Have You Learned From Moses' African Wife? | Numbers 12:1-16

[@emmachombo7256]

Thank you for the Word.. Truly blessed for the elaboration

[@GracebcCa]

Thanks, Emma!

[@raynardstanfield5706]

You are very brave to bring this to the Body of Christ as a White person. So many professing Christians are holding on to racist views that may affect their eternity. My prayer is that the Holy Spirit will convict their hearts and that they will repent. It is hard for many people to see darkness in their own heart. I pray also for myself in this regard.

[@lukewagner8871]

The law of love is the law Christian should be following. It grieves me to see the Christian church so involved with the law of Moses. Read these verse carefully. Galatians 4:21-31 KJVS [21] Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? [22] For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. [23] But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. [24] Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. [25] For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. [26] But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. [27] For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband. [28] Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. [29] But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. [30] Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. [31] So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.

[@paulsadler4791]

Hey, Luke, thanks for taking the time to comment. Galatians 4:21-31 is clear. We're not under the law of Moses, but 2 Timothy 3:16 also tells us that "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness." While we live under a new covenant we still need to learn from the old one.

[@pierreferguson1300]

Truly, in Hebrew Cush (Genesis 2:13; Genesis 10:6-8) is Ethiopia. Cushite is Ethiopian. Ethiopians are Black people of Sub-Saharan African descent. Q: Why did Moses send his wife Zipporah away? - Exodus 18:2 A: Numbers 12. The land of Midian, what we now call Saudi Arabia, has an Ethnic population of 10% Afro-Arab/Asian.

[@GracebcCa]

Hey, Pierre. Thanks for taking the time to write. Cush isn't a translation of another Hebrew word. It literally is the Hebrew word. It referred to a people who reigned over a kingdom that at its height included what is now southern Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia, but those geographical boundaries didn't exist at the time. It's not until the New Testament, where the Greek Word "Aithiops" (=Ethiopian) is used and it refers to a person of shared ethnicity and heritage with the Cushites. I just say that as a point of clarification. We are in complete agreement that Cushites, who later were called Ethiopians were a black-skinned people originating in Sub-Saharan Africa.

[@pierreferguson1300]

@@GracebcCa Well for people who know Hebrew, the Hebrew word for Cush (Genesis 2:13; Genesis 10:6-7) is translated into the English word Ethiopia and the Hebrew word for Cushite (Numbers 12:1; 2 Samuel 18:21) is translated into the English word Ethiopian. Peace and Blessings.

[@antoniodacosta8880]

Hi Paul. Just watched the link you suggested. I still agree to disagree with you on this topic. I would like to suggest you have a look at Matthew 10:5. Jesus himself instructs the 12 disciples not to go to the gentiles or the samaritans....but only go to the lost sheep of israel. Jews only. Jesus teachings were inline with the old testament laws. The scriptures you make reference to in the other video, simply states every day social encounters with strangers/foreigners....they do not mention inter marriage.

[@paulsadler4791]

Thanks for hearing me out Antonio. I'm always happy to agree to disagree with a fellow truth seeker!

[@brittanyhayes1043]

That maybe true for that part but Paul was instructed to go to the gentiles to spread the word of God further.

[@CousinEddy1969]

Can I ask you a question? Here goes, do you believe we should only marry people of the same race? If your answer is yes are you able to define what the races are? Because skin color and hair texture are not race. Is it? My point is we all come from many different places and have been marrying people who look different than ourselves for centuries! I am pretty sure the marry-your-own-race phenomenon is not something that God instituted!

[@antoniodacosta8880]

Your explanation is incorrect. Note that God's response is directed at Miriam asking if god does not also speak through herself and Aaron. It had to do with moses prophetship. God in his response does not mention anything about moses wife.

[@paulsadler4791]

Hey, Antonio. Thanks for your comment! You're right, God doesn't directly mention Moses' Cushite wife in His response. And I mentioned that Miriam's challenge to Moses leadership was part of what God was confronting. But if we imagine for a moment that Moses had sinned somehow in marrying her and Miriam was holding him accountable, wouldn't you expect to see some rebuke of Moses, even if God did end up telling Miriam that Moses was a unique kind of prophet? Instead what does God say? "He is faithful in all my house" (v. 7). I also don't think it's a coincidence that the woman who excluded a person of colour was herself given a skin disease and sent outside of the camp. I hope this explains why I've come to this conclusion. And I'm following other commentators who have made the same connection.

[@antoniodacosta8880]

@@paulsadler4791 hi Paul. One needs to ask... why did God give moses the curse of seeing the promised land....but not entering it. What was moses sin to deserve that? If we read the story of abraham and hagar....she was Sarah's slave. Her son Ishmael was cursed by God. So we see that God was trying to preserve a bloodline that would eventually usher in his messiah.

[@paulsadler4791]

@@antoniodacosta8880 Those are really good questions, Antonio. But I think the answers point in a different direction than what you might guess. We’re told why Moses couldn’t enter the Promised Land and it wasn’t because he married a Cushite. In Deuteronomy 32:51-52 and Numbers 20:11-12, 24, we’re told that it was because of what he did at Meribah. You’re right to notice the bloodline of the Messiah, but it included Rahab, the Canaanite prostitute, and Ruth the Moabite. In fact, the Book of Ruth is a celebration of how a foreigner could become a true worshipper of God and become one of God’s people. 'Preserving the bloodline' was about protecting it against idolatry not foreign ethnicity. I think if you check out “Wasn’t discrimination commanded in ancient Israel?” (kzbin.info/www/bejne/rmLLn5uvrdiNgtk) it may clear things up for you.

[@antoniodacosta8880]

@@paulsadler4791 thanks for the reply. When one reads Deuteronomy 7:3 we see God say we must not intermarry with them. We must not give our daughters to to their sons, and not take their daughters for our sons. We also later on read in Ezra 10:3 that anybody that married a person from a tribe that God had commanded not marry, those wives along with their children were to be sent away in order to stay in alignment with that which God had commanded.

[@paulsadler4791]

@@antoniodacosta8880 That's exactly what I deal with in “Wasn’t discrimination commanded in ancient Israel?” (kzbin.info/www/bejne/rmLLn5uvrdiNgtk). Check it out and let me know if you still have questions.