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Who Was Moses' Wife?
George L. Faull
Dear Brother Faull,
Who was the woman in Numbers 12 that was married to Moses? Is this his original
wife or is it a different woman? Was he really married to a black lady? Can we
know?
ANSWER:
Let’s lay down some foundational facts.
1.
The Hebrew word translated Ethiopian was only used here in the entire Bible. It is 03571 according to Strong. When you
compare 03570 and 03569 and 03568, they all carry the meaning of "blackness". There
is no reason to deny she was black but prejudice, no matter who she was. She is
definitely called a Cushite.
2.
There is Cush the man and Cush the land. Either
would cause people to call you a Cushite. The descendents of Cush were dark
skinned people.
3.
We know he married Zipporah who was a daughter of
the Priest of On. Exodus 2:15-21. Neither
her father nor his daughter is ever called a Cushite or Ethiopian. He is called
a priest of Midian.
4.
Zipporah could be called a Midianite (from the land
of Midian) and if she was, I doubt if she would be called a Cushite unless her
father or mother was from Cush.
5.
Some says Moses’ siblings called
Zipporah that in anger. However the text did not say that. It was the inspired
writer that says she was 03571, not
Miriam. In fact he says it twice.
6.
In the earlier passages of
Scripture Cush is in Africa but later in the Old Testament books they are in
Asia.
II Kings 19:9, II Chronicles
21:16, Ezekiel 29:10, 30:8-9. So at this time in
history, the land of Cush is Africa.
One should not be dogmatic, but here is why I believe she was a different wife than Zipporah, and that she was black.
1. The time
that the story occurred in history was late in his life.
2.
The fact that Miriam was given white skin seems a
rebuke for her prejudice.
3. The uniqueness of the word used is from
root words that obviously means, “black”.
4. Jospehus says he married a black
princess, so it was believed to be so by the Jews (although he has it happening
even before he married Zipporah).
5. Since the event occurred later in life,
it could have even been a third wife.
Objections answered.
1. Moses forbade marrying non-Israelites.
This is not altogether true. Proselytes were married. Salmon even married a converted Canaanite
woman named Rahab. Jesus came through her.
2. Moses
would not have been a polygamist.
If
Josephus is right, Moses was married to both before the law was even given.
Those wives could have died or he may have divorced them. Remember this is in
wilderness where people were dying like flies and this is later in his life.
Millions died in those years and death would have not been avoided in his own
family.
3. Moses
would not divorce a wife.
This
is an unknown factor. He committed murder.
4. Moses was never in Ethiopia.
What does
that prove? She could have been one of the mixed multitude that came up out of
Egypt with the Israelites.
5. Midian and Cush are used synonymously in Habbakuk 3:7.
Yes, but
that was 700 years later than in Moses’ day and even then you are assuming that
the verse is a parallelism.
Conclusion:
Having read many white
supremacists who insist she was not black, and seeing the pseudo arguments and
terribly distorted historical facts that are used to try to prove she was not
black, I am still of the opinion it was a new wife that Moses had married that
triggered Miriam's jealousy. The whiteness of leprosy was a fitting rebuke to
her envy.
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