Although her name is listed only a few times in scripture, her interactions with one of the most famous men in scripture is worth studying. The name of the one was gershom for he said, i have been an alien in a foreign land, and the name of the other, eliezer for he said, the god of my father was my help, and delivered me from the sword of pharaoh. Muslims identify her with asiya, the great royal wife of the pharaoh. And the name of amrams wife was jochebed, the daughter of levi, whom her mother bare to levi in egypt. Did moses have a child or had children with his cushite wife. The book of exodus divides moses life into three periods of forty years each. Zipporah in the bible was the wife of moses and the daughter of jethro, the priest of midian. In the book of chronicles, two of her descendants are mentioned. One might expect it to be placed at moses birth or maybe his death, but instead it is placed just before moses and aaron meet with pharaoh for the first time. Although no mention is made of moses reconciliation with his wife, we learn that jethro. Popular adaptations often have ramses ii or his thirteenth son and successor merneptah in the role, most likely from pure name recognition.
We first meet zipporahwho later became mosess wifeat a well in her hometown of midian. When the people ask moses who god was, god said to tell them this. After the exodus, jethro visited the hebrews encamped at the mountain of god and brought with him moses wife and sons. The untold story of zipporah, wife of moses what do you. Later on, asiya, wife of pharaoh, finds moses at the river and adopts him as her own, but moses refuses to be suckled by her. These are all strong forces within the story of shemot. This is supported by a midrash jewish interpretation in the book of jasher sepir ha yasher 79. Introduction to the book of exodus learn religions. Moses sends her and the children away before the exodus from egypt. There is some speculation as to histheir identity, with thutmose ii being the best candidate for the pharaoh of the exodus. Jan 02, 2020 moses was content to stay there in midian exodus 2. The bible does not say much about moses wife, zipporah. After moses had sent away his wife zipporah, his fatherinlaw jethro took her back, along with her two sons.
God prolongs the day in one battle for as long as moses holds up his arms. After pharaoh rejected his and aarons demands, according to the book, the almighty inflicted ten plagues on egypt resulting in the. What is the first major theme of the book of exodus. For him, there was a logical flow from the genealogy which tells us who moses and aaron were, through verses 6. What about the other biblical quotations on page v. The story of the infant moses in pharaohs court, here deriving probably from hs exod. Numbers 12, however, reports that on one occasion, aaron and miriam complained about moses exclusive claim to be the l ord s prophet.
After moses had sent away his wife zipporah, his fatherinlaw jethro took her back. Book of exodus, chapter 18, kjv sealing time ministries. The name jethro itself shortened to jether in exodus 4. More evidence that moses only had one wife is found in exodus 4. She put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the. Zipporah is the wife of moses, given to him in marriage by her midianite priest father. Miriam asks pharaohs wife and her handmaidens to have his own mother act as nursemaid to moses, the mothers identity not being known to pharaohs wife 28. Exodus the book of exodus so named in the greek version from the march of israel out of egyptopens upon a scene of oppression very different from the prosperity and triumph in which genesis had closed. Jul 25, 2006 moses, sick of them and sick of his job, reverts to his whimpering exodus self, moaning to the lord about how rotten his life is. And the lord said unto moses in midian, go, return into egypt. Learn about the figures in book of exodus found in the bible. Most of the time, womens names are not mentioned, words are not put in their. I, your fatherinlaw jethro, am coming to you, with your wife and her two sons exodus 18. And i will never blot out his name from the book of life, but i will confess his name before my father and his angels.
She heroically saves moses and her sons from a random attack from an. In english following a lost sheep from his flock, moses encounters a burning bush. The torah generally depicts the siblings, moses, aaron, and miriam, as the leaders of israel after the exodus, a view also reflected in the biblical book of micah. Judeochristian tradition ascribes the authorship of the text to the prophet moses during the 15th century bc, and it covers the years 1706 to 1490 bc, during which time the. The deliverance from egypt is not the first example of the exodus pattern in the bible.
The egyptian wisemen warned pharaoh that this act was a sign that moses would. Moses intercedes for israel 31 so moses returned to the lord and said, oh, what a great sin these people have committed. As an adult, he kills an overseer for beating an israelite and flees to. Zipporah or tzipora is mentioned in the book of exodus as the wife of moses, and the daughter of reueljethro, the priest or prince of midian. Moses is too prostrate to take a knife and circumcize the child, so his wife. One baby escapes and is found by pharaohs daughter and named moses. How many years after the time of joseph does the exodus take place. Then jethro, moses father in law, took zipporah, moses wife, after he had sent her back, 18. Moses named him gershom, a name that sounds like the hebrew word meaning a foreigner there. The book of exodus is a narrative of the sacred history of israel from the. Their real names are never given, as pharaoh is just a title.
A new novel, zipporah, wife of moses, by marek halter, puts a fictionalized spin. Zipporah reminds us who we are women of the bible study series. The exodus passage also refers to the term, bridegroom of blood, in many. Like them, he who overcomes will be dressed in white. Israel is being cruelly crushed by the new dynasty which has arisen in egypt i. The book of exodus is the second book of the torah and of the old testament. This woman married moses, the prophet who led the children of israel out of bondage in egypt.
Aug 24, 2011 footnotes 1 moses mother jochebed is named in exodus 6. The untold story of zipporah, wife of moses what do you think. Read the portions of exodus pertaining to zipporahs story. While living in midian, for what would end up being forty years, moses and his wife have two children.
