Post by Lee on Mar 31, 2014 0:28:23 GMT
In Num. 12, very soon after this, comes the incident of Miriam
and Aaron speaking against Moses because of his "Ethiopian" wife.
This comes into our present consideration if the wife in question is
Zipporah, and this seems to be the case.This is the simplest explanation.
"Ethiopian" (RV: Cushite) could well apply to the Midian
area. Cush and Midian are associated in Hab. 3:7 in relation to this
very area (when Christ, like Moses, advances from Sinai with his
newly constituted nation). Cush, a son of Ham, begat Nimrod, the
first great conqueror (Gn. 10:8-10), whose kingdom began in the Euphrates
valley. Cush (or Ethiopia—same word) is applied in Scripture
to Asiatic areas and peoples before it is applied to Africa. Many of
the 9 other nations mentioned with the Kenites in Gn. 15 were Ham -
itic. Cush was the ancestor of Sheba, Seba, Dedan and Havilah—all
in this Arabian area. So there is no difficulty in applying "Cushite"
to Zipporah the Kenite who lived in Midian.
Furthermore, it is hardly probable Moses would take another
wife. It is even less probable that, as the faithful and God-appointed
leader of a people to whom he repeatedly conveyed warnings
from God about foreign marriages, he would at this point himself
take an alien wife. It would seem the poorest and most inconsistent
example he could give. Yet God, in this very incident, commends
and justifies him. We conclude, therefore, that the strongest possibilities
are that the wife at issue was Zipporah.
Miriam, as Moses' sister, was very prominent at the Exodus. But
at Sinai Jethro met them bringing Zipporah. Moses was extremely
respectful to Jethro, and adopted without change all his suggestions
for judging Israel. Now he pleads with his brother-in-law Hobab to
help him lead the way. It is quite natural that Miriam and Aaron
would feel that Moses' non-Israelite in-laws were becoming much
too influential and prominent in the affairs of God's people.
The objections of Aaron and Miriam to the Gentile bride of Israel's
leader and savior is a type of Israel's reaction to the taking in
of the Gentiles. In fact, the Kenites as a whole—a faithful Gentile
group taken into Israel through a marriage with Israel's leader—are
a type of the Bride of Christ. Miriam's deathlike leprosy, and her
being excluded from the camp for a period of punishment and purification,
and also Moses' unique meekness and loving appeal to
God on her behalf, all add beauty to the type.
and Aaron speaking against Moses because of his "Ethiopian" wife.
This comes into our present consideration if the wife in question is
Zipporah, and this seems to be the case.This is the simplest explanation.
"Ethiopian" (RV: Cushite) could well apply to the Midian
area. Cush and Midian are associated in Hab. 3:7 in relation to this
very area (when Christ, like Moses, advances from Sinai with his
newly constituted nation). Cush, a son of Ham, begat Nimrod, the
first great conqueror (Gn. 10:8-10), whose kingdom began in the Euphrates
valley. Cush (or Ethiopia—same word) is applied in Scripture
to Asiatic areas and peoples before it is applied to Africa. Many of
the 9 other nations mentioned with the Kenites in Gn. 15 were Ham -
itic. Cush was the ancestor of Sheba, Seba, Dedan and Havilah—all
in this Arabian area. So there is no difficulty in applying "Cushite"
to Zipporah the Kenite who lived in Midian.
Furthermore, it is hardly probable Moses would take another
wife. It is even less probable that, as the faithful and God-appointed
leader of a people to whom he repeatedly conveyed warnings
from God about foreign marriages, he would at this point himself
take an alien wife. It would seem the poorest and most inconsistent
example he could give. Yet God, in this very incident, commends
and justifies him. We conclude, therefore, that the strongest possibilities
are that the wife at issue was Zipporah.
Miriam, as Moses' sister, was very prominent at the Exodus. But
at Sinai Jethro met them bringing Zipporah. Moses was extremely
respectful to Jethro, and adopted without change all his suggestions
for judging Israel. Now he pleads with his brother-in-law Hobab to
help him lead the way. It is quite natural that Miriam and Aaron
would feel that Moses' non-Israelite in-laws were becoming much
too influential and prominent in the affairs of God's people.
The objections of Aaron and Miriam to the Gentile bride of Israel's
leader and savior is a type of Israel's reaction to the taking in
of the Gentiles. In fact, the Kenites as a whole—a faithful Gentile
group taken into Israel through a marriage with Israel's leader—are
a type of the Bride of Christ. Miriam's deathlike leprosy, and her
being excluded from the camp for a period of punishment and purification,
and also Moses' unique meekness and loving appeal to
God on her behalf, all add beauty to the type.