The Mystery of the Cushite Woman

Parashat Behaalotcha 5772

This week’s parasha concludes with the incident of Miriam and Aharon speaking against Moshe:

Bamidbar Chapter 12

1 Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses regarding the Cushite woman he had married, for he had married a Cushite woman.

2 They said, “Has the Lord spoken only to Moses? Hasn’t He spoken to us too?” And the Lord heard.

3 Now this man Moses was exceedingly humble, more so than any person on the face of the earth.

As usual, the above translation is from the Judaica Press Tanach.

Questions

1. Who is the woman that is described here as “the Cushite woman he had married”?

The Torah only tells us about Moshe marrying one woman.

Shemot Chapter 2

15 Pharaoh heard of this incident, and he sought to slay Moses; so Moses fled from before Pharaoh. He stayed in the land of Midian, and he sat down by a well.

16 Now the chief of Midian had seven daughters…

21 Moses consented to stay with the man, and he gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses.

As these verses make clear, Moshe married Tzipporah who is from Midian.

Just to be clear, Cush and Midian are very different places. Cush is in Africa, in the area of present day Sudan and Ethiopia.

Update: I’ve written a new article that takes a close look at identifying the Land of Cush based on Bible verses.

Midian is in the area of present day Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

2. What is it about this Cushite woman that is bothering Miriam and Aharon?

This question becomes more significant when we recall that this incident happened over a year after the Jewish people left Egypt.

Miriam and Aharon have known about this Cushite woman for at least two years. Why are they now talking about her?

3. How does the fact that Miriam and Aharon are also prophets (verse 12:2) fit into this story?

I will now describe two approaches to answer these questions.

Rashbam’s Approach

The Torah does not tell us much about Moshe’s early life.

We know that he fled Egypt as a young man. We also know that he was 80 years old when the Jewish people left Egypt. That leaves a gap of about 60 years.

The verses I quoted from Shemot Chapter 2 seem to imply that he went directly from Egypt to Midian.

However, there are midrashim that tell a different story. In particular, Yalkut Shemoni says that Moshe did not go straight to Midian. He first fled to Cush. Through a series of events recorded in the midrash, he actually became the king of Cush and reigned for 40 years.

Rashbam uses this midrash to explain that the Cushite woman in our verses is not Tzipporah. Rather, she is an earlier wife of Moshe that he married when the people of Cush crowned him king.

Also, according to the midrash, Moshe never had relations with his Cushite queen. According to Rashbam, Miriam and Aharon knew about the Cushite wife, but did not know that Moshe had never had relations with her.

Summary Per Rashbam

Here are the quickie answers to my questions according to Rashbam:

1. Who is the Cushite woman?

The woman that Moshe married when he was king of Cush.

2. What about this woman is bothering Miriam and Aharon?

Apparently, they thought that she was not a suitable woman for Moshe to be intimate with.

3. How does the fact of Miriam and Aharon being prophets fit into the story?

Rashbam does not link it to “the Cushite woman”, but treats it as a separate issue (see his comment on verse 12:2).

Rashi’s Approach

Rashi tells us that the Cushite woman is Tzipporah. What is bothering Miriam and Aharon is the fact that Moshe has separated from his wife.

Here is his comment:

Miriam and Aaron spoke – She spoke first therefore, Scripture mentions her first. How did she know that Moses had separated from his wife? R. Nathan says: Miriam was beside Zipporah when Moses was told that Eldad and Medad were prophesying in the camp. [See Bamidbar 11:26-27] When Zipporah heard this, she said, “Woe to their wives if they are required to prophesy, for they will separate from their wives just my husband separated from me.” From this, Miriam knew and told Aaron.

Here is how Rashi deals with the fact that Tzipporah, who is from Midian, is being called “the Cushite woman”:

the Cushite woman – Scripture teaches that everyone acknowledged her beauty just as everyone acknowledges a Cushite’s blackness.

Cushite – Its numerical value [gematria] is “beautiful in appearance.”

for he had married a Cushite woman – What does this mean to say? You find a woman who is beautiful in appearance, but unpleasant in deed; in deed, but not of beautiful appearance. This one, however, was pleasant in every respect.

Cushite woman – She was called “the Cushite” on account of her beauty, as a man would call his handsome son “Cushite” to negate the power of the evil eye.

According to Rashi, Miriam and Aharon have the highest respect for Tzipporah. They consider her beautiful in appearance and in deed.

They are bothered that Moshe has separated from her and think that he has made a mistake. They are also prophets, but they have not separated from their spouses. Therefore, they conclude that it is unnecessary for Moshe to separate from his spouse. See verses 12:6-8 with Rashi for God’s answer to Miriam and Aharon.

Summary Per Rashi

Here are the quickie answers to my questions according to Rashi:

1. Who is the Cushite woman?

Tzipporah.

2. What about this woman is bothering Miriam and Aharon?

Moshe has separated from her.

3. How does the fact of Miriam and Aharon being prophets fit into the story?

They don’t think that any prophet is required to separate from their spouse.

Rabbi Sorotzkin’s Explanation

In Oznaim L’Torah Rabbi Sorotzkin totally rejects Rashbam’s approach.

His most significant objection is based on timing.

What happened shortly before Miriam and Aharon raised their complaint about the Cushite woman?

Moshe complained to God that the burdens of leading the Jewish people were overwhelming him (Bamidbar 11:15).

The first Sanhedrin was appointed (Bamidbar 11:24-27).

The people who complained were smitten (Bamidbar 11:31-34).

Why at this time do Miriam and Aharon bring up the issue of who Moshe married? Since according to Rashbam they’ve known about her for some time, why now make an issue of it?

But Rashi’s explanation of the use of the word Cushite to refer to Tzipporah still seems a bit forced.

Rabbi Sorotzkin points out two places where the word Cushite is used in a similar way.

In Psalms 7:1 King Shaul is called “Cush ben Yemini.” The Gemara (Moed Katan 16b) explains that “just as a Cushite is distinguishable by his skin, so was Shaul distinguished by his deeds.”

Similarly, in Amos 9:7 the Jewish people are called “sons of Cush.” The same gemara explains “just as a Cushite is distinguishable by his skin, so are the Jewish people distinguished by their ways from all other nations.”

Your Turn

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Picture credit Flickr.