Moses' sons

[nina]

What happened to Moses' descendants?

"Yisro, the father-in-law of Moses, took Zipporah, the wife of Moses, after she had been sent away, and her two sons - of whom the name of one was Gershom, for he had said, 'I was a sojourner in a strange land.' And the name of the other was Eliezer, for 'the God of my father came to my aid, and He saved me from the sword of Pharaoh.'" (Exodus 18:2-4)."

Why would the descendants of Moses basically vanish from the records??

(OK, I know this could give way to jokes, and they are welcome but I'm really trying to know...)

[giantsdodie]

Well first question I would ask is who is the Bible about ?? Who is the central key figure in the Bible ?? How do Moses sons relate to this figure. Are Moses sons of any particular importance to the message the Bible is conveying? is the bible a book of genealogy that traces the ancestry of key figures or does it revolve around ONE key figure?

[nina]

Giants, I like to think - and believe - that I know the answer to your questions.
If mine was an idle one, I apologize.

[keita]

nina said:

"Yisro, the father-in-law of Moses, took Zipporah, the wife of Moses, after she had been sent away, and her two sons - of whom the name of one was Gershom, for he had said, 'I was a sojourner in a strange land.' And the name of the other was Eliezer, for 'the God of my father came to my aid, and He saved me from the sword of Pharaoh.'" (Exodus 18:2-4)."

giantsdodie said:

... Are Moses sons of any particular importance to the message the Bible is conveying?...

"ALL SCRIPTURE is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,..." (2Timothy 3:16)

[giantsdodie]

I dont think your question was idle nor was that the point I was making. The point is simply this. The main focus of scripture is the revelation of the person of God through Jesus Christ and His love for us and His plan for mankind.

The questions I asked are simply a process of thought that I often use when I read the Word of God or have particular questions. Any answer we could give in all honesty would be speculation because we have no biblical record of what happened to Moses sons. So the questions I posed which are questions I would ask myself would give me some clarity as to why there may be no written record of what transpired with Moses sons. SImply put they very well may have been of extremely minor importance in the overall revelation of the Word of God to us.

[nina]

"So the questions I posed which are questions I would ask myself would give me some clarity as to why there may be no written record of what transpired with Moses sons. SImply put they very well may have been of extremely minor importance in the overall revelation of the Word of God to us."

Thank you for taking the time to explain your approach

Regarding genealogies, they were kept, and they hold valuable information. Because of that, as tedious as some "begatitudes" may be, they are a reference, and not just in the natural.

The sons of Moses, as you mentioned, may have not been as important in the overall revelation of the Word of God to us. But, they may have been relevant to the word of God being passed on to us....

According to the Bible, Zipporah and her two sons, Gershom and Eliezer, went back with Jethro, and remained with him. Jethro was a Midianite, so was his daughter.

Jethro had a proeminent position among the assembly of Israel. He advised Moses on important issues.
When he left with his daughter and grand sons, it is reasonable to think that Moses' sons were raised as Midianites, or Keninites.

From there, I searched more about the Keninites, since it seems that they are the same. This is just some of the information:

-The Kenites or Kainites (in Hebrew, Kainim) were a tribe of the ancient Levant, possibly a branch of the Midianite nation. According to the Bible, they played an important role in the history of ancient Israel.

Old Testament

- The Kenites are mentioned as inhabiting the promised land of Canaan as early as the time of Abraham.

- At the Exodus the tribe inhabited the vicinity of Mount Sinai and Horeb. Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses was a Kenite; elsewhere, however, Jethro is said to have been "priest of Midian" and a Midianite, leading many scholars to believe that the terms are intended (at least in parts of the Bible) to be used interchangeably, or that the Kenites formed a part of the Midianite tribal grouping. The Kenites journeyed with the Israelites to Canaan; and their encampment, apart from the latter's, was noticed by Balaam.

- At a later period some of the Kenites separated from their brethren in the south, and went to northern Canaan, where they existed in the time of King Saul. The kindness which they had shown to Israel in the wilderness was gratefully remembered. "Ye showed kindness to all the children of Israel, when they came up out of Egypt," said Saul to them[8]; and so not only were they spared by him, but David allowed them to share in the spoil that he took from the Amalekites.

- Other well-known Kenites were Heber, the husband of Jael, and Rechab, the ancestor of the Rechabites.

- According to the critical interpretation of the Biblical data, the Kenites were a clan settled on the southern border of Judah, originally more advanced in arts than the Hebrews, and from whom the latter learned much. In the time of David the Kenites were finally incorporated into the tribe of Judah.
- Jethro, priest of Midian, and father-in-law of Moses, is said to have been a Kenite. This indicates that the Kenites originally formed part of the Midianite tribe or tribes.

- The Kenites, then, were a nomadic tribe, more advanced in the arts of life than Israel. Their habitat, according to the first Biblical reference to them, was in the Sinaitic peninsula (unless Horeb is to be sought in Edom), and a part of them, viz., Jethro and his family (Num. x. 29-32; Judges l.c.), migrated with the Israelites to the neighborhood of Jericho, afterward settled in the south of Judah, and were finally absorbed by that tribe.

