Jim is reading for his Master of Arts, at the Global University, School of Graduate Theology. them to question Moses’ prophetic role and ability to receive The reasoning to support this idea is that Tzippora was a very dark-skinned person who was racially categorized as a Cushite but tribally as a Midianite.   Acts - Revelations In the end though it appears that Moses was able to keep both of his wives, Zipporah and the Ethiopian wife, and perhaps others. Eventually this opposition to Moses resulted in Miriam being stricken with leprosy. Another possible scenario for this Ethiopian wife is that Moses took multiple wives, and that he married this woman at the same time he was married to Zipporah. Stephen, at his martyrdom, said of Moses that he “. 12:1). Take the Challenge Moses is such an interesting subject that his life demands at least one more essay! Jim Cole-Rous researched background information on Lesser Known Bible People beginning in 2008. A Cushite is from Cush, a region south of Ethiopia, where the people are known for their black skin. Biblical Hebrew partial scholarship: https://goo.gl/AK3MUw For centuries, the Holy Bible has been a source of inspiration for people all over the world. Perhaps they doubted her commitment to the faith or had questions about her heritage or her suitability as the wife of the prophet. Cecil B. DeMille included a snippet of this story in his famous “Ten Commandments” movie! There is no other answer to this story except that Moses had married an Ethiopian wife, and Zipporah was not the wife God bound him to in Holy Matrimony: Moses is shown in Scriptures to have been faithful in keeping the Law of God, so since marriage is "bound by the law", as per Romans 7 and 1 Cor.7: 39, if Moses, supposing him to be a virgin, did marry a virgin Cushite woman, with her father's approval (the … Miriam and Aaron against Moses' Ethiopian wife; Miriam punished by God with leprosy. This makes his sacrifice of 'refus[ing] to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter,' all the more remarkable. Moses and his brother Aaron came of goodly parents. It was this situation that caused multiple wives I think that this Ethiopian woman’s presence is a good think that we are dealing with two different women. What Happened to John the Baptist’s Head? But he wa angry that they should make light of a thing which he himself esteemed as very sacred; and, as a consequence, he smote Miriam with leprosy." Your email address will not be published. If you would like someone to pray for you, click the button and we’ll connect with you. We are told plainly she was an Ethiopian! And Jethro said, Blessed be the Lord, who hath delivered you out of It therefore seems we must look for another wife! Moses: A Tale of Two Wives The Other Disciple on the Emmaus Road. Moses' Ethiopian Wife. Rashi makes this comment on verse 1, From Keil and Delitzsch's Commentaryof the same passage, What's more, when the Lord summoned the 3 of them (Moses, Aaron, and Miriam) to the door of the Tabernacle (vs 3) He called Aaron and Miriam and said, Miriam was identified as a "prophetess" (Ex. Aaron’s Grandson the Other Jericho Spy, 17. This page is also available in: हिन्दी (Hindi) “And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman” (Numbers 12:1).. Ethiopian woman literally means a “Cushite woman” (Gen. 10:6). When we joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, we were at times an "object of curiosity", and endured a frequent barrage of strange questions that bordered on rude. Moses’ adoptive grandfather was Pharaoh Osirtasin I (Sesostris, Herodotus, 2:110), of the 12th dynasty, the first Egyptian king to rule Ethiopia, as a result of Moses victory. We know that he married a girl named ‘Zipporah’ the daughter of Reuel/Jethro. How fun! By looking at the lineages we can safely conclude that Moses had at least two wives mentioned in scripture. It seems logical that he would have been "married" as an Egyptian. But it seems that eventually her heart was softened to it after her leprosy episode. He lived a long, full life during an exciting and eventful period of history. Moses’ second wife is unnamed and referred to as an Ethiopian in the KJV and a Cushite in most other translations (Numbers 12:1). . It therefore seems we must look for another wife! Some have tried to speculate that the later reference to Moses' wife as being a Cushite was still in reference to Zipporah. No. A new novel, Zipporah, Wife of Moses, by Marek Halter, puts a fictionalized spin on Zipporah by making her the "Cushite" or Ethiopian wife of Moses. There is no word of any kind against Moses or his Ethiopian wife. 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