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| In Exodus, Chapter 1-4, what laws were the Jews observing when Moses first observed them (the Noach Laws plus the commandment to be circumcised?). Was Moses actually circumcised when the Egyptians found him, and that’s why they knew he was Hebrew? Was Zipporah Jewish? If not, why were Moses’ children Jewish? | | | Interestingly enough, this is not a question that can be answered definitively. There are certain things, however, that we can assume.
We can assume the universal laws given by God to Noah that were incumbent upon all peoples.
We can also assume that the Hebrew peoples – up until the time of Moses – followed certain laws incumbent upon the peoples in the lands where the Hebrews dwelt.
Although we have no evidence of a specific legal code for the Hebrew peoples, we do have the law code of Hammurabi, Lipit Ishtar or ErNammu, all law codes known from patriarchal times and from the area in which the Hebrews sojourned.
We can assume their observances of these laws from incidences recorded in the book of Genesis that relate to laws found in these ancient law codes.
I think we can assume that Moses in all probability had been circumcised, as that was a commandment given to the descendants of Abraham as far back as Genesis 17.
Zippora was not Jewish. The term “Jewish” relates to those of the tribe of Judah, and beyond that to those who were a part of the kingdom of Judah after the 12 tribes split in 931 BCE. Zippora was a Midianite and if you will remember from Genesis 25 after the death of Sarah, Abraham took another wife by the name of Keturah and had six additional sons, one of whom was Midian.
We might say that they were at least “kissing cousins.”
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