Please Help! Why Do People Say That Moses Had More Than One Wife?

[MarcR]

MarcR, Thank you for your input, I have to study the Hyksos dynasties as I'm not too well versed on their histories. Can you please recommend sources that describe the Hyksos as Midianites?

It seems from the bible that Midian was reckoned in a certain relation with Cush in Habakuk (Hab 3:7), which would also seem to lend credence to Zipporah being called a Cushite or Ethiopian:

(Brenton) Because of troubles I looked upon the tents of the Ethiopians: the tabernacles also of the land of Madiam shall be dismayed.

(CEV) The tents of desert tribes in Cushan and Midian were ripped apart.

(ERV) I saw that the cities of Cushan were in trouble and that the houses of Midian trembled with fear.

(GNB) I saw the people of Cushan afraid and the people of Midian tremble.
​

No, I can't. No Encyclyclopedic reference to them clearly identifies them.

Most agree that they had Semitic names and that they had an affinity with the Southern Kingdom; which was definitely Midianite.

Furthermore most agree that they were monotheistic. I choose to associate them with Midian because it makes more sense to do so than not to do so in my opinion. If Britanica can admittedly speculate that they were Amorite; I can, with better grounds, speculate that they were Midianite.

 

[Bladerunner]

No, I can't. No Encyclyclopedic reference to them clearly identifies them.

Most agree that they had Semitic names and that they had an affinity with the Southern Kingdom; which was definitely Midianite.

Furthermore most agree that they were monotheistic. I choose to associate them with Midian because it makes more sense to do so than not to do so in my opinion. If Britanica can admittedly speculate that they were Amorite; I can, with better grounds, speculate that they were Midianite.

Marc you might find something under the "Kurdish",,,I think they are the Medianites.

 

[AndTheWordWasGOD]

There is absolutely no reason for doubting a second marriage when Moses was old after the first wife had died.

Where does the bible record when Zipporah died? I think it makes sense to conclude from the bible record that she died before the children of Israel entered into the promise land. But I don't see any reason to assume that Zipporah died before Miriam's death recorded in Numbers 20 verse 1.

Is there some other source that records Zipporah's death occurring prior to Miriam's judgment in Numbers 12?

 

[dcontroversal]

Zipporah was probably a Cushite (ancestry) living in Midian (domicile). Same woman. Much ado about nothing.

Exactly why I used the word CONFUSION........and gave the reference......

 

[OneFaith]

Jesus was born in Bethlehem, yet He was also called a Nazarene. Saul was also called Paul, Peter was also called Simon. So Ziporah could have been known as a Cushite and a Midianite.

In Matthew 19:8 Jesus said Moses allowed divorce because their hearts were hard. That indicates that his heart was not hard in this way- which in turn indicates that he would not have more than one wife. But we all do sin, David had more than one wife.

It could be that Ziporah passed away, and that Moses married another. I guess we’ll find out someday. But what does it matter? Moses sinned just like the rest of us- which is why he could look into the promised land, yet not enter it.

Polygamy is not from God. He made one wife for Adam. The elders in His church must be the husband of one wife. Just like GPS, when we take a new path, God redirects us from there. But that does not mean agrees with the life choices we have made.

 

[MarcR]

Marc you might find something under the "Kurdish",,,I think they are the Medianites.

Thank You.

 

[MarcR]

MarcR, Thank you for your input, I have to study the Hyksos dynasties as I'm not too well versed on their histories. Can you please recommend sources that describe the Hyksos as Midianites?

It seems from the bible that Midian was reckoned in a certain relation with Cush in Habakuk (Hab 3:7), which would also seem to lend credence to Zipporah being called a Cushite or Ethiopian:

(Brenton) Because of troubles I looked upon the tents of the Ethiopians: the tabernacles also of the land of Madiam shall be dismayed.

(CEV) The tents of desert tribes in Cushan and Midian were ripped apart.

(ERV) I saw that the cities of Cushan were in trouble and that the houses of Midian trembled with fear.

(GNB) I saw the people of Cushan afraid and the people of Midian tremble.
​

Midian was a son of Abraham by Keturah Ge 25:2

MIDIANITE

II. Geographical Identification. — From all the above notices, we may gather with considerable certainty that there were at least two main branches of the Midianites. It seems to have been that portion of the tribe dwelling about the eastern arm of the Red Sea, among whom Moses found refuge when he fled from Egypt, and whose priest or sheik was Jethro, who became the father-in-law of the future lawgiver (Ex 3:1;. Nu 10:29). See KENITES. These in like manner are usually reckoned along with the Ethiopians of Cushite origin. It is certain that some Cushite tribes did settle in and on the outskirts of Arabia, which was therefore called Gush, in common with other districts occupied by Cushite tribes; and, under this view, it is observable that the wife of Moses is called a Cushite (Nu 12:1), and that, in Hab 3:7, the Midianites are named with the Cushites; for these are undoubtedly the Midianites who trembled for fear when they heard that the Israelites, had passed through the Red Sea. We do not again meet with these Midianites in the Jewish history, but they appear to have remained for a long time settled in the same quarter, where indeed is the seat of the only Midianites known to Oriental authors. The Arabian geographers of the middle age (Edrisi, Clim. 3:5, page 3; Ibn el-Wardi, and Abulfeda, Arab. descr. page 77; comp. Seetzen, 20:311) speak of the ruins of an ancient town called Jiadian, on the eastern side of the Red Sea, where was still to be seen the well at which Moses watered the flocks of Shoaib or Jethro. This was doubtless the same as Modiana, a town in the same district, mentioned by Ptolemy (Geog. 5:19); and Niebuhr conjectures that the site is now occupied by Moilah, a small town or village on the Red Sea, on the Haj road from Egypt (Descript. Arab. page 377); but, as Rosenmuller remarks (Bibl. Geog. 3:224), this place is too far south to be identified with the Midian of Jethro. The Madian of Abulfeda is doubtless that mentioned by Josephus (Ant. 12:11, 1) as Madiene
situated at the Red Sea, 'properly identified by Reland (Paleest. pages 98, 100) with the modern Miidyan, situated about half-way down the eastern coast of the AElanitic Gulf (Forster's Geogr. of Arabia, 2:116, and Index, s.v.). To the same effect are the notices of the city Madian in Eusebius and Jerome above.
(from McClintock and Strong Encyclopedia, Electronic Database. Copyright © 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)

