Tzipporah
? · Biblical · Midian
Tzipporah was one of the seven daughters of the priest of Midian. Moshe defended the sisters from shepherds at a well, and their father gave her to him as a wife. She bore a son, Gershom, whose name Moshe explained as 'I have been a stranger in a foreign land' (Exodus 2:16-22). When Moshe set out for Egypt with his family, there was a mysterious night attack 'on the way'. Tzipporah circumcised their son with a flint and spoke of a 'bridegroom of blood', after which the danger passed (Exodus 4:24-26). The Hebrew of this brief episode is notoriously difficult, and even who was in danger is unclear. At some point she was sent back to her father. After the Exodus Yitro brought her and her two sons, Gershom and Eliezer, to Moshe's camp in the wilderness (Exodus 18:2-6). The Torah says nothing more about her by name. Rashi, following the Sifrei, takes the 'Cushite woman' of Numbers 12:1 to be Tzipporah. Many modern scholars read that verse as referring to a different wife.
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Midianמדין
What they did here
Daughter of the priest of Midian; married Moshe there and bore Gershom (Exodus 2:16-22). Midian is a region generally placed in north-western Arabia, east of the Gulf of Aqaba. The pin is regional.
About Midian
Midian was a region inhabited by the Midianite people, generally located in the northwestern Arabian Peninsula east of the Gulf of Aqaba. According to the Torah, Moses fled to Midian after leaving Egypt, married Zipporah the daughter of the Midianite priest Jethro, and encountered the burning bush there.
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