circumcised, and could not be identified as a Hebrew. Af and Hemah (the destructive angels of wrath and anger) came and swallowed Moses, leaving only his legs. Thank you!!!!! Why Does God Compare Our Relationship with Him to That of a Bride and Groom? Are there other non-biblical Jewish texts that would cast greater light on the Old Testament (Torah)? In the Torah, Zipporah was one of the seven daughters of Jethro, a Kenite shepherd who was a priest of Midian. We do trust Josephus as a historical source, but we don't know if we can corroborate everything he says. According to one tradition, Miriam saw that Zipporah no longer adorned herself with womens jewelry, and asked her: Why have you stopped wearing womens ornaments? Zipporah answered: Your brother no longer cares about this. Thus Miriam learned that Moses had abstained from intercourse (Sifrei on Numbers chap. What mattered was whether the "stranger" or non-Israelite was willing to be obedient to God's laws and thus become a citizen of Israel. With copies of The Book of Jasher in publication. It is always good to study the Scriptures deeper and further. The situation remains unclear to us. The ones that are, are in the minority and they are a blessing. Yet on the journey, God tried to kill Moses. The Bible records, "She gave birth to a son, and . The Bible records, She gave birth to a son, and he called his name Gershom, for he said, I have been a sojourner in a foreign land (Exodus 2:22). Im a Christian and I find this very informative. "Why did you leave the man? After the Giving of the Torah, a life of sexual abstinence was imposed on Moses. There, Moses stood up for seven young women who were drawing water who were being driven away from the well by shepherds. They answer that just as a Cushite has different skin, Zipporah was different, since she was more comely than all other women. The Rabbis sought to elicit the nature of the parting between Moses and Zipporah from the wording after she had been sent home [shiluheha]. According to one opinion, Moses divorced her, with a writ of divorce, since shiluah also appears in Deut. One is that Satan sought to kill the uncircumcised baby, and the appellation a bridegroom [hatan] of blood was given to the child himself, who thereby become a hatan (the title given to the child who undergoes circumcision). Ive already told friends about what Ive read. Its worth reading and very insightful. He went to Jethro and asked: Give me your daughter Zipporah in marriage. Jethro replied: Do you want to do to me what your ancestor Jacob did? Citizens born into the land were forbidden by God's law to "vex" (oppress or otherwise mistreat) those aliens around them as they, too, were at one time strangers in Egypt (Exodus 22:21, Leviticus 19:33). (Exodus 4:24). She is later reunited with Moses when her father . The most common translation is that Moses sent her away, but another grammatically permissible translation is that she sent things or persons, perhaps the announcement of the victory over Amalek. So that they also keep Yahs commands (John 14:21-27) and enter his kingdom too. 31 December 1999. Here you can see that Moses married an Ethiopian called Adoniah (Tharbis): Above Moses married his first wife the Ethiopian Adoniah (Tharbis), when he was around twenty-seven (Jasher 73:2) years old. [6] The idea that Moses separated from Zipporah could be adduced from the description of Jethro bringing Moses his wife, "after she had been sent home" ( ) in Exod. There are several interesting passages about interactions between Zipporah, her husband, and her in-laws. Getting Closer to God Lessons from the Life of Moses. Answer (1 of 4): This is a very difficult Question to answer because this portion of Moses' life is pretty much presented in A-B-C straightforward chronological fashion, emphasizing only the order in which events occurred and giving very little credence or point of reference to the exact year(s) . Does the Bible Condemn Using Tarot Cards? God used her to be a mother, a partner, and preserved her memory in His Word. A beautiful woman, she had received a special blessing that her comeliness would last her into old age. He came upon the land of Midian and there he met and married one of the daughters of the local priest and stayed for 40 years. The members of Mosess family are not mentioned in the narrative of the ten plagues and the Exodus from Egypt and reappear only in the family reunion in Ex. How could I ever be as happy with a now broken family. Ex. The Midianites were not Ethiopians, they are actually from the lineage of Abraham who Moses is also a descendant of. Purgatory vs Hell, The Truth. As you can see above Abrahams second wife Kenturah gave birth to children and one of them was the father of the Midianites. The Rabbis suggest that Miriam and Aaron talked about Moses having withdrawn from his wife. She circumcised her. Page from the Rylands Haggadah. After being taken in by the family of the Pharaoh, Moses grew up among the upper class in the culture, but he did become aware of his Hebrew lineage. She is the mother of Moses' two sons: Eliezer, and Gershom. Moses and the latter met at the mountain of God when Moses was on his way to Egypt (Ex. We are told that Moses led the Ethiopians in battle against the Magician Balaam and his two sons (Jasher 72:3,6), who had taken over the Ethiopian castle and convinced the Ethiopians to betray their original king while he was in battle.
