Exo 2:21; 4:25
Zipporah (Heb. Tsippôrâh, “bird of the female sex” or “brightness”; documents from Palmyra, Tspr’). 1068 Daughter of Jethro, priest of Midian, and wife of Moses (Exo 2:21; 3:1). She traveled with Moses to Egypt, when he received the task of liberating Israel, and on the way circumcised his son (4: 18-26). Some time before Moses began negotiating with Pharaoh for the Israelites to leave Egypt, evidently for security reasons, she and her 2 children were sent to her father (18:2, 3). After Israel’s departure from Egypt, Jethro led them to meet Moses while the Israelites camped by the “mountain of God” (18:1-6). In Num 12:1 and 2 the wife of Moses is given the qualification of a “Cushite” woman. It is not difficult that this denomination was given to a Midianite, because Midian was in the northwest of Arabia where some Cushitic tribes lived. She could also have been given this qualification because her complexion would have been darker than that of most Israelites. Some commentators believe that the statements in Num 12:1 and 2 refer not to Zipporah but to another wife of Moses, but there is no evidence that he had more than one wife. See Ethiopia.
Source: Evangelical Bible Dictionary
daughter of Reuel, priest of Midian, wife of Moses, who bore him two sons, Gersom and Eliezer, Ex 2, 21-22; Ex 4, 25-26; Ex 18, 2-7.
Digital Bible Dictionary, Grupo C Service & Design Ltda., Colombia, 2003
Source: Digital Bible Dictionary
(Heb., tsipporah, bird, feminine of Zippor). She is the daughter of Jethro or Reuel, priest of Midian, who became the first wife of Moses (Exo 2:21). She was the mother of Gershom and Eliezer (Exo 18:1-6). Moses apparently sent her back to her father during the unsettled and troubled times associated with the exodus, although at least she had begun to go to Egypt with him (compare Exo 4:20; Exo 18:2).
Source: Hispanic World Bible Dictionary
(sparrow).
Wife of Moses, Exo 2:21.
Christian Bible Dictionary
Dr. J. Dominguez
http://bible.com/dictionary/
Source: Christian Bible Dictionary
(Birdie). Wife of Moses (Exo 2:21-22). She daughter of †¢ Jethro (Reuel). Mother of †¢Gershom and †¢Eliezer. When Moses was going with S. to Egypt, it happened that “at an inn on the way the Lord met him and wanted to kill him”, for which S. quickly circumcised Gershom (Exo 4:24-25). This difficult passage has been interpreted in various ways. A large number of commentators point out that it was a fault committed by Moses for not having circumcised one of his sons, which brought death as a consequence (Gen 17:14). Apparently S. she did not follow Moses all the way to Egypt, because she later appears brought by her father when the Israelites were on Mount Sinai (Exo 18: 1-7).
Source: Christian Bible Dictionary
tip, BIOG WOMAN MUAT
vet, = “little bird”. She daughter of Reuel or Jethro, and wife of Moses (Ex. 2:21, 22). She evidently opposed the circumcision of her son, until she was forced to carry it out to save the life of Moses, threatened with death by God for non-compliance with the rite. She then applied to her husband the qualification of “blood husband” (Ex. 4: 24-26). She was sent back to Jethro, bypassing Israel’s consequent tribulation and deliverance, and she was returned with her two sons to her husband Moses once at Rephidim (Ex. 8:1-12).
Source: New Illustrated Bible Dictionary
“And the man gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses to wife” (Exodus 2:21).
Read: EXODUS 2:15-22; 18:2-7. Moses’ first marriage was very unhappy. His own lack of faith was the cause of it. Let us remember how he stood up for a fellow countryman in Egypt, and he thought by his own strength to deliver the Hebrews from the hand of the Egyptians. No doubt he had no idea at this time of the miraculous way in which Jehovah was going to use him to lead his people out of bondage. Faced with failure, Moses, disappointed, had to flee. And he came to Midian and to Jethro. He was upset in his heart. Now the prospects of being able to liberate the Jews must have seemed hopeless to him. He would think that he no longer had anything else to do but stay in a strange, dark and unknown land.
It was in this despondent and despondent frame of mind that Moses accepted Zipporah, a Midianite woman, in marriage. He could have expected a wife from his own people. But Moses was weak in character back then. Neither did he yet have the courage and determination of the burning bush period. He expressed his disappointment with the name he gave to the son born to him by Zipporah a short time later: Gerson, which means “I am a stranger in a foreign land.” It may very well be because of this discouragement and depression that Zipporah was gradually able to dominate him and interfere more and more in the sacred traditions of Israel. At least when he had his second son, Eliezer, we know that Moses lacked even the courage to insist that he be circumcised. It is also true, however, that by this time Moses had developed a firmer faith. This is evident from the name, which means “the Lord of my father was my help.” But as often happens, the tendency to cultivate inner spiritual values was offset by this drop in productive activity and energy. Moses sinned grievously: he made an arrangement with an unbelieving woman, and refrained from applying to his son the mark of God’s Covenant. Zipporah seems to have triumphed. Moses was not going to defeat Midian, but Midian was going to subjugate Moses.
At this point, however, the Lord intervened. On one of his frequent trips through the country, Moses was staying with his family in an inn in a strange city. There God caused Moses to fall gravely ill. Zipporah sees him prostrated; the signs of death appear on his face. The conscience accuses both of them that they have profaned the Covenant of God. Zipporah, who is not under the direct influence of her father’s house, is lost, she does not find a solution. In her desperation, she feels compelled to give in to the wishes of her husband. Moses being too ill to do so, she herself circumcises Eliezer with a sharp flint.
Zipporah does not do it because she repents or has a broken heart, because she has been defeated by the Lord. It is evident from her account that she does it only to save the life of her husband. We read in Exodus 4:25 that she threw the foreskin at her husband’s feet and said: “Indeed you are a blood husband to me. I almost lost you to death; now you are convalescing. I have torn you from the clutches of death. You are my husband for the second time, and this time through the blood of my son.” Surely this is the language of boastfulness, of bitterness, not of a contrite heart. And this did not serve to restore relations between the two.
We read that in the end she and her two sons returned to Midian and that Moses headed for Egypt alone.
It is true that Jethro later returned his wife and children (Exodus 18). It is also true that Moses, who had become the leader of Israel, neither disowned nor rejected the woman he had married in an injudicious act. For him, marriage was too sacred a union. After this, however, we are no longer told about Zipporah or her children. None of them received a legacy of spiritual riches. Their people pass without comment in the history of the Jewish people.
Miriam, the sister of Moses, had also fallen into sin. But she has retained her value to us as a representative of the faith. Zipporah lacks this appeal. The Scriptures present her to us as an unsaved woman, who opposed her husband, and thereby lowered the level of her family to where she was.
Suggested Questions for Study and Discussion:
1. Why did Moses take Zipporah as his wife?
2. Did this marriage bring a blessing to the sons of Moses?
3. Can we conclude that Zipporah was an example of faith?
Source: Women of the Bible
(“Siporah” in °vrv3). She was the daughter of Jethro, the priest of Midian, and the wife of * Moses. She apparently opposed the circumcision of her second son Gershom, but she felt compelled to carry out the rite herself when Moses’ life was in danger because of her omission (Ex. 4.24–26). .
MAM
Douglas, J. (2000). New Biblical Dictionary: First Edition. Miami: United Bible Societies.
Source: New Bible Dictionary