Not just inconvenienced, but utterly, hopelessly stuck. Thrown into a pit, forgotten, left to rot. That's what happened to Moses, according to some fascinating threads in the tapestry of Jewish legend. And the surprising hero of this particular story? His future wife, Zipporah.
Now, we all know Moses as the great lawgiver, the one who led the Israelites out of Egypt. But before the burning bush, before the plagues, before any of that, he found himself in a very deep hole, literally. He'd angered Jethro (also known as Reuel), Zipporah's father, and the penalty was a dark, lonely confinement.
But Zipporah? She wasn't about to let him starve. For seven long years, she secretly brought Moses food and treats while he was imprisoned. Can you imagine the dedication? The sheer commitment to a man she barely knew?
After all that time, Zipporah approached her father with a clever idea. She reminded him of a similar incident – a man he’d thrown into the pit for a much lesser offense (fetching Jethro's rod from the garden!). "Father," she said, according to the Legends of the Jews, as retold by Louis Ginzberg, "I recall that once you cast a man into yonder pit for taking your rod, and you committed a great trespass thereby."
She then suggested they check on Moses. "If he's dead," she reasoned, "we should remove the body before it stinks up the place." A practical concern, of course. But if he was alive? That would be a sign. A sign that he was a tzaddik (צַדִּיק) – a truly righteous man. Otherwise, wouldn't he have succumbed to hunger and the elements?
Think about the implications of this. Zipporah wasn't just worried about basic human decency, although that was surely a factor. She was actively testing fate, or perhaps more accurately, testing God's will. She was giving her father—and maybe herself—an opportunity to recognize something extraordinary about Moses. This wasn’t just about freeing a prisoner; it was about acknowledging a destiny.
And what happened when they opened the pit? Well, that's another story for another time. But Zipporah's role in this early chapter of Moses' life is a reminder that even before the grand acts of leadership, quiet acts of kindness and courage can change the course of history.