Zipporah, or Tzipora (; he, צִפּוֹרָה, ''Ṣīppōrā'', "bird"),, ''Sepphōra''; ar, صفورة, ''Ṣaffūrah'' is mentioned in the
Book of Exodus
The Book of Exodus (from grc, Ἔξοδος, translit=Éxodos; he, שְׁמוֹת ''Šəmōṯ'', "Names") is the second book of the Bible. It narrates the story of the Exodus, in which the Israelites leave slavery in Biblical Egypt through t ...
as the wife of
Moses
Moses hbo, מֹשֶׁה, Mōše; also known as Moshe or Moshe Rabbeinu (Mishnaic Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּינוּ, ); syr, ܡܘܫܐ, Mūše; ar, موسى, Mūsā; grc, Mωϋσῆς, Mōÿsēs () is considered the most important pro ...
, and the daughter of
Reuel/Jethro, the priest and prince of
Midian
Midian (; he, מִדְיָן ''Mīḏyān'' ; ar, مَدْيَن, Madyan; grc-gre, Μαδιάμ, ''Madiam'') is a geographical place mentioned in the Hebrew Bible and Quran. William G. Dever states that biblical Midian was in the "northwest Ar ...
.
She is the mother of Moses' two sons:
Eliezer
Eliezer (, "Help/Court of El") was the name of at least three different individuals in the Bible.
Eliezer of Damascus
Eliezer of Damascus () was, according to the Targums, the son of Nimrod. Eliezer was head of the patriarch Abraham's househo ...
, and
Gershom
According to the Bible, Gershom ( ''Gēršōm'', "a sojourner there"; la, Gersam) was the primogeniture, firstborn son of Moses and Zipporah. The name means "a stranger there" in Hebrew, ( ''ger sham''), which the text argues was a reference to ...
.
In the
Book of Chronicles
The Book of Chronicles ( he, דִּבְרֵי־הַיָּמִים ) is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Chronicles) in the Christian Old Testament. Chronicles is the final book of the Hebrew Bible, concluding the third sec ...
, two of her grandsons are mentioned:
Shebuel Shebuel ( he, שְׁבוּאֵל ''Šəḇū’ēl'') was a descendant of Gershom, the son of Moses and Zipporah. He, along with his kinsman Rehabiah a descendant of Eliezer, were described as chiefs and included in the Tribe of Levi. Shebuel is al ...
, son of
Gershom
According to the Bible, Gershom ( ''Gēršōm'', "a sojourner there"; la, Gersam) was the primogeniture, firstborn son of Moses and Zipporah. The name means "a stranger there" in Hebrew, ( ''ger sham''), which the text argues was a reference to ...
; and
Rehabiah, son of
Eliezer
Eliezer (, "Help/Court of El") was the name of at least three different individuals in the Bible.
Eliezer of Damascus
Eliezer of Damascus () was, according to the Targums, the son of Nimrod. Eliezer was head of the patriarch Abraham's househo ...
().
Biblical narrative
Background
In the
Torah
The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the s ...
, Zipporah was one of the seven daughters of Jethro, a
Kenite
According to the Hebrew Bible, the Kenites ( or ; he, ''Qēinī'') were a nomadic tribe in the ancient Levant. The Kenites were coppersmiths and metalworkers. According to some scholars, they are descendants of Cain, Harris, Stephen L., Underst ...
shepherd who was a priest of
Midian
Midian (; he, מִדְיָן ''Mīḏyān'' ; ar, مَدْيَن, Madyan; grc-gre, Μαδιάμ, ''Madiam'') is a geographical place mentioned in the Hebrew Bible and Quran. William G. Dever states that biblical Midian was in the "northwest Ar ...
.
[ Harris, Stephen L., Understanding the Bible. Palo Alto: Mayfield. 1985.] In , Jethro is also referred to as Reuel, and in the Book of Judges () as
Hobab.
Hobab is also the name of Jethro's son in .
Moses marries Zipporah
While the
Israelites
The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan.
The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stele o ...
