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Numbers

About this book
Chapter 12

1 Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman he had married⁠ (for he had married an Ethiopian woman).⁠ 2 They said, “Has the Lord spoken only through Moses? Has he not also spoken through us?” And the Lord heard it. 3 (Now the man Moses was very humble, more so than any man on the face of the earth.) 4 The Lord spoke immediately to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam: “The three of you come to the tent of meeting.” So the three of them went. 5 And the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the tent; he then called Aaron and Miriam, and they both came forward.⁠ 6 The Lord said, “Hear now my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known to him in a vision; I will speak with him in a dream. 7 My servant Moses is not like this; he is faithful in all my house. 8 With him I will speak face to face, openly and not in riddles, and he will see the form of the Lord.⁠ Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” 9 The anger of the Lord burned against them, and he departed. 10 After the cloud had departed from above the tent, there was Miriam, leprous like snow. Then Aaron turned toward Miriam, and realized that she was leprous.⁠ 11 So Aaron said to Moses, “O my lord, please do not hold this sin against us, in which we have acted foolishly and have sinned! 12 Do not let her be like a baby born dead, whose flesh is half consumed when it comes out of its mother’s womb!”⁠ 13 Then Moses cried to the Lord, “Heal her now, O God.”⁠ 14 The Lord said to Moses, “If her father had only spit in her face, would she not have been disgraced for seven days? Shut her out from the camp seven days, and afterward she can be brought back in again.” 15 So Miriam was shut outside of the camp for seven days, and the people did not journey on until Miriam was brought back in. 16 After that the people moved from Hazeroth and camped in the wilderness of Paran.

Texts in conversation

Compare Numbers 12:1 and Exagoge 62

Hebrew Bible · Pseudepigrapha, Wisdom and Poetry

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Summary

In Numbers, Miriam and Aaron criticize Moses for marrying an Ethiopian woman. In the Exagoge, a retelling of the Exodus as a Greek tragedy, Zipporah says her people are Ethiopians, an attempt to remove the tradition of Moses having two wives.

Passages

Numbers 12:1

Hebrew Bible
1 Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman he had married (for he had married an Ethiopian woman). 2 They said, “Has the Lord spoken only through Moses? Has he not also spoken through us?” And the Lord heard it. 3 (Now the man Moses was very humble, more so than any man on the face of the earth.) 4 The Lord spoke immediately to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam: “The three of you come to the tent of meeting.” So the three of them went. 5 And the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the tent; he then called Aaron and Miriam, and they both came forward.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Numbers

Exagoge 62

Pseudepigrapha, Wisdom and Poetry · Ezekiel the Tragedian
55 All this was quickly reported to the king, 56 and Pharaoh tried to have me killed. 57 I learned of his plot and escaped from his hands, 58 and now I am wandering in foreign lands. 59 But look, I see seven young women here. 60 Stranger, this whole land is called Libya, 61 but various tribes live in it, 62 dark-skinned Ethiopians. Yet the land is ruled 63 by one king, who is also its sole commander in war. 64 This city's ruler and judge 65 is a priest, the father of my sisters and me. 66 Chus: Zipporah, you have to tell me this. 67 Zipporah: My father gave me as a wife to this stranger.
200–101 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Exagoge

References

“... Moses fled to Midian. No sooner did he arrive there than he acted to save the daughters of Jethro, the priest of Midian, as they watered their flocks at the well. Invited to Jethro's dwelling, Moses soon married one of the daughters, Zipporah, and settled down at his father-in-law's house. Interestingly, later on, the Bible speaks of Moses' having married an Ethiopian woman: Miriam and Aaron spoke out against Moses, because of the Cushite [Ethiopian] woman whom he had married, for he had indeed married a Cushite woman. — Num. 12:1 In context, it might seem that this was a different wife. Yet, since the text nowhere else mentions this other wife, some interpreters naturally concluded that Zipporah was, in fact, the "Ethiopian" in question. [Zipporah introduces herself to Moses:] This land, O stranger, all bears Libya's name, but tribes of sundry races dwell throughout; the dark-skinned Aethiops. Yet there is one who ruler, prince, and sole commander, he rules all this state and judges mortal men; a priest, the father of myself and these. — Ezekiel the Tragedian, Exagoge 60-65 ...”
James L. Kugel, The Bible as It Was (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998), 299.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Numbers 12:1 and Exagoge 62

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