Focus on Moses and his Ethiopian wife Zipporah and discuss the Inspiration.
Book of Numbers 12:1 states that Moses was criticized by his older siblings for having married a "Cushite woman", Aethiopissa in the Latin Vulgate Bible version. One interpretation of this verse is that Moses' wife Zipporah, daughter of Reuel/Jethro from Midian, was black. Another interpretation is that Moses married more than once. Jordaens' view is unknown, and the painting has been exhibited under titles without the name Zipporah.: 248 Jordaens likely encountered the tale of Moses' wife in contemporary translations of the Bible and the writings of Josephus. Possibly he had also come into contact with the Jesuit Alonso de Sandoval's works on Africa. Contemporary artists who also included black women in their paintings probably inspired him too, such as Jan van den Hoecke's Sybil Agrippina.: 254, 274 Jordaens likely made the painting not on commission, but for himself or a close friend.: 247
Cushite woman Josephus Vulgate Cushite Book of Numbers Sybil Agrippina Moses Alonso de Sandoval Zipporah Midian Cushi Jan van den Hoecke Reuel/Jethro