CONTEXT:
Female characters mostly get short shrift in Tanach. Such is the case here.
Tsiporah’s plays an obscure but critical part in the story. It is as if only
the daughter of a kohen would know
what to do in a crisis with Yahh. In the narrative of the plagues, the flight,
the Red Sea, etc, Tsiporah is not mentioned at all. She was apparently in
Midyan with her father. In an epilogue, she is a walk-on, brought to Mosheh at
Mt. Sinai just before the revelation story.
Two ancient (10th
century BCE?) and lost documents contribute to the story beginning at Ex 3. J
(for Jahvist) refers to deity as Yahh (spoken form of unspoken YHVH), the
personal name by which our ancestors thought of their national patron and protector
(J, by coincidence, also works for Judah the southern kingdom where the
document is thought to have originated.) E (for Elohist), simply refers to god,
using the generic noun, which, in some contexts, seems to be used as proper
noun, to be capitalized. The word frequently appears as ha’elohim, “the god.” E also corresponds to Ephraim, the northern
kingdom, presumed source of the document. E, in the present story, contributes
the well-known passage about god being whatever god is, an interpretive riff on
YHVH.
Mosheh’s
father-in-law is R’u’el in J and Yitro in E. In E narratives, divine
communication usually comes in dreams and visions. J presents the burning bush
attention-getter, and throws in an angel as well.
In
the published form of the story the elements are smoothly edited into a single
narrative. The two sources are barely distinguishable and have little effect on
reading the story. For the curious, I have inserted / to indicate shift from
one source to the other.
Audio
format of this story: https://soundcloud.com/davidlkline/tsiporah-hidden-heroine
MAN OF ACTION
2:11It
happened, in those days, that Mosheh grew up and went out to his brothers and
saw their suffering. He found a Mitsri striking an Ivri, one of his brothers. 12He
turned this way and that and saw that no one else was there so he struck the Mitsri
and buried him in the sand.
13Next
day he went out again and there were two Ivrim fighting. He called out to the evil
one: “Why are you striking your fellow?”
14And he said: “Who made you
boss and judge over us? Are you saying you’re going to kill me they way you
killed that Mitsri?”
Mosheh
was afraid, saying: “The thing is known.” 15And when Paroh heard of
it he sought to kill Mosheh. Mosheh fled to the land of Midyan, resting there
near a well.
16The
kohen of Midyan had seven daughters. They
had come and were drawing water in buckets to fill the watering troughs for
their father’s flock, 17when along came the shepherds and drove them
away. Mosheh rose and saved them! and watered their flock.
18The
daughters came back to their father, R’u’el, and he said: “Why did you rush
home today?”
19They said: “A Mitsri man rescued us from the
shepherds. He even filled buckets for us and watered the flock!”
20He said to his daughters: “So where is he? What? You
left the man? Call him so that he can eat bread!”
21Mosheh willingly joined the man at sitting, and he
ended up giving Mosheh Tsiporah, his daughter. 22She bore a son. He
named him Gershom, as to say: “I was a ger,
sojourner in a foreign land.”
23It
happened, in those many days, that the king of Mitsrayim died. The B’neyYisrael
groaned in their labor and cried out, their plaint reaching all the way up to
the god. 24God heard their moan and remembered his brit with Avraham, Yitschak, and
Ya’akov. 25He saw B’neyYisrael and knew.
THE PLOT THICKENS
3:1Mosheh
was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law, Yitro, kohen of Midyan. He led the flock beyond the wilderness, arriving
at Chorev, the mountain of god. / 2An angel of Yahh was appearing to
him in a fiery flame in the bush. As he watched the bush burning with the fire
the bush was not consumed. 3“I’m turning aside to take a look at
this great sight,” he said. “Why is the bush not burning up?” 4Yahh
saw that he had turned aside for a look./
“Mosheh,
Mosheh!” God called out from the bush.
“Hineni, right here,” Mosheh said. /
5“Don’t
aproach here. Take your shoes off your feet for you are standing on holy
ground. /
6“I am your father’s god, god of Avraham, god of Yitschak,
and god of Ya’akov.”
Mosheh
hid his face for he was afraid to look at the god. /
7Then
Yahh said: “I have fully seen the misery of my people who are in Mitsrayim. I
have heard their outcry over taskmasters. I know their pains. 8I
have come down to rescue them from the hand of Mitsrayim and bring them up from
that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey (the place
of the K’na’ani, the Chiti, the Emori, the P’rizi, the Chivi, and the Y’vusi.)
/
9“The B’neyYisrael outcry has
reached me and I have seen the pressure that Mitsrayim lays on them. 10So
now go. I am sending you to Paroh. Take my people out of Mitsrayim.”
11Mosheh
replied to the god, “Who am I that I should go to Paroh? That I should take the
B’neyYisrael out of Mitsrayim?”
12“Well,
I’ll be with you, and that will be the sign that I have sent you. When you get
the people out of Mitsrayim you shall serve the god on this very mountain.”
13“Suppose
I come to the B’neyYisrael and say to them ‘The god of your ancestors has sent
me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What’s his name?’ What shall I say to them?”
14God
said to Mosheh: “Ehyeh asher Ehyeh, I
am what I am! Just tell them, ‘Ehyeh,
sent me to you.
15God
continued: “Say to them, Yahh, god of your ancestors god of Avraham, god of
Yitschak, and god of Ya’akov, sent me to you. This is my name forever. So shall
I be remembered from one generation to the next.
16“Go gather the elders of Yisrael and tell them: ‘Yahh,
god of your ancestors appeared to me: god of Avraham, Yitschak, and Ya’akov.
