MOSES AND ZIPPORAH
73
When Prejudice Touched Moses House
When Moses appeared in the camp of Israel with Zipporah his wife and their two sons, there was great consternation among both leaders and people, for Zipporah, described in the Bible as an Ethiopian, was a darker complexion than the Israelites. Hence, there was a minor racial incident when the family came upon the scene. The marriage of Moses had been especially displeasing to Miriam, his sister, because she felt he should have chosen a wife from among the Hebrews rather than marry a woman of another nation.
The King James Version of the Bible refers to her as " an Ethiopian woman," and the Revised Version calls her a " Cushite woman." It is important to say, however, that though Zipporah was not an Israelite, she was a worshipper of the true God.
The whispering campaign became so widespread that Miriam and Aaron were summoned to the Tabernacle, and had a face to face encounter with Moses. The bible says, " Jehovah came down in the pilar of the cloud, and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam." The scene was tense as God proceeded to rebuke these two who had spoken evil of His servant, him whom He had declared "faithful in all Mine house." "Wherefore then," God said, "were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?" And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them, and He departed."
The cloud which usually hovered over the tabernacle disappeared and this sign of Gods' displeasure was followed immediately by a severe punishment inflicted upon Miriam. She "became leprous, white as snow."
For those who say that discrimination and ill-treatment of people on the basis of race or color is no sin, here is a sobering passage. Thie act of Miriam was so repulsive to God that He came all the way from heaven to administer rebuke and punishment for her iniquity. Miriam, no doubt, felt she was exercising her freedom when she criticized Zipporah and sought to engender sentiment against her.
Although people still make thousands of speeches about freedom, there is still evidence of a good deal of misunderstanding about the real nature of freedom.
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I'm not sure the Bible qualifies as history.
Good hub Wehzo. I wish the church did a better job of distinguishing the freedom the Bible talks about vs. the freedom people complain about. Thank you.
Thank you Rudra, Ralph and Peter. Your comments are always gracious and welcome. As far as history is concerned, Many parts of the bible is historical in the sense that it records actual people and events complete with dates and secular historical corroboration, not to mention the archealogical evidence. Nevertheless, there is one thing we know, and that is, the biblical account of Moses and Zipporah mirrors events that we have personally witnessed or, at the very least, heard of happening today.
Whezo, thanks for composing this piece of writing. I hadn't realized Zipporah was an Ethiopian until you shed light on the subject....it's always good to learn something new. I sure enjoy the imagery you include w/ your pieces also. Happy New Year!
Oh, and I'm glad there is so much historical and archaelogical evidence to support the Bible and our Faith!
Thank you Christinekv, for visiting and commenting. Your contributions are always welcome. May your New Year be blessed.
This is an interesting piece of articles. It seem as if we will never truly get rid of these prejudices of etninicity especially the one related to colour. Going back to many civilizations we were said to be very advanced I wondered how we saw the other un-civilized people then. I suppose the big wheel keeps on turning
Thank you Juliet for your contributiuon to this hub. Yes, the wheel keeps on turning.
God Bless
As a mater of fact, it was Zipporah who pointed out GOD to moses. He did'nt have a clue about GOD until she told him that it was HIM that dwelt in the mountain.
So apperantly, The Ethiopians had a relationship with GOD way before hand.
You are right Mikael, there were other that knew about God prior to Moses Burning Bush experience. Such as, Jethro, his father-in-law, and others. Thank you for your contribution to this hub, and your generous comments.
God Bless
Not only was Miriam punished for slander, but her voice is silenced for ever in Torah readings. Commentaries do not note this in either Soncino Chumash or in the Stone edition. Rather they make her error as challenging God's elect rather than actual slander of another person; an interesting omission in commentary. 7/1/09
Hi Bettylene W. Franzus, thank you for your insightful comment. My take on Miriams' punishment was that she was critical of anyone that wasn't Jewish, because she saw God as a God that was exclusive to Israel.
God Bless
my daughters name is zipporah I am researching her mame can you send me some info corinndavis@yahoo.com
Hi Corinn Davis,
I will send you more information about Zipporah. Thanks for visiting my hub and for your comment.
God Bless
Corinn my name is Zipporah name after my grandmother as a child I didn't like it because kids would my fun of it but my father always told me the story of the women from the bible and my grandmother. Zipporah means "little bird" some other means have taken zippor as meaning "triumph" however birds have a significance with GOD so your daughter has a beautiful name of meaning, I also named my daughter after me. If u want a good book that tells.u the strength of Zipporah, its called "Zipporah wife of Moses" and it has biblical references.
hellow,my name is zipporah too,am very greatful finding this article on this website,am very proud of being given this kind of name by my parents coz i do resemble with how zipporah was at that particular time.thanks much for writing this piece of article.
Hi Zipporah and Zipporah mvena,
It's wonderful to have two with the same wonderful name to comment so graciously.
God Bless you both.
Lovely explained. This will help me with my subject about love. Love is colorless. I guess we give it a color because we can see. peace and love
Thank you Dr. Bridgette Ricketts for your gracious comment.
God Bless You,
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Rudra 4 years ago
Always a lesson to be learnt from history. An inspiration.