Zipporah

Zipporah was a Midianite woman who became Moses' wife during his forty years of exile from Egypt. Her father Jethro (also called Reuel) served as a priest in Midian, and her story intersects with Moses' life at crucial moments.

Moses first encountered Zipporah and her six sisters at a well in Midian. He had just fled Egypt after killing an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew slave. At the well, local shepherds were preventing the seven sisters from watering their father's flocks. Moses intervened, driving away the shepherds and drawing water for their animals.

When the sisters returned home unusually early, Jethro asked how it happened. Learning of the Egyptian stranger's help, he sent his daughters back to invite Moses to eat with them. Moses was content to stay, and eventually Jethro gave him Zipporah as wife. She bore him two sons: Gershom, whose name commemorated Moses' status as "a foreigner in a foreign land," and Eliezer, meaning "my God is helper."

The most enigmatic episode involving Zipporah occurred as Moses journeyed back to Egypt after his commissioning at the burning bush. At a lodging place along the way, "the Lord met Moses and was about to kill him." The text is cryptic, but the problem apparently concerned circumcision—Moses had neglected to circumcise one of his sons according to the Abrahamic covenant.

Zipporah acted decisively. Taking a flint knife, she circumcised her son herself, then touched the foreskin to Moses' feet, declaring, "Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me!" Her actions averted the divine threat. The phrase "bridegroom of blood" likely expressed her distaste for what she had been forced to do—perhaps circumcision was foreign or repugnant to Midianite custom, or perhaps she resented that Moses' failure had endangered their family.

At some point after this incident, Moses sent Zipporah and their sons back to Jethro in Midian. Scripture doesn't explain why—perhaps the coming confrontation with Pharaoh was too dangerous for his family, or perhaps tensions from the circumcision incident created distance. The separation lasted through the plagues, the Exodus, and the crossing of the Red Sea.

After the Exodus, Jethro brought Zipporah and the boys to Moses in the wilderness near Sinai. The reunion was warm; Moses bowed to his father-in-law and kissed him. Scripture records no conversation between Moses and Zipporah at this meeting. Her final appearance shows her being received by Moses after long separation, but the text gives no insight into their relationship's quality.