Cushi and Cushite

  1. A Cushite messenger was sent by Joab to David to announce his victory over Absalom.

    And the king said to the Cushite, “Is the young man Absalom safe?” So the Cushite answered, “May the enemies of my lord the king, and all who rise against you to do harm, be like that young man!” —2 Samuel 18:32 NKJV

  2. Cushi, the father of Shelemiah (Jeremiah 36:14)

  3. Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, and father of the prophet Zephaniah (1:1)

  4. It is record in the book of Numbers that Moses married a “Cushite woman.” She was called this at the time when the children of Israel were at Hazeroth (Num. 12:16).

    Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had taken as a wife (for he had taken a Cushite woman); and they said, “Has Yahweh indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us as well?” And Yahweh heard it. Numbers 12:1-2 LSB LSB

    After saying this Yahweh sternly called Miriam and Aaron out, saying…

    “Hear now My words:
    If there is a prophet among you,
    I, Yahweh, shall make Myself known to him in a vision.
    I shall speak with him in a dream.
    Not so, with My servant Moses,
    He is faithful in all My household;
    With him I speak mouth to mouth,
    Indeed clearly, and not in riddles,
    And he beholds the form of Yahweh.
    Why then were you not afraid
    To speak against My servant, against Moses?”

    So the anger of Yahweh burned against them, and He went away. But the cloud withdrew from over the tent, and behold, Miriam was leprous, as white as snow. And Aaron turned toward Miriam, and behold, she was leprous. Then Aaron said to Moses,
    “Oh, my lord, I beg you, do not place this sin on us, in which we have acted foolishly and in which we have sinned. Oh, do not let her be like one dead, whose flesh is half eaten away when he comes from his mother’s womb!” Num. 12:6-12 LSB excerpt

    Due to this circumstance some have supposed that Moses’ wife Zipporah was meant, and hence that Midian was equivalent to the land of Cush.

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Article Version: August 6, 2024