The Question Box

Why did Moses' sister speak against his Cushite wife?

Numbers Chapter 12:1-10, "And Mary and Aaron spoke against Moses, because of his wife the Ethiopian."
The Lord was angry with Mary and turned her white with leprosy.

Josephus, an ancient Jewish historian, titled this chapter, "How Moses made war with Ethiopia."
The Ethiopian Princess Thardis fell in love with Moses and proposed marriage.
Upon this marriage, she delivered Ethiopia to Egypt.

This story is repeated by the historian Artaphanus of Alexandria, who lived hundreds of years before Josephus.

In a related Bible text, we read of the Song of Solomon and his love of Bethsheba;
the Queen of Sheba of Ethiopia of Kush.

In the movie, The Ten Commandments you can see the royal representatives of Ethiopia.
The King is played by Woody Strodes and the King's sister Princess Tharbis is played by Esther Brown.

Cush was the son of Ham, who was the son of Noah.
Ham was punished by God for disrespecting his father, who was drunk.
God darkened Ham's skin and all of his descendants.
Thus began the first racial division.

Ashkenazim are white Jews, who come from Northern Europe.
Sepharomferm Jews come from Italy, Turkey, and Greece.
Mizrahim Jews come from Syria, Iraq, and Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.
Beta black Israeli come from Ethiopia and the Arabian Peninsula.

Reflections~Miriam did not like Moses marrying outside of the Mizrahim tribe.
God punished Miriam by turning her white with leprosy. God forgave Miriam after
she apologized to Moses and her white leprosy was healed.

Muzzy