Gershoms name was a reminder that moses was a foreigner and living among foreigners. This is the land that moses dwelt in when he took refuge from pharaoh. The book of exodus is a book of the jewish hebrew bible and the christian old testament which was written during the israelites babylonian captivity in the 6th century bc. The book of exodus covers a span of approximately 360 years from the death of joseph ex. Generations later, the biblical moses draws the extended family together in the form of a nation with a structure and code of law, given to him on mount sinai. In order to understand the implications of the feminine drama within this book of the bible. Outline of the book of exodus introduction and overview of the book of exodus. If you havent already, read the beautiful excerpt from song of solomon on page v. Moses, a jew, apparently married a black african and was approved by. How has the novel changed your understanding of her importance. Though some variations of her story exist, the general consensus among jews, christians, and muslims is that she is the adoptive mother of the prophet moses. Name meaninga midian name, zipporah means a little bird, a sparrow. In either version, she saved moses from certain death from both the nile river and from the pharaoh. After his death, his son, kamose became pharaoh but died within three years of taking control of southern egypt.
Dec 17, 2020 notably, the pharaoh who ruled in the early chapters of exodus was dead by the time moses returned to free israel exodus 2. In the free ebook ancient israel in egypt and the exodus, top. Exodus 2 esv the birth of moses now a man from the. Interestingly, the meaning of his name is used as the title of a bestselling science fiction book written in 1961 by robert heinlein. She was the daughter of reuel, who was given to be the wife of moses. Moses story is told in the book of exodus, but it starts in genesis with the story of abraham and his family with whom god makes a covenant.
She will be your wife, but on one conditionyour first. The untold story of the hebrew midwives and the exodus. Moses called by god exodus chapter 3 and 4 moses confronts pharaoh and the ten plagues exodus chapters 5 to 12 the israelites exodus from egypt exodus chapters 12 to 15 journey to mount sinai exodus chapters 16 to 19 the ten commandments and the law of god exodus chapters 20 to 23 moses confirms the covenant with gods people exodus. A at some point in the prior 40 years moses midianite period, she was unmarried and of childbearing age, b moses placed zipporah, gershom, and eliezer on a donkey to ride to egypt exodus 4. First lets see whether mos es was married to zipporah. Moses mother, jochebed, was a hebrew woman living in slavery in egypt before the exodus. Starting with the deliverance of moses by pharaohs daughter, it recounts the revelation at the burning bush where he was called by yahweh to deliver the israelites from egyptian slavery. Zipporah, the name of moses wife, is only referenced three times in the bible exodus 2. Yet in the book of numbers mosess sister miriam is upset about his having. Lets look at what the scriptures actually say by starting in the book of exodus. Zipporah wife of moses a novel free ebooks in the genres you. In the book of exodus, we are introduced to zipporah, the daughter of jethro, wife of moses and mother of their two sons, gershom and eliezer. Thus, some who hold to a late exodus suggest rameses ii may have been israels early oppressor, and his son, merneptah, would have ruled during the exodus itself.
At a later time moses sent zipporah back to the house of her father, but when jethro came to visit moses in the wilderness, jethro brought zipporah back with him. God sent this many plagues before pharaoh decided to set the israelites free. When god sent moses to school in the land of midian. Sometime later, moses was married to zipporah, the daughter of reuel, the priest of midian exodus 2. One son was named gershom, for moses said, i have become a foreigner in a. I cannot carry all this people by myself, for it is too much. Moses was allowed to wed zipporah, the daughter of jethro, after helping save his daughters and their flock from competing. Yocheved moses mother and later wetnurse, miriam, shifrah and puah and the other midwives, serach bat asher, and moses wife tziporah. She is called an ethiopian, which can also be translated as kushite, meaning she was from the ancient african kingdom of kush, which is where. The pharaohs daughter in the story of the finding of moses in the biblical book of exodus is an important, albeit minor, figure in abrahamic religions. When we research the lineage of zipporah moses wife we see that it goes back to the midianites.
The placement of the genealogy of moses and aaron, beginning at exodus 6. Zipporah, wife of moses by marek halter discussion guide. Shebuel, son of gershom, and rehabiah, son of eliezer. There is no explanation for this name change, but the title priest of midian accompanies both names, and he is called moses fatherinlaw, so it is safe to assume this was the same man. Here where we see in the book of jasher the same history documented in the josephus histories. The name tharbis can not be found in the book of exodus, but you can find it below in other scriptures jasher 76. Who was the ethiopian cushite wife that moses took numbers 12. On a deeper level, this reflects the fact that it is the book in which our identity name as a nation is forged. In the entire bible, which contains five books authored by moses himself, this ethiopian woman is only mentioned this one time, with no name or further details given. Zipporah lockyers all the women of the bible bible gateway. She says, i know you must put on your gold bracelets and go among those who are your people.
Mary elizabeth baxter zipporah, the wife of moses exodus 4. Jan 02, 2020 sometime later, moses was married to zipporah, the daughter of reuel, the priest of midian exodus 2. It seems on pages 120121 that moses would be quite content to be a shepherd in midian with zipporah as his wife, but zipporah sees something more in his destiny. Moses throws blood from sacrificed animals onto the israelites after reading them the ten commandments as sign of promise w god that israelites will follow the ten commandments pentateuch first five books of the bible.
Biblical racism and the story of moses african wife. What exactly is happening in the passage about the. The cushite wife of moses is one of the minor figures in the book of numbers. Judeochristian tradition ascribes the authorship of the text to the prophet moses during the 15th century bc, and it covers the years 1706 to 1490 bc, during which time the pharaohs of egypt were said to have enslaved the. Zipporah may be obscure, but the wife of moses mattered politics. When moses fled from egypt to the land of midian, he met jethros seven daughters, who were having some trouble getting enough water for their flocks exodus 2. His brother, ahmose i became the pharaoh with his wife and sister, ahmose nefertari, the daughter of seqenenre.
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