EGYPT
From the fourth king of the 13 th dynasty to the last of the 17 th, the period of the Hyksos or shepherd kings, the monuments afford no data for the order of events. The complete list of the ancestors of Seti I gives no Pharaoh between Amenemha, the last king of the 12 th dynasty, and Aahmes or Amosis, the first of the 18 th, who expelled the Hyksos.
(from Fausset's Bible Dictionary, Electronic Database Copyright © 1998, 2003, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)

HYKSOS
When Joseph went into the land he found the name of shepherd odious — which agrees with the hypothesis that places the irruption of the shepherd kings anterior to his time; and possibly both the ease with which he rose to power and the fact that Jacob turned towards Egypt for a supply of food when urged by want may be readily accounted for on the supposition that a kindred race held dominion in the land, which, though hated by the people, as being foreign in its origin and oppressive in its character, would not be indisposed to show favor to members of the great Shemitic family to which they themselves belonged.
(from McClintock and Strong Encyclopedia, Electronic Database. Copyright © 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)

 

[AndTheWordWasGOD]

Midian was a son of Abraham by Keturah Ge 25:2

MIDIANITE

II. Geographical Identification. — From all the above notices, we may gather with considerable certainty that there were at least two main branches of the Midianites. It seems to have been that portion of the tribe dwelling about the eastern arm of the Red Sea, among whom Moses found refuge when he fled from Egypt, and whose priest or sheik was Jethro, who became the father-in-law of the future lawgiver (Ex 3:1;. Nu 10:29). See KENITES. These in like manner are usually reckoned along with the Ethiopians of Cushite origin. It is certain that some Cushite tribes did settle in and on the outskirts of Arabia, which was therefore called Gush, in common with other districts occupied by Cushite tribes; and, under this view, it is observable that the wife of Moses is called a Cushite (Nu 12:1), and that, in Hab 3:7, the Midianites are named with the Cushites; for these are undoubtedly the Midianites who trembled for fear when they heard that the Israelites, had passed through the Red Sea. We do not again meet with these Midianites in the Jewish history, but they appear to have remained for a long time settled in the same quarter, where indeed is the seat of the only Midianites known to Oriental authors. The Arabian geographers of the middle age (Edrisi, Clim. 3:5, page 3; Ibn el-Wardi, and Abulfeda, Arab. descr. page 77; comp. Seetzen, 20:311) speak of the ruins of an ancient town called Jiadian, on the eastern side of the Red Sea, where was still to be seen the well at which Moses watered the flocks of Shoaib or Jethro. This was doubtless the same as Modiana, a town in the same district, mentioned by Ptolemy (Geog. 5:19); and Niebuhr conjectures that the site is now occupied by Moilah, a small town or village on the Red Sea, on the Haj road from Egypt (Descript. Arab. page 377); but, as Rosenmuller remarks (Bibl. Geog. 3:224), this place is too far south to be identified with the Midian of Jethro. The Madian of Abulfeda is doubtless that mentioned by Josephus (Ant. 12:11, 1) as Madiene
situated at the Red Sea, 'properly identified by Reland (Paleest. pages 98, 100) with the modern Miidyan, situated about half-way down the eastern coast of the AElanitic Gulf (Forster's Geogr. of Arabia, 2:116, and Index, s.v.). To the same effect are the notices of the city Madian in Eusebius and Jerome above.
(from McClintock and Strong Encyclopedia, Electronic Database. Copyright © 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)

EGYPT
From the fourth king of the 13 th dynasty to the last of the 17 th, the period of the Hyksos or shepherd kings, the monuments afford no data for the order of events. The complete list of the ancestors of Seti I gives no Pharaoh between Amenemha, the last king of the 12 th dynasty, and Aahmes or Amosis, the first of the 18 th, who expelled the Hyksos.
(from Fausset's Bible Dictionary, Electronic Database Copyright © 1998, 2003, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)

HYKSOS
When Joseph went into the land he found the name of shepherd odious — which agrees with the hypothesis that places the irruption of the shepherd kings anterior to his time; and possibly both the ease with which he rose to power and the fact that Jacob turned towards Egypt for a supply of food when urged by want may be readily accounted for on the supposition that a kindred race held dominion in the land, which, though hated by the people, as being foreign in its origin and oppressive in its character, would not be indisposed to show favor to members of the great Shemitic family to which they themselves belonged.
(from McClintock and Strong Encyclopedia, Electronic Database. Copyright © 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)

MarcR, Thank you for the topic source listings you provided. I feel confident now that Zipporah was appropriately reckoned as both Midianitish and Ethiopian and that the bible does not evidence that Moses had any other wife than Zipporah.

Thanks again for your help.