Synopses & Reviews
In the time of the Pharaoh, a tiny infant is rescued from the banks of the Red Sea. She is named Zipporah, “the little bird.” Although she is a Cushite by birth—one of the black people of the lands to the south—she is taken in by Jethro, high priest and sage of the Midianites. Jethro adores his adopted daughter, and she is an honored member of his family. But the blackness of Zipporah’s skin sets her apart and will decide her future: she will be an outsider, and the men of her adopted tribe will not want her as a wife.
But when she becomes a young woman, Zipporah’s destiny changes forever. While drawing water at a well one day, she meets a handsome young man, a stranger. Like her, he is an outsider, a foreigner. His name is Moses. A Hebrew raised in the house of the Pharaoh, Moses is a fugitive, forced to flee his homeland of Egypt after murdering one of the Pharaoh’s cruel overseers. Zipporah knows almost immediately that this man will be the husband and partner she never thought she would have.
At first Moses wants nothing more than a peaceful life with the Midianites. He is content in his role as Zipporah’s lover and the honorary son of Jethro the sage. But Zipporah refuses to let Moses forget his past or turn away from what she believes to be his true destiny. Although he is the love of her life and the father of her children, Zipporah won’t marry Moses until he agrees to return to Egypt to confront Pharaoh and free his people. When God reveals himself to Moses in the burning bush, his words echo Zipporah’s, and Moses returns to Egypt with Zipporah by his side. A passionate lover and a generous, thoughtful wife, Zipporah becomes the guiding force in Moses’ struggle. With the help of her powerful father, she teaches the rebellious young man about the rule of law and the force of justice. Because of Zipporah—the outsider, the black-skinned woman—Moses becomes a defender of the oppressed and a liberator of the enslaved.
A woman ahead of her time, Zipporah leaps from the pages of this remarkable novel. Bold, independent, and a true survivor, she is a captivating heroine, and her world of deserts, temples, and ancient wonders is a fitting backdrop to an epic tale.
As Zipporah and Moses came closer to the queen of cities, the road parted company with the riverbank, and they found themselves facing a vast expanse of palm groves between the river and the hills and ocher cliffs, beyond which the desert began. And there, finally, rising into the blue sky, were the temples of Pharaoh.
There were about ten of them, the largest surrounded by smaller ones, as if they had given birth to them. Seeming to grow out of the rock, the tops reaching up into the sky, they defied belief, so fantastically huge that beside them, even the cliffs seemed mere hillocks. Their faces shimmered in the heat like oil against the transparent sky. The neatly laid brick road leading to them burned in the sun.
Zipporah remembered Moses’ words about the splendor of Pharaoh’s temples, but their hugeness surpassed anything she could have imagined. Nothing here was on a human scale. Not even the stone monsters with the heads of men and the bodies of lions that stood guard before them.
Farther on, beneath great pyramids, they could see vast building sites. Colonnades and needles of white limestone and walls carved and painted with thousands of figures rose on the fronts of palaces hollowed out of the cliffs. There were unfinished monsters without wings, and statues without heads. In places, the roads became mere dirt paths, with bricks piled at the sides. And everywhere, the slaves swarmed, working, carrying, hammering, creating a din that rose into the heat of the day and was carried on the air from the farthest reaches of the building sites. —FROM ZIPPORAH
Look for the Reader’s Group Guide at the back of this book.
Synopsis
Orphaned shortly after birth, the infant Zippoarch is taken in by Jethro, high priest and sage of the Midianites, a tribe of the Arabian Peninsula. Jethro adores his adopted daughter and she becomes an honored member of his family, but Zipporah is a Cushite--an African--and her blackness marks her blackness marks her as an outsider . No Medianite man will have her as a wife.But, one day, while drawing water from well Zipporah meets a stranger, a fugitive from Egypt who is tormented by his past. His name is Moses and although he was raised in the house of the Pharaoh, he is a Hebrew, a member of the slave class, and he has fled Egypt after killing one of the pharaoh's overseers. Zipporah and Moses fall in love, but Zipporah refuses to marry him, even though they have two children together. First, she insists, Moses must accept his destiny--to return to Egypt and lead his people out of slavery. When God Reveals himself to Moses in the burning bush. His words echo Zipporah's and Moses returns to confront Pharaoh, armed with what he has learned from Zipporah about the force of justice and the liberation of the oppressed. Featuring a bold, spirited woman of color as its protagonist, Zipporah will appeal to a wide range of readers and is the perfect next subject for Halter's Canaan Trilogy.
About the Author
Marek Halter was born in Warsaw, Poland, in 1936. During World War II, his family escaped the Warsaw Ghetto and eventually settled in France. He is the author of several critically acclaimed, bestselling novels, including Sarah, the first novel of the Canaan trilogy. Lilah, the last of the trilogy, will be published in 2006. Marek Halter lives in Paris.
