We know him as the ultimate liberator, the lawgiver, the one who spoke to God face to face. But there's a fascinating story, tucked away in Jewish legend, about Moses the King of Ethiopia!
It sounds wild, doesn't it? According to Ginzberg's Legends of the Jews, the Ethiopians, in desperate need of a leader, recognized something extraordinary in Moses. They literally stripped off their clothes, piled them high to make a makeshift throne, and declared him king! "Long live the king!" they cried.
And what did this kingship entail? Well, first, they all swore to give him Adoniah, the Ethiopian queen and widow of the previous king, Kikanos, as his wife. They also gave generously of their wealth, gold, silver, onyx stones, pearls… you name it! Imagine the scene – a young Moses, just twenty-seven years old, suddenly ruling over an entire nation. He reigned, the legend says, for forty years.
One of the first challenges King Moses faced was a besieged city plagued by serpents. How would he deal with this? He devised a clever plan. He ordered everyone to capture young storks and raise them. Then, after starving the storks for three days, he unleashed them upon the city. The storks, ravenous, devoured all the snakes, paving the way for victory. Brilliant, right?
Even Balaam, he of the talking donkey fame, makes an appearance in this story! When he saw the city fall, he used his magic to escape to Egypt with his sons, Jannes and Jambres, and his eight brothers.
Of course, being king also meant marrying Adoniah. But here's where the story takes a deeply Jewish turn. Moses, mindful of his ancestors and their covenants with God, refused to consummate the marriage. He remembered Abraham's instructions to Eliezer not to take a Canaanite wife for Isaac. He remembered Isaac's command to Jacob, "Thou shalt not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan, nor ally thyself by marriage with any of the children of Ham, for the Lord our God gave Ham the son of Noah and all his seed as slaves to the children of Shem and Japheth forever." He wasn't about to break those ancient laws.
He continued to rule justly and righteously, and the people loved him. He even subdued rebellions from Aram and the children of the East. But after forty years, Queen Adoniah had had enough. "This man," she declared, "hath not approached me, nor hath he worshipped the gods of Ethiopia. Let him reign over you no more!" She advocated for her son, Monarchos, to take the throne.
The people were torn. The army remained loyal to Moses, but many favored the son of their former king. Eventually, they crowned Monarchos, but they didn't harm Moses, remembering their oath to him and sensing God's presence. Instead, they showered him with gifts and sent him away with honor.
So, at the age of sixty-seven, Moses left Ethiopia. According to the legend, this was all part of God's plan, the appointed time to bring Israel out of Egypt. Fearing to return directly to Egypt because of Pharaoh, Moses journeyed to Midian, setting the stage for the next chapter of his extraordinary life.
What's so compelling about this story? It's more than just an adventure tale. It speaks to Moses' character, his unwavering faith, even in the face of power and temptation. It highlights the complexities of leadership, the tension between loyalty and tradition, and the ever-present hand of God guiding events behind the scenes. And it gives us a glimpse into a part of Moses' life we rarely consider, a formative period that undoubtedly shaped him into the leader he was destined to become. It also shows us the complex relationship between the descendants of Noah's sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
The Zohar, a central text of Jewish mysticism, often emphasizes the hidden dimensions of even the most familiar stories. Perhaps this legend of Moses, the King of Ethiopia, reminds us that there's always more to the story, more to uncover, more to understand about the lives of our heroes. And perhaps, it invites us to consider how our own lives, even the seemingly ordinary moments, might be preparing us for something greater.