/
Hebrews
The terms ''Hebrews'' (Hebrew: / , Modern: ' / ', Tiberian: ' / '; ISO 259-3: ' / ') and ''Hebrew people'' are mostly considered synonymous with the Semitic-speaking Israelites, especially in the pre-monarchic period when they were still no ...
were captives in Egypt, Moses killed an Egyptian who was striking a Hebrew, for which offense
Pharaoh
Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: ''pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until the an ...
sought to kill Moses. Moses therefore fled from Egypt, and arrived in Midian. One day while he sat by a well, Reuel's daughters came to water their father's flocks. Other shepherds arrived and drove the girls away, so that they could water their own flocks first. Moses defended the girls and watered their flocks. Upon their return home, their father asked them, "How is it that you have come home so early today?" The girls answered, "An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds; he even drew water for us and watered the flock." "Where is he then?", Reuel asked them. "Why did you leave the man? Invite him for supper to break bread." Reuel then gave Moses Zipporah as his wife ().
Incident at the Inn
After God commanded Moses to return to Egypt to free the Israelites, Moses took his wife and sons and started his journey. On the road, they stayed at an inn, where God came to kill Moses. Zipporah quickly circumcised her son with a sharp stone and touched Moses' feet with the foreskin, saying "Surely you are a husband of blood to me!" God then left Moses alone (). The details of the passage are unclear and subject to debate.
The Exodus
![Miriam and Aaron complain against Moses](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/Miriam_and_Aaron_complain_against_Moses.jpg)
After Moses succeeded in taking the Israelites out of Egypt, and won a battle against Amalek, Reuel came to the Hebrew camp in the wilderness of Sinai, bringing with him Zipporah and their two sons, Gershom and Eliezer. The Bible does not say when Zipporah and her sons rejoined Reuel/Jethro, only that after he heard of what God did for the Israelites, he brought Moses' family to him. 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
Amalek (; he, עֲמָלֵק, , ar, عماليق ) was a nation described in the Hebrew Bible as a staunch enemy of the Israelites. The name "Amalek" can refer to the nation's founder, a grandson of Esau; his descendants, the Amalekites; or the ...
. The word that makes this difficult is ''shelucheiha'', the sendings
way
Way may refer to:
Paths
* a road, route, path or pathway, including long-distance paths.
* a straight rail or track on a machine tool, (such as that on the bed of a lathe) on which part of the machine slides
* Ways, large slipway in shipbuildin ...
of her ().
Numbers 12
![Jacob Jordaens - Moses and his Ethiopian wife Sephora](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/Jacob_Jordaens_-_Moses_and_his_Ethiopian_wife_Sephora.jpg)
Moses' wife is referred to as a "
Cushite" in . Interpretations differ on whether this
Cushite woman
Cushite may refer to:
*the historical Kingdom of Kush
*an ethnolinguistic group indigenous to Northeast Africa, see Cushitic languages
*a biblical tribal name, see Cush (Bible)
*the natives of the Horn of Africa region, see Ethiopid race See also
* ...
was one and the same as Zipporah, or another woman, and whether he was married to them simultaneously (which would make him a
polygamist
Crimes
Polygamy (from Late Greek (') "state of marriage to many spouses") is the practice of marrying multiple spouses. When a man is married to more than one wife at the same time, sociologists call this polygyny. When a woman is married ...
) or successively. In the story,
Aaron
According to Abrahamic religions, Aaron ''′aharon'', ar, هارون, Hārūn, Greek (Septuagint): Ἀαρών; often called Aaron the priest ()., group="note" ( or ; ''’Ahărōn'') was a prophet, a high priest, and the elder brother of ...
and
Miriam
Miriam ( he, מִרְיָם ''Mīryām'', lit. 'Rebellion') is described in the Hebrew Bible as the daughter of Amram and Jochebed, and the older sister of Moses and Aaron. She was a prophetess and first appears in the Book of Exodus.
