Did Moses Have Two Wives – Zipporah And The Ethiopian Woman?

Hi ngureco,

The Bible tells us Moses had one wife and two sons. Zipporah was from the land of Cush, which made her from Ethiopia. So Zipporah was Moses one and only Ethiopian wife.

You can check this for yourself by reading the second book of the Bible, Exodus, chapter 18 which describes the reunion that took place between Moses, his father-in-law, his wife and his sons.

Cross reference that with the 4th book of the Bible, Numbers and read Chapter 12 verse 1, where she is referred to as his Cushite wife, or Ethiopian wife, depending on your translation. Chapter 12 describes the jealousy Moses' sister, Miriam felt toward Zipporah and how she was punished by God for her gross disrespect toward Moses, her brother.

If you have any questions feel free to e-mail me.

~Jen

Of course he did. Read my answer at http://hubpages.com/hub/The-Ethiopian-Princess

Ngureco-

An important note: as per the Rabbinic Jewish world, there are multiple points of view and *all* are considered valid.

Why? As in the famous instance from the Gemara (Talmud) of Hillel and Shammai arguing how to interpret the Law, and drawing polar opposite views, a voice from Heaven intercedes and speaks, "These and Those are the words of the living G-d."

The Lord is infinite and encompasses all possibilities.

This is an excellent question, one that many great thinkers and rabbis have struggled with over the years. There is no consensus when it comes to Torah commentary, and there are as many viewpoints on this subject as there are writers.

Two sources to check out with excellent background research are:

http://ohave.tripod.com/chumash/lashon.htm

and

http://rchaimqoton.blogspot.com/2007/07/moses-blac

They're both written by respectable rabbis and cover the topic thoroughly.

Be very careful when researching Biblical subject matter. The answer is not always on the surface level. Anyone who claims knowledge better be able to back it with facts drawn from the source material itself. There are many persons on the internet who claim knowledge that have no idea how deep the subject matter actually goes.

Best wishes and may G-d bless your search.

Just a correction on the answer below:

Zipporah was a Midianite that's true, but there is no Abrahamic connection to her as the blood line was through the female side after Noah. This means that only Sarah's offspring i.e. Isaac can claim Abrahamic descendancy (Sarah was Abraham's half sister), all the others have to claim their descendancy from their own female ancestors. Hence we have Ishmael (forefather of the Arabs or Ishmaelites) from Hagar, Sarah's Egyptian hand maid who did not inherit the birthright, but rather, Isaac.

This therefore makes Zipporah a Caananite from whom the Midianites were descended and therefore Hamitic, not Shemitic.

Moses had two wives.

1) Zipporah: Exodus 2:15-16,21 and Exodus 18:1-6

2) Ethiopian woman: Numbers 12:1(-15)

Zipporah was not the "Ethiopian woman" herself. Zipporah was of the tribe of Midian. Genesis 25:1-3 shows that Midian was one of the six sons born unto Abraham by his third wife, Keturah. Thus, Zipporah was "Abrahamic", who was "Shemitic" (i.e., descended of Noah's son Shem, per Genesis 10:1; 11:11-27). But the "Ethiopian woman" ("Cushite woman" in the Hebrew) descended of Cush, who was "Hamitic" (i.e., descended of Noah's son Ham, per Genesis 10:1,6). Indeed, Zipporah, being of Noah's son, Shem, could not be the "Ethiopian woman" who was of Ham (Shem's brother).

Also, the timing of Moses' marriage to the Ethiopian woman can be determined by Numbers 33:1-49,17 and 11:35 with 12:16 which "surrounds" the story about Moses marrying the Ethiopian woman in Numbers 12:1-15. This is clearly much later than the time when Moses married Zipporah in Exodus 2:15,22.

Therefore, the Shemitic/Abrahamic Midianitess Zipporah could not possibly be the Hamitic/non-Abrahamic "Ethiopian woman".