Sunday Sermonette: Identity crisis

 Numbers 12 is puzzling in several ways, which the Midrash (a rabbinical commentary on the Torah) attempts to explain. The first puzzle is that Miriam and Aaron complain about Moses ' s " Cushite " wife. KJV has " Ethiopian " which is close enough. Cushite refers to people from the area south of Egypt, including what is today Sudan, Somalia, and Ethiopia. But when Moses fled after killing the Egyptian he sojourned among the Midianites, which is the identity of his wife Zipporah and her father. We don ' t know what direction he fled, but we do know that the Midianites are from Palestine. In one version of the abduction of Joseph, he was sold to Midianites who were trading between Palestine/Canaan and Egypt. Now we are about to encounter the Midianites gain, in Canaan. In Exodus, the Midianites worshipped Yaweh, which is no big surprise since they are descendants of Abraham, but evidently he ' s turned his back on them because he chose the Israelites and the Midianites are going to get screwed big time.One possible interpretation is that Moses had a second wife, but it ' s hard to see how he would have met her.According to the Midrash, Cushite is not to be taken literally but is a metaphor for an outstanding person. Racism based on skin color is a modern invention, and " Cushite " is not pejorative but rather merely points to distinction. In this version, Miriam and Aaron are not criticizing Moses for marrying Zipporah, but rather for neglecting her since he ' s been so pr...
Source: Stayin' Alive - Category: American Health Source Type: blogs