The Tor ...
criticize Moses' marriage to a Cushite woman. This
criticism
Criticism is the construction of a judgement about the negative qualities of someone or something. Criticism can range from impromptu comments to a written detailed response. , ''"the act of giving your opinion or judgment about the good or bad q ...
displeases God, who punishes Miriam with ''
Tzaraath
''Tzaraath'' (Hebrew צָרַעַת ''ṣāraʿaṯ''), variously transcribed into English and frequently mistranslated as leprosy, describes various ritually unclean disfigurative conditions of the skin, hair of the beard and head, clothing mad ...
'' (often glossed as leprosy). Cushites were of the ancestry of either
Kush
Kush or Cush may refer to:
Bible
* Cush (Bible), two people and one or more places in the Hebrew Bible
Places
* Kush (mountain), a mountain near Kalat, Pakistan Balochistan
* Kush (satrapy), a satrapy of the Achaemenid Empire
* Hindu Kush, a m ...
(
Nubia
Nubia () (Nobiin: Nobīn, ) is a region along the Nile river encompassing the area between the first cataract of the Nile (just south of Aswan in southern Egypt) and the confluence of the Blue and White Niles (in Khartoum in central Sudan), or ...
) in northeast
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
, or
Arabians
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, N ...
. The sons of
Ham
Ham is pork from a leg cut of pork, cut that has been food preservation, preserved by wet or dry Curing (food preservation), curing, with or without smoking (cooking), smoking."Bacon: Bacon and Ham Curing" in ''Chambers's Encyclopædia''. Lo ...
, mentioned within the
Book of Genesis
The Book of Genesis (from Greek ; Hebrew: בְּרֵאשִׁית ''Bəreʾšīt'', "In hebeginning") is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its Hebrew name is the same as its first word, ( "In the beginning") ...
, have been identified with nations in Africa (Ethiopia, Egypt, Libya), the Levant (Canaan), and Arabia. The Midianites themselves were later on depicted at times in non-Biblical sources as dark-skinned and called ''
Kushim'', a Hebrew word used for dark-skinned Africans. One interpretation is that the wife is Zipporah, and that she was referred to as a Cushite though she was a Midianite, because of her beauty.
The
Samaritan Pentateuch
The Samaritan Torah ( Samaritan Hebrew: , ''Tōrāʾ''), also called the Samaritan Pentateuch, is a text of the Torah written in the Samaritan script and used as sacred scripture by the Samaritans. It dates back to one of the ancient version ...
text refers to
Moses
Moses hbo, מֹשֶׁה, Mōše; also known as Moshe or Moshe Rabbeinu (Mishnaic Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּינוּ, ); syr, ܡܘܫܐ, Mūše; ar, موسى, Mūsā; grc, Mωϋσῆς, Mōÿsēs () is considered the most important pro ...
' wife Zipporah as "Kaashet" (which translates to "the beautiful woman"), rather than "Cushit" ("black woman" or "Cushite woman").
"Cushite woman" becomes ''Aethiopissa'' in the Latin
Vulgate
The Vulgate (; also called (Bible in common tongue), ) is a late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bible.
The Vulgate is largely the work of Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels u ...
Bible version (4th century).
Alonso de Sandoval
Alonso de Sandoval (7 December 1576 - 25 December 1652) was a Spanish Jesuit priest and missionary in Colombia. He devoted most of his life to the evangelization of Black slaves arriving in the Colombian port city of Cartagena, and was the mento ...
, 17th century
Jesuit
, image = Ihs-logo.svg
, image_size = 175px
, caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits
, abbreviation = SJ
, nickname = Jesuits
, formation =
, founders ...
, reasoned that Zipporah and the Cushite woman was the same person, and that she was black. He puts her in a group of what he calls "notable and sainted Ethiopians".
In the Druze religion
In the
Druze
The Druze (; ar, دَرْزِيٌّ, ' or ', , ') are an Arabic-speaking esoteric ethnoreligious group from Western Asia who adhere to the Druze faith, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, syncretic, and ethnic religion based on the teachings of ...
religion, Zipporah's father Jethro is revered as the spiritual founder, chief prophet, and ancestor of all Druze.
