Women in the Exodus Story: Tzipporah

We continue with our series that seeks to explore the women who shaped the Exodus story. Earlier, we looked at the midwives, Shifra and Puah as well as Miriam, and Yocheved, whose courage ensured Moses’ survival. Now we meet Tzipporah, Moses’ wife, whose decisive action and bold interventions demonstrate a different form of heroism, one rooted in family, faith, and protective care.

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Meet Tzipporah

We first meet Tzipporah in Midian at a well (wells were Biblical dating hotspots!) Moses has fled from Egypt and arrives in Midian. He meets the seven daughters of Reuel, priest of Midian, at the well and rescues them from shepherds who are harassing them. In gratitude, Reuel (called Jethro or Hobab in other biblical passages) offers Moses hospitality, then offers him his daughter Tzipporah in marriage. She and Moses have two sons, Gershom and Eliezer (Exod 18:3–4).

Forty years pass before Moses has a vision at the burning bush which calls him back to Egypt to rescue his people. This upturns Moses and Tzipporah’s family life, and the four of them set off for Egypt. 

On the road, Tzipporah is the heroine of a bizarre incident that takes place.

“The Lord met him [Moses] and tried to kill him” (Exod 4:24).

No reason is given. Moses is with his wife, who comes to his rescue. She takes a flint and cuts off her son’s foreskin and declares that he is a “bridegroom of blood” to her. It appears that God was angry that Moses hasn’t yet circumcised his son, and Tzipporah’s deed and words stop the attack. Whatever we make of this strange episode, Tzipporah sets a biblical precedent for women serving as a mohelet. 

At some point before the exodus from Egypt, Moses sends Tzipporah and the children away. Midrash has Aaron meet Moses and tell him that Egypt is not a place to bring a woman and children. After the exodus, Tzipporah’s father, the priest of Midian (here called Jethro), comes to visit Moses, bringing Zipporah and her two sons. 

Tzipporah as depicted in the Dreamworks movie - The Prince of Egypt

While glamorised by retellings like the Dreamworks movie “The Prince of Egypt”, Tzipporah’s story in the Torah and midrash is a sad one - in which family life and a relationship with Moses is compromised by the call of communal duty and closeness with God.