tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59577021474710174822024-03-13T20:08:56.132-07:00Was Moses A Polygamist?Tom Gruberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15024941591382297688noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5957702147471017482.post-59008376409329860942007-11-09T11:15:00.000-08:002007-11-09T11:17:35.466-08:00<span style="font-size:130%;"><strong>Was Moses A Polygamist?</strong><br />Some might be surprised to learn that Moses may have been a polygamist. Although we cannot know this for certain, what is fairly certain is that Moses had two wives: 1) Zipporah (Exodus 2:15-16,21 and Exodus 18:1-6 2) and an Ethiopian woman (Numbers 12:1-15). Of course, it is possible that the first wife died before Moses married his second wife. The Bible simply doesn't tell us.<br /><br />Some have suggested that Zipporah and the Ethiopian woman were one and the same. However, Zipporah was of the tribe of Midian. Genesis 25:1-3 shows that Midian was one of the six sons born unto Abraham by Keturah. Therefore, Zipporah was a descendant of Abraham. Abraham was a descendant of Noah's son Shem, according to Genesis 10:1; 11:11-27. But the Ethiopian woman descended from Cush, who descended from a different son of Noah, Ham (Genesis 10:1,6). Therefore, since Zipporah was a descendent of Noah's son, Shem, and since the Ethiopian woman who was a descendant of Ham, Shem's brother, Zipporah and the Ethiopian woman could not have been the same person. Furthermore, we can determine the timing of Moses' two marriages.<br /><br />The record of Moses' marriage to the Ethiopian woman is found in Numbers 33:1-49,17, 11:35, and 12:1-16. This is much later than Moses' marriage to Zipporah in recorded in Exodus 2:15,22.</span>Tom Gruberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15024941591382297688noreply@blogger.com1