Moses was allowed to wed Zipporah after helping save Jethro's daughters and their flock from competing herdsmen. It has been expressed by prominent Druze such as
Amal Nasser el-Din
Amal Nasser el-Din ( ar, أمل نصر الدين, he, אמל נסראלדין; born 31 July 1928) is an Israeli Druze author and former politician who served as a member of the Knesset for Likud between 1977 and 1988.
Biography
El-Din was bor ...
and Salman Tarif, who was a prominent Druze shaykh, that this makes the Druze related to the Jews through marriage. This view has been used to represent an element of the special
relationship between Israeli Jews and Druze.
Art and culture
![Sandro Botticelli 035](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b0/Sandro_Botticelli_035.jpg)
Like many other prominent biblical characters, Zipporah is depicted in several works of art.
In
Marcel Proust
Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust (; ; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, critic, and essayist who wrote the monumental novel ''In Search of Lost Time'' (''À la recherche du temps perdu''; with the previous Eng ...
's story ''
Swann's Way
''In Search of Lost Time'' (french: À la recherche du temps perdu), first translated into English as ''Remembrance of Things Past'', and sometimes referred to in French as ''La Recherche'' (''The Search''), is a novel in seven volumes by French ...
'' (1913), Swann is struck by the resemblance of his eventual wife Odette to
Sandro Botticelli
Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi ( – May 17, 1510), known as Sandro Botticelli (, ), was an Italian Renaissance painting, Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. Botticelli's posthumous reputation suffered until the late 19th cent ...
’s painting of Zipporah in a
Sistine Chapel fresco, and this recognition is the catalyst for his obsession with her.
Zipporah is often included in Exodus-related drama. Examples include the films ''
The Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments (Biblical Hebrew עשרת הדברים \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים, ''aséret ha-dvarím'', lit. The Decalogue, The Ten Words, cf. Mishnaic Hebrew עשרת הדיברות \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְ ...
'' (1956), ''
The Prince of Egypt
''The Prince of Egypt'' is a 1998 American animated musical drama film produced by DreamWorks Animation and released by DreamWorks Pictures. The first feature film from DreamWorks to be traditionally animated, it is an adaptation of the Book ...
'' (1998), and ''
Exodus: Gods and Kings'' (2014). She is the main character in
Marek Halter
Marek Halter is a French writer and activist, known best for his historical novels, which have been translated into English, Polish, Hebrew, and many other languages.
Biography
He was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1936. During World War II, he ...
's novel ''Zipporah, Wife of Moses'' (2005).
See also
* on Hebrew Wikipedia
*
Sephora
Sephora is a French multinational retailer of personal care and beauty products. Featuring nearly 340 brands, along with its own private label, Sephora Collection, Sephora offers beauty products including cosmetics, skincare, body, fragrance, n ...
, cosmetics store named after Zipporah
*
Tharbis
Tharbis (alternatively Adoniah''Book of Jasher'', 23.5-25.5), according to Josephus, was a Cush (Bible), Cushite princess of the Kingdom of Kush, who married Moses prior to his marriage to Zipporah as told in the Book of Exodus.
Alleged family
...
– according to
Josephus
Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for ''The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly d ...
, a Cushite princess who married Moses prior to his marriage to Zipporah as told in the Book of Exodus
*
Tziporah (Tzipi) Malka Livni – Israeli politician
*
Tzipora Obziler
Tzipora "Tzipi" Obziler ( he, ציפורה אובזילר; born 19 April 1973) is a former Israeli professional right-handed tennis player.
She reached her career-high singles world ranking of No. 75 in on 8 July 2007, and career-high doubles r ...
(born 1973), Israeli tennis player
Notes
References
Further reading
*
Pardes, Ilana (1992). "Zipporah and the Struggle for Deliverance" in ''Countertraditions in the Bible: A Feminist Approach''. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
*
Moses and the Kushite Woman: Classic Interpretations and Philo’s Allegory thetorah.com
{{Authority control
Book of Exodus people
Judaism and women
Moses
Women in the Hebrew Bible
Jethro (biblical figure)