Naravist

Person in the Old Testament

Zipporah

Zipporah: family journeys and action in a moment of danger

Portrait of Zipporah. An AI-generated artistic interpretation, not a historical likeness.

Portrait: an AI-generated artistic interpretation, not evidence of how Zipporah looked.

Who Zipporah is

Zipporah becomes Moses' wife after his arrival in Midian, and she bears Gershom. When Moses later travels toward Egypt, his wife and sons accompany him. During a brief encounter in which the Lord threatens a life, Zipporah circumcises her son and speaks of a husband of blood; the threat then ends. The passage does not explicitly name the threatened person or the son involved. Later, Jethro brings Zipporah and her two sons, Gershom and Eliezer, to Moses at the mount of God. The account says she had been sent back but does not explain the timing or reason.

Cited passages: Exodus 2:15, Exodus 2:21, Exodus 2:22, Exodus 4:20, Exodus 4:24, Exodus 4:25, Exodus 4:26, Exodus 18:1, Exodus 18:2, Exodus 18:3, Exodus 18:4, Exodus 18:5, Exodus 18:6

Historical setting

The Midian household's father is called Reuel in Exodus 2, while Jethro is called Moses' father-in-law in Exodus 18. This introduction reports those relationships without resolving the naming question. Zipporah's son is circumcised with a sharp stone in Exodus 4. The feet referred to and the precise meaning of her blood-related saying remain unclear. Her later arrival with two sons does not establish a divorce, a new marriage or a reason for her earlier return.

Cited passages: Exodus 2:18, Exodus 2:21, Exodus 4:24, Exodus 4:25, Exodus 4:26, Exodus 18:1, Exodus 18:2, Exodus 18:3, Exodus 18:4, Exodus 18:5

How the story is told

Zipporah appears at changes in Moses' family circumstances: his new home in Midian, the journey toward Egypt and the family visit after Israel's departure. In the roadside scene she is the named person who acts, while the surrounding pronouns leave other details unstated. The later family notice names the sons and records their arrival without filling in the intervening period. Her introduction therefore follows these recorded appearances rather than supplying an imagined continuous biography.

Cited passages: Exodus 2:21, Exodus 2:22, Exodus 4:20, Exodus 4:24, Exodus 4:25, Exodus 4:26, Exodus 18:1, Exodus 18:2, Exodus 18:3, Exodus 18:4, Exodus 18:5

Story moments

  1. Zipporah becomes Moses’ wife (Exodus 2:21). The Midian household gives Zipporah in marriage to Moses.
  2. Zipporah acts during the threat (Exodus 4:25). She circumcises her son and speaks the blood-related saying.
  3. The family comes to Moses (Exodus 18:5). Jethro brings Moses’ wife and sons to him at the mount of God.

Key passages

Exodus 2:21

And Moses was content to dwell with the man: and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter.

Exodus 4:25

Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me.

Exodus 18:2

Then Jethro, Moses’ father in law, took Zipporah, Moses’ wife, after he had sent her back,

King James Version. 3 indexed passages in total.

For reflection

What can you say with confidence about Zipporah's action, and what does the brief account leave open?

Books Zipporah appears in

Related people

Names and references are adapted from STEPBible TIPNR. A person listed with a verse is named or indexed there; it does not mean they wrote or spoke it.