Product Code Database
Tharbis (alternatively Adoniah Book of Jasher, 23.5-25.5Dewey M. Beegle, "Moses", The Anchor Bible Dictionary, 6 vols. (New York: Doubleday, 1992), vol. 4, p. 917.), according to Josephus, was a Cushite princess of the Kingdom of Kush, who married Moses prior to his marriage to Zipporah as told in the Book of Exodus.Flavius Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, Book II, Chapter 10
After the war, when Moses sought to return to Egypt – Tharbis is said to have resisted and insisted that he remain in Aethiopia as her husband. He then, being "most skilful in astronomy", cast two rings; one which caused the wearer to become forgetful, and the other to cause the wearer to remember all. He gave the first ring to Tharbis, and wore the second himself, and waited for her oblivious nature to lose interest in retaining him as a husband – and when she had forgotten her love for him, he returned to Egypt alone.Walter Raleigh, The History of the World: Section IV 'Of Moses' flying out of Egypt, 1829 edition Some have suggested this period may have started when Moses was 27, and that he remained with Tharbis for forty years;Yashar Shemot, Midrash to the Pentateuch, 11th century although this number contradicts the traditional sources which suggest that Moses killed an Egyptian overseer when he was approximately 40 years old himself.Exodus 2:11-21Inglis, James. "The Witness", 1871. pp. 30Bostwick, Henry. "Lectures Upon Portions of History", 1838. p. 29
It is also suggested that Artapanus of Alexandria may have concocted the story "to impress his pagan audience" with "such a love story".Feldman, Louis H. "Jew and Gentile in the Ancient World", 1996. p. 547
Tharbis is portrayed by Esther Brown in Cecil B. DeMille's 1956 biblical epic The Ten Commandments. In the film, she appears briefly and is not Moses's wife.
|
|
