Zipporah

How Nave’s arranged it

• Wife of MosesExodus 2:16–22
• Reproaches MosesExodus 4:25Exodus 4:26
• Separates from Moses, is brought again to him by her fatherExodus 18:2–6
• Miriam and Aaron upbraid Moses concerningNumbers 12:1

The passages, in Bible order (5)

The same references, sorted Genesis to Revelation. The first 5 are quoted in full; the rest are one click beneath them, book by book.

1. Exodus 2:16–22

   Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father’s flock.

   ›Commentary on Exodus 2:16–222 voices

   “Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters,....

   “The priest of Midian - Or prince, or both; for the original כהן cohen has both meanings. See it explained at large at Gen 15:18 (note). The transaction here very nearly resembles that mentioned Genesis 29 (note) concerning Jacob and Rachel.

   Everything gathered on Exodus 2:16–22→

   Verse page →Original language →

2. Exodus 4:25

   But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son’s foreskin, and touched it to Moses’ feet. “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me,” she said.

   ›Commentary on Exodus 4:252 voices

   “As regards Moses, it is clear that he would have been in peril at the inn, if Zipporah, which is by interpretation "a bird," had not circumcised her son and cut off the foreskin of marriage with the knife which prefigured the gospel.

   “Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son,....

   Everything gathered on Exodus 4:25→

   Verse page →Original language →

3. Exodus 4:26

   So the LORD let him alone. (When she said, “bridegroom of blood,” she was referring to the circumcision.)

   ›Commentary on Exodus 4:262 voices

   “So he let him go - The destroying angel withdrew. But still Zipporah cannot forget, but will unreasonably call Moses a bloody husband, because he obliged her to circumcise the child; and upon this occasion, (it is probable) he sent them back to his father-in-law, that they might not create him any further uneasiness.

   “So he let him go - i. e. God withdrew His visitation from Moses. Moses sent Zipporah and her children back to Jethro before he went to Egypt, Exo 18:2. The journey would have been delayed had he waited for the healing of the child.

   Everything gathered on Exodus 4:26→

   Verse page →Original language →

4. Exodus 18:2–6

   After Moses had sent back his wife Zipporah, his father-in-law Jethro had received her,

   ›Commentary on Exodus 18:2–62 voices

   “Then Jethro, Moses's father-in-law, took Zipporah, Moses's wife,....

   “After he had sent her back - Why Zipporah and her two sons returned to Midian, is not certainly known. From the transaction recorded Exo 4:20, Exo 4:24, it seems as if she had been alarmed at the danger to which the life of one of her sons had been exposed, and fearing worse evils, left her husband and returned to her father.

   Everything gathered on Exodus 18:2–6→

   Verse page →Original language →

5. Numbers 12:1

   Then Miriam and Aaron criticized Moses because of the Cushite woman he had married, for he had taken a Cushite wife.

   ›Commentary on Numbers 12:12 voices

   “Zipporah, who is here called an Ethiopian, in the Hebrew a Cushite, because she was a Midianite: the word Cush being generally used in scripture, not for Ethiopia properly so called below Egypt, but for Arabia.

   “Miriam the prophetess herself, who with her brothers had crossed the straits of the sea on foot, because, being still ignorant of the mystery of the Ethiopian woman, she had murmured against her brother Moses, broke out with leprous spots, so that she would scarcely have been freed from so great a plague, unless Moses had prayed for her.

   Everything gathered on Numbers 12:1→

   Verse page →Original language →