Zippor´ah (little bird), one of the seven daughters of Reuel (comp. Exodus 18), priest of Midian, who, in consequence of aid rendered to the young women when, on their going to procure water for their father’s flocks, they were set on by a party of Bedouins, was given to Moses in marriage (Exo 2:16, sq.). A son, the fruit of this union, remained for sometime after his birth uncircumcised, but an illness into which Moses fell in a khan when on his way to Pharaoh, being accounted a token of the divine displeasure, led to the circumcision of the child, when Zipporah, having it appears reluctantly yielded to the ceremony, exclaimed, ’Surely a bloody husband thou art to me’ (Exo 4:26). This event seems to have caused some alienation of feeling, for Moses sent his wife back to her father, by whom she is again brought to her husband while in the desert, when a reconciliation took place, which was ratified by religious rites (Gen 18:1, sq.).
Daughter of Jethro, wife of Moses, and mother of Eliezer and Gershom. When Moses fled from Egypt into Midian, and there stood up in defense of the daughters of Jethro, priest or prince of Midian, against shepherds who would have hindered them form watering their flocks, Jethro took him into his house, and gave him his daughter Zipporah in marriage, Exo 2:15-22 ; 4:25; 18:2-4.\par
Zip’porah or Zippo’rah. Daughter of Reuel or Jethro, the priest of Midian, wife of Moses and mother of his two sons, Gershom and Eliezer. Exo 2:21; Exo 4:25; Exo 18:2. Compare Exo 18:6. (B.C. 1530). The only incident recorded in her life is that of the circumcision of Gershom. Exo 4:24-28.
Daughter of Reuel, priest of Midian; wife of Moses; mother of Gershom and Eliezer (Exo 2:21; Exo 4:25; Exo 18:2; Exo 18:6).
Zipporah recovered her husband’s life at the cost of her child’s blood. This event at the inn seemingly induced Moses to send her back to her father as one unable to brave the trials of God’s people. Jethro brought her back to Moses in Rephidim during the first year’s sojourn in the wilderness, the last time she is mentioned. Miriam’s jealousy was in the second year. Zipporah’s marriage must have been between the first and the second years. Habakkuk (Hab 3:7) connects Midian and Cushan, so that some think Zipporah is meant by the Cushite wife; but probabilities are on the other side. Only Canaanite wives were forbidden (Exo 34:11-16). Moses’ marriage to a Midianitess and a Cushite successively typifies the extension of God’s covenant to the Gentiles (Psa 45:9, etc.; Son 1:4, etc.); Miriam’s and Aaron’s murmuring answers to that of the Jews at the comprehension of the Gentiles (Luk 15:29-30).
[Zip’porah]
Daughter of Reuel, or Jethro, and wife of Moses. Apparently she circumcised her second son, and declared that Moses was ’a husband of blood’ to her. She had been sent back during the tribulation and deliverance of Israel, and then was brought by Jethro with her two sons to Moses. Jethro is a type of the Gentile rejoicing in the deliverance of Israel, and bringing back the loved remnant thereof in the last days. Exo 2:21; Exo 4:25; Exo 18:2.
By: Joseph Jacobs, Schulim Ochser
—Biblical Data:
Daughter of Jethro and wife of Moses. According to the Bible,Moses met the daughters of Jethro when they were being driven away from a well by shepherds; he assisted them, and was invited into the house of Jethro, who gave him Zipporah to be his wife (Ex. ii. 21). On his return to Egypt, Moses was accompanied by his wife, who saved him from great danger during their journey (ib. iv. 24-26). She appears to have returned with her children to her father's house; for after the exodus from Egypt, Jethro brought Zipporah and her children out to Moses in the wilderness (ib. xviii. 2-5). Zipporah is mentioned only once more in the Bible; namely, in Numbers xii. 1, where she is referred to as "the Ethiopian woman," for having married whom Moses is upbraided by Miriam and Aaron.
—In Rabbinical Literature:
Zipporah is mentioned by the Rabbis alternately with praise and with blame. Her name (= "bird") is explained as having been given her because, when questioned by her father as to the man who had rescued her, she flew out of the house like a bird and returned with Moses (Yalḳ., Shim'oni, i. 169). R. Joshua was of the opinion that Zipporah and Moses were always estranged, and that the latter did not love his wife (ib. 268). The name "Cushite" was given to her, it is said, because she was distinguished from other women by her beauty, even as the Ethiopians differed from other people in their complexions. The circumstance that she is twice referred to in one verse as "the Ethiopian" (Num. xii. 1) is explained as indicating that her actions were as distinctive as her beauty, and that she conducted herself no less royally while in her father's house than when she became the wife of Moses (Yalḳ., Shim'oni, 1238; comp. also M. Ḳ. 16b; Yer. Sanh. x. 28d).
ZIPPORAH.—One of the daughters of the priest of Midian, Exo 2:21-22 (J
Whether or not Zipporah was the “Cushite woman” (Num 12:1) is a much-mooted question. There is little ground for anything more than speculation on the subject. The use of the words, “Cushite woman” in the mouth of Aaron and Miriam may have been merely a description of Zipporah and intended to be opprobrious, or they may have been ethnic in character and intended to denote another woman whom Moses had married, as suggested by Ewald (Gesch. des Volkes Israel, II, 252). The former view seems the more probable. The association of Midian and Cushan by Habakkuk (Hab 3:7) more than 700 years afterward may hardly be adduced to prove like close relationship between these peoples in the days of Moses.