Zipporah, the daughter of Jethro, was Moses' wife and the mother of his two sons, Gershom and Eliezer.
Zipporah was the wife of Moses and the daughter of Jethro (also known as Reuel), the priest of Midian. She first appears in the biblical narrative when Moses fled from Egypt and settled in Midian (Exo.2.21). Zipporah and Moses were married and had two sons, Gershom and Eliezer. In Exo.4.24-26, during Moses' return to Egypt, Zipporah circumcised their son and cast the foreskin at Moses' feet, saying, "Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me!" This enigmatic event seems to have resolved a divine threat against Moses' life. Later, when Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt, Zipporah and her sons were sent back to Jethro (Exo.18.2). They were reunited with Moses when Jethro brought them to him in the wilderness (Exo.18.5-6). As the wife of Moses, Zipporah played a significant role in his personal life and, by extension, in the history of Israel.
Jethro and Moses: father-in-law and adviser
FamilyStated in the textMoses fled to Midian, married Jethro's daughter Zipporah, and tended his flock. After the Exodus Jethro visited, offered sacrifices, and advised Moses to delegate judging to capable men, the basis of Israel's tiered judiciary. He is called Reuel and Jethro, and Moses' brother-in-law Hobab is also named.
Where the text shows it: Exod 2:16-21 — Moses marries Zipporah, daughter of the priest of MidianExod 18:1-12 — Jethro visits, blesses God and sacrificesExod 18:13-26 — Jethro's judicial adviceNum 10:29 — Hobab, Moses' relative by marriage Sources: Exod 2:16-21 · Exod 18:1-12 · Exod 18:13-26 · Num 10:29
Easton (1897), Smith (1863), Hitchcock (1869), Hastings (1898) and Schaff are in the public domain. Parsed text: neuu-org/bible-dictionary-dataset (CC BY 4.0). Headwords and whitespace normalised for this site.
3 verses in 1 book · English text: BSB (change it from the menu at the top) · Strong’s H6855