These are all excellent points. I would greatly appreciate your consideration of the following statement:
"The Cushi who were descendants of Ham lived in the area now known as Ethiopia, but the Cushi who was a descendant of Jacob lived in Judaea."
100% agreed about the authority of Moses. 100% agreed that he didn't have children with the Cushite woman. 100% agreed that Moses had the "authority" to "marry" a nigger. But 100% disagreed that he would ever have done so.
Why would Moses, leader of millions of Israelites, as pure White as the driven snow, marry a NIGGER?
If he did that, how could he possibly justify putting away the children of even one Israelite who married a jew, Hittite, Jebusite, Edomite, Moabite, Canaanite, etc? Why would Israelites have followed him after such an egregious slap in their face?
If it was the race of the Cushite woman which was in question, then why didn't anyone in all of this discussion even mention it? Certainly if she was a nigger, this would have stuck out like a sore thumb? Not a word is spoken about it, though.
Aaron and Miriam were concerned about Moses marrying an Israelite who belonged to a different tribe, rather than a completely foreign nigger who wasn't even related to the Israelites.
The *big* question, of course, is why the KJV translators presumed that the "Cushi" that Moses married was a nigger from Ethiopia, when they KNEW that there were also true Israelites named Cushi, which they DID translate correctly?:
Num 12:1 And Miriam4813 and Aaron175 spoke1696 against Moses4872 because5921, 182 of the Ethiopian3571 woman802 whom834 he had married:3947 for3588 he had married3947 an Ethiopian3571 woman.802
H3571
כּוּשׁית
ku^shi^yth
koo-sheeth'
Feminine of H3569; a Cushite woman: - Ethiopian.
H3569
כּוּשׁי
ku^shi^y
koo-shee'
Patronymic from H3568; a Cushite, or descendant of Cush: - Cushi, Cushite, Ethiopian (-s).
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This is the SAME word used to describe an ISRAELITE who was a descendant of Judah, yet the KJV translators didn't presume this time that it meant "Ethiopian". Why not?
Zep 1:1 The word1697 of the LORD3068 which834 came1961 unto413 Zephaniah6846 the son1121 of Cushi,3570 the son1121 of Gedaliah,1436 the son1121 of Amariah,568 the son1121 of Hizkiah,2396 in the days3117 of Josiah2977 the son1121 of Amon,526 king4428 of Judah.3063
H3570
כּוּשׁי
ku^shi^y
koo-shee'
The same as H3569; Cushi, the name of two Israelites: - Cushi.
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You would think that with all the time the KJV translators had to work on this, that they would have figured out the difference, and realized that Moses would NEVER have married a nigger from Ethiopia.
John Knight
----- Original Message -----
John Knight wrote:
"The last thing in the world that an Israelite like Moses would, or COULD, do is marry a nigger, just as it's the last thing in the world that a respectable White man like Thomas Jefferson would ever have done.
So it's interesting how, and why, this passage has been so severely misinterpreted and misrepresented.
(KJV+) And Miriam4813 and Aaron175 spoke1696 against Moses4872 because5921, 182 of the Ethiopian3571 woman802 whom834 he had married:3947 for3588 he had married3947 an Ethiopian3571 woman.802
Most modern translators use "Cushite woman" rather than "Ethiopian woman". Why? Because the Holy Bible accounts that there were two different tribes called "Cushi". One tribe of Cushi were descendants of Ham, and the other tribe were descendants of Jacob [read: they were Israelites]. The Cushi who were descendants of Ham lived in the area now known as Ethiopia, but the Cushi who was a descendant of Jacob lived in Judaea.
Under Israelite law, God would never have given an Israelite like Moses permission to marry a nigger. Such a radical departure from Israelite law would have required far more than 16 paragraphs in Numbers 12. The following is just one example of how Moses treated non-Israelites:
Num 31:15 And Moses said unto them, Have ye saved all the women alive?
Num 31:16 Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against Jehovah in the matter of Peor, and so the plague was among the congregation of Jehovah.
Num 31:17 Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him.
Can you even imagine what a hypocrite Moses would be if he wiped out all the Midianites after marrying a nigger?"
I have been asked by others if God forbids intermarriage then why did Moses marry a Cushite? The answer is quite simple. First and foremost, the Father beseeched unto Moses the leadership and authority over Israel. When Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses he had married, the Lord God heard it, and said to them "Come out, you three, to the tabernacle of meeting!" And the Lord God said, "Hear my words: IF there is a profit among you, I, the Lord, make myself known to him in a vision, And I speak to him in a dream. Not so with my servant Moses; He is faithful in alll My house. I speak with him face to face, Even plainly, and not in dark sayings; And he sees the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid To speak against My servant Moses?"
These passages clearly imply a very close relationship to the Father and to question Moses was to question the authority of God. A very important theme in the Holy Bible has to do with the laws surrounding the begetting of children. No where will you find Moses having children with this Cushite woman. The law was against miscegenation. Thus, the law was preserved.
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