Reading Group Guide
Zipporah, Wife of Moses, is bestselling novelist Marek Halter’s latest portrait of a noteworthy woman of the Bible. In a spectacular feat of imagination, Halter has breathed new life into this little-known, though influential, Old Testament figure. Orphaned as an infant, Zipporah is adopted by Jethro, high priest and sage of the Hebrew Midianites, who raises her as his own, despite her black skin. Although she is accepted and adored by his family, as a woman her color keeps the Midianite men at bay. She feels forever an outsider–until one day she meets Moses, himself a fugitive from Pharaoh’s Egypt. Their connection is immediate, and before long, Moses asks Zipporah to be his wife. But her innate wisdom, and the sense of justice instilled by Jethro, are stronger even than her passion for the love of her life: Zipporah refuses to marry Moses until he fulfills his destiny and frees his people from Pharaoh’s brutal slavery.
Bold, independent, and a true survivor, Zipporah is a fascinating heroine, and her world of desert oases, temples, and ancient wonders is a fitting backdrop to an epic tale.
This guide is designed to help direct your reading group’s discussion of Marek Halter’s powerful novel.
1. Before reading this novel, how much–or how little–did you know of Zipporah’s story? Read the portions of Exodus pertaining to Zipporah’s story. How has the novel changed your understanding of her importance? Of Moses’ actions?
2. If you haven’t already, read the beautiful excerpt from Song of Solomon on page vii. What did this make you expect from the book? What about the other biblical quotations on page vii?
3. Discuss how the novel changes your perspective on race relations: How have they changed since biblical times, if at all? Would Zipporah’s experience be any different today?
4. On page 1, Zipporah says, “I have had a dream.” Considering that this is the story of Moses and the Jews’ exodus from slavery, does this strike you as an intentional reference to the famous speech by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.? Do you see any other King allusions in the novel, for example to the Promised Land?
5. What is the significance of Zipporah’s dream? In what ways did it come true, and in what ways did its accuracy fail? On page 73, Jethro says to Zipporah, “Live your dream in sleep, but do not let your life become a sleep.” Lacking Zipporah’s influence, do you believe Moses might have done just that?
6. On page 36, Zipporah watches Moses catching fish and sees “a vast shimmer on the sea, much more intense than any of the others, like a wind spreading light as far as the shore.” Several pages later we read, “In the days, weeks, and years that followed, Zipporah was often to remember that moment, a moment she was sure was neither as brief nor as supernatural as it had seemed to her at the time.” In the end, what did this moment mean?
7. When Moses confesses that he has killed a man on page 64, instead of turning him away or being afraid, Jethro invites Moses to tell his story. At this point, Jethro knows virtually nothing about him. What makes Jethro react this way? Is it Zipporah’s influence?
8. Both Moses and Zipporah are adopted by powerful families. Do you believe this shaped their destinies, or were the adoptions themselves preordained?
9. Throughout the novel, various characters are portrayed as storytellers. Do you believe this is how the stories of the Bible were shared initially? Was this how Moses’ story was passed down? If so, how might that explain Zipporah’s minor role in the recorded bible?
10. It seems on pages 120-121 that Moses would be quite content to be a shepherd in Midian with Zipporah as his wife, but Zipporah sees something more in his destiny. She says, “I know you must put on your gold bracelets and go among those who are your people. You must hold back the whip that strikes them.” How does she know this? What gives her the strength to refuse him, even after bearing his children?
11. Why did Jethro allow both Zipporah and Orma to refuse to marry suitable men? If he weren’t a powerful man, would he have been so willing? Discuss the role of women in Midian society and contrast it to Hebrew and Egyptian life.
12. How did Marek Halter’s depiction of the burning bush deepen your understanding of the story?
13. When Moses and Zipporah meet Moses’ family, Miriam’s response to Zipporah is immediately negative, while Yokeved’s is the exact opposite. Why do you think there is such a difference between the sister and the mother?
14. On page 229, Zipporah says, “The Moses [the Hebrews] need must belong to them more than he belongs to his wife.” Why does she feel this way? Does the same hold true for the wives of today’s leaders?
15. When Miriam shows her scarred body to Zipporah, it changes radically the way Zipporah feels about her own place in the world. Was she right?
16. In his efforts to strengthen Zipporah’s resolve, Jethro says, “The only reason some of [the Hebrews] are still standing, still holding their heads high as men and women should, is because they cling to their own wounds, like a climber clinging to the rocks on Horeb’s mountain.” Are there any groups that you believe are behaving this way today?
17. In Halter’s depiction, Aaron and Miriam turn out to be somewhat treacherous. Is it purely jealousy, or something deeper? How does this jibe with your knowledge of the biblical characters?
18. After Zipporah’s murder, Moses refuses the suggestion of retribution against the Midianites. “What good would that do? What she wanted was trust, respect, and love. Not war. She wanted caresses to beautify the blackness of her skin. How long is it since I last gave them to her? I, too, killed her.” What does Moses mean by this? What has he learned?
19. Re-read the last lines of the novel: “Who, though, will remember Zipporah the black woman, the Cushite? Who will remember what she accomplished? Who will still speak her name?” How would you answer those questions? Discuss Zipporah’s legacy.