Some think that Moses had also married a black African woman

by Damien F. Mackey “There was no doubt that the "Cushite woman" who had caused the jealousy of Miriam and Aaron was Zippora herself”. Flavio Barbiero The following is an example of a writer who has no doubt at all that Moses had married a black African woman. John Piper wrote this in 2010: https://www.9marks.org/article/did-moses-marry-black-woman/ Moses, a Jew [sic], apparently married a black African and was approved by God. We learn in Numbers that “Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married, for he had married a Cushite woman” (Num. 12:1). A Cushite is from Cush, a region south of Ethiopia, where the people are known for their black skin. We know this because of Jeremiah 13:23: “Can the Ethiopian [the same Hebrew word translated “Cushite” in Numbers 12:1] change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil.” Attention is drawn to the difference of the skin of the Cushite people. In his book From Every People and Nation: A Biblical Theology of Race, Daniel Hays writes that Cush “is used regularly to refer to the area south of Egypt, and above the cataracts on the Nile, where a Black African civilization flourished for over two thousand years. Thus it is quite clear that Moses marries a Black African woman” …. In response to Miriam’s criticism, God does not get angry at Moses; he gets angry at Miriam. The criticism has to do with Moses’ marriage and Moses’ authority. The most explicit statement relates to the marriage: “Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married, for he had married a Cushite woman.” Then God strikes Miriam with leprosy. Why? Consider this possibility. In God’s anger at Miriam, Moses’ sister, God says in effect, “You like being light-skinned Miriam? I’ll make you light-skinned.” So we read, “When the cloud removed from over the tent, behold, Miriam was leprous, like snow” (Num. 12:10) God says not a critical word against Moses for marrying a black Cushite woman. But when Miriam criticizes God’s chosen leader for this marriage God strikes her skin with white leprosy. If you ever thought black was a biblical symbol for uncleanness, be careful; a worse white uncleanness could come upon you. …. [End of quote] My own view of the controversial matter, expressed in my recent article: Moses, his marriage in Midian, and the holy Mountain of God (4) Moses, his marriage in Midian, and the holy Mountain of God is that “the Cushite woman” is a reference to Moses’s Midianite wife, Zipporah. Moses is known (biblically, at least) to have married only once. Now, this conclusion of mine is perfectly in accord with what Flavio Barbiero had written in his ground-breaking article: THE CAVE OF TREASURES ON MOUNT HOREB (4) THE CAVE OF TREASURES ON MOUNT HOREB …. Moses' Cushite wife Often, in the Bible, the key to understanding a certain situation lies in a single word, and apparently, this was the case for this Jeremiah affair. It becomes clear if one understands why the term "cushite" is used for Ebed-Melek. This word caught my attention stimulated by a comment by Anati's wife, Ariela, on a passage from the Bible that was read one evening as usual at the Har Karkom camp. It said: "Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses, because of the Ethiopian wife whom he had married; for he had married an Ethiopian" (Num. 12:1). "Ethiopian? My text says cushite," I interrupted. "Yes, ethiopian; cushite in Hebrew means ethiopian. Moses had also married a black wife. So says the text," confirmed Ariela, a native Hebrew speaker. This seemed unlikely to me. The Bible does not speak much about Moses' family, but what little it says is clear and precise: there is no doubt that he had a family that he cared about immensely. I was unaware that Moses ever had a second wife, much less a black one. When he fled from Egypt, he took refuge in the land of the Midianites and found hospitality with Jethro, "who gave him his daughter Zippora in marriage. She bore him a son, and he named him Ghersom" (Ex. 2:22). Later on Zippora bore him a second son, Eliezer (Ex. 4:24). When Moses returned to Egypt to organize the exodus, his wife and children were sent to his father-in-law Jethro. Chapter 18 of Exodus is entirely dedicated to Jethro's visit to Moses, at Rephidim, near the sacred mountain, on the occasion of which he brought back to him his family: “Then Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took Zipporah, Moses' wife, after he had sent her back, And her two sons; of which the name of the one was Gershom; for he said, I have been an alien in a strange land: And the name of the other was Eliezer; for the God of my father, said he, was mine help and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh: And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife unto Moses into the wilderness, where he encamped at the mount of God: And he said unto Moses, I thy father-in-law Jethro am come unto thee, and thy wife, and her two sons with her.” Jethro was very proud of the position his son-in-law had achieved among the Jews. He was generous with advice on how to govern the people and administer justice, after which Moses "dismissed his father-in-law, who went away to his land." This is the last time Zippora and the two sons of Moses are mentioned in the Pentateuch. There is no doubt, however, that they have remained with him ever since. Zippora reappears immediately afterwards, but not with her name. As soon as his father-in-law Jethro was dismissed, Moses, with all the Jewish people, "on the 20th day of the 2nd month of the 2nd year" (Num. 10:11), left the area of the sacred mountain, heading north towards Palestine. The first stop was Kibrot Attaava and after this Azerot. And it was here, in Azerot, that "Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman he had married." It was at this point that Ariela had claimed that she was a "black" second wife. This didn’t make any sense to me because, according to the story, Moses had been reunited only a few days before with his legitimate wife, Zipporah, a Midianite. It was nothing strange that the woman, suddenly plunged into the Jewish community, had aroused the jealousy of other "prima donnas" like Miriam and Aaron, who had, until then, had an exclusive and privileged relationship with Moses. There was no doubt that the "Cushite woman" who had caused the jealousy of Miriam and Aaron was Zippora herself. I soon found confirmation that the term cushite was used to define the Midianites belonging to the tribe of Jethro. In Habakkuk 3:7, Cushan is mentioned as the name of a tribe of Midian. In 2 Chronicles 14,7-13, a war between Judah and the Cushites is described, clearly a population of Sinai and a little further on, in 2 Chronicles 21.16, it speaks of the "Arabs who live alongside the Cushites", from which it is deduced that the latter were neighbouring with the Nabataeans, certainly not Ethiopians. I had definitive confirmation later when I found in an apocryphal text of the Old Testament, dating back to the second century BC, "The Apocalypse of Moses", a passage in which Jethro and Zippora are expressly referred to as Cushites. In chapter 34.6, we read: "Moses fled to Midian, to the cushite Reguel, priest of Midian. He married the priest's daughter, the cushite Zippora; by her two sons were begotten: Ghersom and Eliezer." ….