Q. I have a few questions related to Moses. What was Moses' wife's name? How many children did Moses and his wife have? (Submitted by: Chuck) A. It's difficult to compress 120 years of a man's life into a few lines, but let's try. Moses, a Hebrew, was born in Egypt. The Egyptian pharaoh had commanded that all infant Hebrew boys be killed at their birth, but the Hebrew midwives feared God, and disobeyed his command. When Moses' mother could no longer hide him she laid him in a bulrush boat, and placed it in the reeds along the shore, where an Egyptian princess found him, and wanted him for herself. Enter Moses' sister Miriam. She asked if the princess wanted a Hebrew nurse for the child, and upon a positive response, returned Moses to his mother. In those days a nurse reared her ward for several years, so Moses' mother had time to teach him the things of God. The princess named him Moses meaning 'Drawn from the Water' (Exodus 1:7-2:10). When Moses, now a man, saw an Egyptian taskmaster beating a Hebrew, Moses killed him and buried him in the sand. Unfortunately the murder was witnessed so, as a fugitive, Moses fled to Midian where he married Zipporah, daughter of Jethro, a Midianite priest. They had two sons, Gershom and Eliezer (Exodus 2:11-22; 18:3-4). Nothing seems to be known of them, other than they had children of their own. Next comes the famous burning bush event, and God's command that Moses return to Egypt. He, and his brother Aaron, were to convince the pharaoh to let the Hebrews -- now known as Israelites -- go free (Exodus 2:23-4:17). Eventually the pharaoh complied, and Moses led his people for forty years while they lived in the desert. He has been variously described as a priest, a prophet, a poet, a military general, a historian, a leader, and the man of God (Psalm 90 - title). He was, at times, given to great anger (Exodus 32:19), and was even disobedient to God (Numbers 20:7-12). For his disobedience he was not allowed to enter the promised land, but died, and God buried him in a valley in Moab (Deuteronomy 34:1-7). Despite all this, however, Moses is known as the meekest man who ever lived (Numbers 12:3). |