The message: “I have thoroughly taken note of you and what is being done to you
in Mitsrayim. 17I shall raise you from Mitsrayim misery to the land
of the K’na’ani, Chiti, Emori, P’rizi, Chivi and Y’vusi, to a land flowing with
milk and honey.” 18They’ll listen to you. Then you and the elders
will come before the king of Mitsrayim and say to him: “Yahh, god of the
Hebrews, has encountered us, and now we must go a three days journey into the
wilderness so that we can make an offering to Yahh, our God.’
19“I
realize that the king of Mitsrayim will not let you go other than by a mighty
hand. 20So I shall send my hand and strike Mitsrayim with all the
wonders I’ll make among them. After that he will set you free.
21“And I shall give grace for this people in the eyes
of Mitsrayim so that when you go, you will not go empty handed. 22Let
a woman borrow from her neighbor, and any woman living there, objects of silver
and gold and garments. You will put them on your sons and daughters and thus you
will despoil Mitsrayim.”
MAN OF RELUCTANCE
Exodus 4
4:1Mosheh’s
response: “What if they don’t trust me or listen to my voice? What if they say:
‘Yahh did not appear to you’?”
2Yahh:
“What’s that in your hand?”
Mosheh:
“A rod.”
3“Throw
it onto the ground.” He did, and it became a snake and Mosheh jumped back from
it.
4“Reach out and grab it by the tail.” He did, and the
snake turned back into a rod in his grip.
5“That’s so they’ll trust that Yahh, god of their
ancestors appeared to you. 6And here’s more: bring your hand onto
your chest” He did so and when he took it out it was leprous, white as snow. 7“Return
your hand to your chest.” He did so and when he took it out it had returned as
normal flesh.
8“So, if they don’t trust you and don’t listen to the
voice of the first sign, they’ll trust the voice of the latter sign. 9And
should it be that if they don’t trust even these two signs and don’t listen to
your voice, then take water from the Nile, pour it on the dry ground. The water
you take from the Nile will become blood on the ground.”
10So
Mosheh said: “Please, my lord, I am not a man of words: not yesterday or
before, and not even after your speaking to your servant. I am heavy of mouth
and heavy of tongue.”
11Yahh:
“Who put mouth in humanity? And who determines dumb or deaf, sighted or blind? Is
it not I, Yahh? 12Now, go! I’ll be with your mouth. I’ll inform you
what you’ll speak.”
13“Please,
my lord, send whomever you will.”
14Yahh’s
nose was hot with anger against Mosheh: “What about Aharon your brother, the Levi?
I know he speaks the speech. And, by the way, he’s coming out to meet you and
he’ll be happy to see you. 15You’ll speak to him, putting the words
in his mouth. I’ll be with your mouth and with his and shall inform you both
what you are to do. 16He’ll speak for you to the people. What will
happen is that he’ll be your mouthpiece and you’ll be god to him. 17And
in your hand take this stick with which you’ll do the signs.”
18So
Mosheh left the mountain and returned to Yeter his father-in-law and said: “Please.
I must go and return to my brothers in Mitsrayim and see if they are still
alive.”
“Go
l’shalom,” said Yitro. /
19Yahh,
in Midyan, told Mosheh to return to Mitsrayim for those who had been seeking
his life were now dead. 20He put his wife and sons on a donkey and returned
to Mitsrayim land. /
PREMONITION
Moshe
took the rod of God in his hand. / 21Yahh said to him: “When you
return to Mitsrayim, see all these tricks I have put into your hand? You shall
do them in front of Paroh, but I shall harden his heart and he will not free
the people. 22You say to Paroh, ‘Thus says Yahh, “Yisrael is my son,
my first born son. 23Free my son that he may serve me. If you
refuse, I will kill your son, your first born.”’”
TSIPORAH SAVES THE DAY
24And then it happened, on the way, at a night
encampment. Yahh confronted him, and sought to kill him. 25Tsiporah
took up a flint knife, cut off her son’s foreskin, and touched it to Mosheh’s
legs. “You are for me a groom of bloodshed.” 26And Yahh held off
from him. Then she said: “A bloodshed groom for circumcisions.”
EPILOGUE
18:1Yitro,
kohen of Midyan heard of all that God
had done for Mosheh and Yisrael, that he had brought them out of Mitsrayim. 2So
Yitro, Mosheh’s father-in-law, took Tsiporah, Mosheh’s wife, after her having been
sent back, 3and her two sons. The name of one was Gershom 4and
the name of the other, Eliezer–my father’s god is at my help (and saved me from
the sword of Pharoah.)
5Yitro,
along with Mosheh’s wife and sons arrived at the wilderness where he was
camping, the mountain of the god. 6He said: “I, your father-in-law
Yitro, come to you, along with your wife with her two sons.” 7Mosheh
came out to meet his father-in-law. He bowed to him and kissed him. Each asked
the other about his shalom, and they entered
the tent. 8Mosheh told his father-in-law all that God had done to
Paroh and to Mitsrayim on behalf of Yisrael, and all the hardship that had met them
on the way, and how Yahh had rescued them.
9Yitro was delighted at all the good Yahh had done for
Yisrael, rescuing him from the hand of Mitsrayim. 10“Praised be Yahh,
who rescued you from the hand of Mitsrayim and from Paroh, who rescued the
people from under the hand of Mitsrayim. 11Now I have realized that Yahh
is greater than all the gods with all their pride.”
12Yitro, father-in-law of Mosheh, brought a burnt offering
and sacrifices to God. Aharon and all the elders of Yisrael came to eat bread with
the father-in-law of Mosheh before God.
To hear the story read:
©Rabbi
David L Kline
http://good-to-be-a-jew.blogspot.com/
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