Biblical Hebrew Forum

[jimstinehart AT aol.com]

Yohanan bin-Dawidh wrote:  “[L]et us discuss the term "Kushiyt".  A lot of people think this term means that Mosheh's wife was "black", but this is an outdated thought, which really never had any backing from the Torah.  The term "Kushiyt" would refer to anyone who was a descendant of Kush, to which even Nim'rod the ruler of Babel was.  Historically the list of Kush's descendants refers to peoples living in what we refer to as Turkey and India today, not peoples in Africa.  I think the issue of her being "Kushiyt" had nothing to do with her being "black", but with her being of a different culture than them.  Mosheh was being chastised for marrying a non-Yisraeli woman, and that chastisement was not welcomed by the Deity.”

 

Joseph Roberts had written that Onkelos renders the word in question here as “fair woman”, and asked:  “If we ignore religious notions and dogma, linguistically does his interpretation have standing?”

 

Here is my linguistic analysis of this longstanding issue.

 

Either Moses’ wife Zipporah, or an otherwise unknown wife of Moses, is twice called K%YT or K$YT at Numbers 12: 1.  The yod/Y is a standard ending meaning “people”, and the final tav/T is a feminine ending.  So the key letters are K% [or K$] as to what this wife of Moses is being called.

 

A male Cushite is often referred to in the Bible as KW$Y, for example at II Samuel 18: 21.  Where the yod/Y again is a standard ending meaning “people”, the key letters are KW$.  Note the difference between KW$, being a Cushite, as opposed to what Moses’ wife is called:  K% or K$, with no interior vav/W.

 

In the Patriarchal Age, the Kassites ruled southern Mesopotamia, so the logical understanding of K%DYM or K$DYM at Genesis 11: 28, 31 and 15: 7 is as a reference to the land of the Kassites, where the key letters are K% or K$, with no interior vav/W.

 

We know that Cushites in Africa practiced circumcision, so it would not make sense for Zipporah to be a Cushite from Africa, since she famously opposed circumcision for her first son by Moses.  The Kassites, by stark contrast, are thought to have never practiced circumcision.  So if Zipporah were from MDYN/Mitanni in northern Mesopotamia, she might disparagingly be referred to as having the “Kassite”/K%Y view of disapproving of circumcision.  Even though Zipporah is not literally a Kassite, she is from Mesopotamia, if MDYN refers to Mitanni in eastern Syria.

 

Numbers 12: 1 can then be logically viewed as Moses’ sister reaming out Moses’ [only] wife Zipporah for having gotten Moses into trouble with YHWH by following the Kassite/K%Y practice of opposing circumcision.  By contrast, if either (i) Zipporah is a Cushite, being from a place that routinely practiced circumcision [though then inexplicably being from a place that is far from where MDYN has ever been placed], or (ii) Miriam is referring to another wife of Moses who is otherwise unknown, it is hard to make sense of this story at Numbers 12.

 

I see Miriam as reaming out Zipporah for having followed the Kassite/K%Y practice of opposing circumcision.  Linguistically, I see K% [or K$] as being different from KW$.  The former, K%, means “Kassite”;  the latter, KW$, means “Cushite”.  In my opinion, Moses never married a Cushite woman, and Numbers 12: 1 is not referring to a Cushite wife of Moses.  Rather, Numbers 12: 1 is referring to Zipporah by calling her a “Kassite”/K%YT for having jeopardized Moses’ life by initially following the Kassite practice of opposing circumcision.

 

Jim Stinehart

Evanston, Illinois