The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1881-06-01
For the Central Presbyterian.
Rev. S. E. Axson's "Peep at
Moses Married Life"

gives us his peep at Moses married life"
That his view is founded on mere
peep" and that his "peep" must have
been turtive, deceptive, and misleading,
we will seek herein to show First, how
ever, it is proper to say that we would
not venture upon word of criticism on
the subject, but for two considerations:
1st. That (unless there be strong evil
dence tending to prove the alleged facts)
we do not think it specially comforting
to Christians to be told that the married
life of the great inspired law-giver, Moses,
the man of, God who has given to us so
large part of the Word of. eternal life,
was exceedingly unhappy; that he, who
has gwen to us so many heaven-sent les
sons and directions to guide us in select
ing wife and conducting family. was
himself signal failure in this respect :;
and End. That (unless equally strong evil
dence establish the facts asserted) we re-
gard it as something approaching a libel
to represent the wife, who lived with
Moses for period not far from eighty
years, and who bore him two sons, as
woman so violent in temper and so I'M
congenial to him in disposition that she
embittered his whole married life, so that
when the children of Israel murmured
in the Wilderness of Sin " it was we'll for
Moses that Zipporah was where she could
not appear upon the scene' For these
reasons we desire to show how very slen-
der and unstable is the historical basis
for any such views as those set forth in
the peep" of our brother.
Let it be remembered that when Moses
fed from Egypt into the land of indian,
and married Zipporah, he was at least
forty years of age Certainly he was old
enough to escape the Elusive snares of
mere sensuous beauty, and to make a
good choice in the all-important matter
of selecting wife. In higher matter
he had already made an eminently wise
choice. For, when he came to years, he
refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's
daughter and chose rather to suffer Attic
ton with the people of God. The "peep"
gives us somewhat romantic but rather
inaccurate account of the first meeting
between Moses and his future wife,
Jethro was not " a rich prince" He was
doubtless wealthy shepherd as is indi-
Gated by one of his names given us in the
Hebrew Scriptures, viz Raguel which
means the shepherd of God. Jethro was
also the priest of INDIAN" What priest
ly functions he discharged we may not
know with certainty; but when we bear
IN mind the probability that he was a
ineal descendant from Abraham Through
INDIAN the fourth son of Keturah) and
the certainty that he was acquainted with
the true God " the Lord greater than all
gods, and that he was man of remark
able worldly wisdom and sagacity Gas APP
pears by his sound advice adopted by
Moses in the wilderness), we have much
reason to hope that he had retained a
knowledge of the right worship of God
through the lamb slain from the foun-
dalton of the world" and that he had es-
tablished a family altar 1t is strange
that the learned author of A Peep
should adopt the idea of "a prince" from
the Hebrew word, after the strong evi.
dence in favor of the priest" furnished
by Gesenius.
Furthermore, Zipporah was only one
of the seven daughters of Jethro, and was
not alone at the we'll when the rude
shepherds made their assault She. was
accompanied by her six sisters, and we
are expressly told that Moses stood up
and helped them and watered their flock -
No discrimination in favor of Zipporah is
indicated. Therefore it was not case OF
Glove at first sigh" "a case which, how
ever fascinating for the tastes of young
ladies who delight in cheap novels, is
often followed by bitter regret and disap-
pointment Moses did not hurry into
matrimony. He was content to dwell
with Jethro, and after due time received
Zipporah for his wife. 1t is true, she
was beautiful, as her name indicates but
surely the author of the Peep" is not so
unreasonable as to draw from that fact
an inference against the sweetness of her
temper, and to insist that the beauty of
the family" of seven daughters was ne
cessarily shrewish and violent in her dis
position. During the period of forty
years of married life in which Moses lived
with Jethro and kept the flock of his
tather-in-law, we have not, from either
Scripture or any other reliable source, a
single hint that Zipporah, by bad TEN
per, failed in her duty to her husband or
embittered his life. Yet in that period
she became the mother of his children
and encountered all the worrying vicis-
STUDIES OF married life.
Therefore, we conclude that the severe
comments made in the Peep" OH the
temper Of Iipporah, and the heavy groans