Did Moses have an Ethiopian wife? Did he have children by her?
Moses' Ethiopian wife is mentioned in Num.12:1, but the Midrashim all
say that "Kushis" in that verse means "beautiful" and that the wife was Jethro's daughter Zipporah. However, Targum Yonasan takes the Ethiopian wife literally, and the story of Moses' marriage in Ethiopia is also told by Josephus (Antiquities II:10-11) and by the Sefer ha-Yashar (Berlin 1923, p.254). According to the Sefer ha-Yashar, Moses had no relations with that wife because of Abraham's prohibition against marrying Hamitic women. Josephus says that the marriage was consummated, but says nothing about children. Thus Moses' only children were his two sons by Zipporah (Ex. 18:9 3-4).
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