Zipporah

Zipporah or Tzipora (/ˈzɪp.ər.ə/ or /zɪpˈɔːr.ə/; Hebrew: צִפוֹרָה, Modern Tsippora, Tiberian Ṣippôrā 'bird'; Greek: Σεπφώρα, Sepphōra; Arabic: صفورة‎, Ṣafforah) is mentioned in the Book of Exodus as the wife of Moses, and the daughter of Reuel/Jethro, the priest or prince of Midian and the spiritual founder and ancestor of the Druze. In the Book of Chronicles, two of her descendants are mentioned: Shebuel, son of Gershom, and Rehabiah, son of Eliezer.

Biblical references

Background

In the Old Testament or the Hebrew Bible Zipporah was one of the seven daughters of Jethro, a Kenite shepherd who was a priest of Midian. In Exodus 2:18 Jethro is also referred to as Reuel and referred to as Hobab in the Book of Judges. (Judges 4:11). (Hobab was also the name of Jethro's son as recorded in Numbers 10:29.) While the Israelites/Hebrews were captives in Egypt, Moses killed an Egyptian who was striking a Hebrew, for which offense Pharaoh sought to kill Moses. Moses therefore fled from Egypt and arrived in Midian. One day while he sat by a well, Reuel's daughters came to water their father's flocks. Other shepherds arrived and drove the girls away so they could water their own flocks first. Moses defended the girls and watered their flock.