1 Chronicles 2:55

- Since the compiler of Chronicles was obviously a scribe, he was interested in tracing, if only briefly, various families of the scribes. These families are otherwise unknown, as is Jabez, the place they lived.
They were Kenites, a people related to Israel through Moses' marriage to a Kenite, sometimes referred to as a Midianite (Judg. 4:11).

- Naming the Kenite scribes here suggests that they were descended from Judah, since the whole context of the passage is the genealogy of Judah.
The genealogy also connects them with Rechab, the saintly founder of a line of pious Israelites who obeyed the commands of their fathers (Jer. 35:1-19).

I agree that the Bible revolves around one key figure.
Genealogies play a part in that too.

New Testament

Matthew 1:1 "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham."

Matthew 1:2 "Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren;"
Matthew 1:3 "And Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar; and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram;"

Matthew 1:4 "And Aram begat Aminadab; and Aminadab begat Naasson; and Naasson begat Salmon;"

Matthew 1:5 "And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse;"

Matthew 1:6 "And Jesse begat David the king; and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias;"

Matthew 1:7 "And Solomon begat Roboam; and Roboam begat Abia; and Abia begat Asa;"

Matthew 1:8 "And Asa begat Josaphat; and Josaphat begat Joram; and Joram begat Ozias;"

Matthew 1:9 "And Ozias begat Joatham; and Joatham begat Achaz; and Achaz begat Ezekias;"

Matthew 1:10 "And Ezekias begat Manasses; and Manasses begat Amon; and Amon begat Josias;"

Matthew 1:11 "And Josias begat Jechonias and his brethern, about the time they were carried away to Babylon:"

Matthew 1:12 "And after they were brought to Babylon, Jechonias begat Salathiel; and Salathiel begat Zorobabel;"

Matthew 1:13 "And Zorobabel begat Abiud; and Abiud begat Eliakim; and Eliakim begat Azor;"

Matthew 1:14 "And Azor begat Sadoc; and Sadoc begat Achim; and Achim begat Eliud;"

Matthew 1:15 "And Eliud begat Eleazar; and Eleazar begat Matthan; and Matthan begat Jacob;"

Matthew 1:16 "And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, Who is called Christ.

This is the genealogy of Joseph, the husband of Mary.This blood line is the adopted lineage of Jesus Christ, through His adopted father Joseph.

Mary's genealogy:

Luke 1:5 "There was in the days of Herod, the King of Judeas , a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth."

Elisabeth had to be a full blood daughter of Aaron to be a priest's wife, this is to say, a full blood Levite.

Luke 1:36; "And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren."

If Elisabeth is a full blood Levite, and Mary is her cousin, then Mary is also of the blood line of Aaron.

We know that Mary and Joseph were married.

In Luke 3:23; "And Jesus Himself begin to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the Son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli,"

'The phrase, "as was supposed", should read, "as reckoned by law", or in another way to put it, "to lay it down by law".
If you are married, then your spouses mother is your mother in law.

This genealogy given in the next fifteen verses is Mary's genealogy:

Luke 3:23-38 Genealogy of Jesus Christ

23Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry. He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph,
the son of Heli,

24the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melki,
the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph,

25the son of Mattathias, the son of Amos,
the son of Nahum, the son of Esli, the son of Naggai,

26the son of Maath, the son of Mattathias, the son of Semein,
the son of Josech, the son of Joda,

27the son of Joanan, the son of Rhesa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the son of Neri,

28the son of Melki, the son of Addi, the son of Cosam,
the son of Elmadam, the son of Er,

29the son of Joshua, the son of Eliezer, the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi,

30the son of Simeon, the son of Judah, the son of Joseph,
the son of Jonam, the son of Eliakim,

31the son of Melea, the son of Menna, the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David,

32the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz,
the son of Salmon, the son of Nahshon,

33the son of Amminadab, the son of Ram,the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah,

34the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham,
the son of Terah, the son of Nahor,

35the son of Serug, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Eber, the son of Shelah, 36the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech,

37the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalalel, the son of Kenan, 38the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.

Footnotes:
Luke 3:32 Some early manuscripts Sala
Luke 3:33 Some manuscripts Amminadab, the son of Admin, the son of Arni; other manuscripts vary widely.

'There is one point that should be pointed out, because there is an error made by an Kenite scribe, and that error is because Cainan simply does not exist here in the Massorah text, Cainan was Ham's son that was cursed by Noah. In Genesis 11:13 we read, "And Arphaxad lived after he begat Salah four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters."

- This was the custom that if there were no sons born to a family, then the lineage would be passed on to the daughters husband, in that marriage, as by law.
Therefore Joseph took on the genealogy of Mary. Then through Joseph the seed, or genealogy would continue; the seed of the family.

- We don't see any "begats" because this is Joseph's lineage by his legal wife, it is his wife Mary's lineage. This lineage is by law, and not by conception through the marriage.
This bloodline is through the tribe of Judah.

Mary's father was of the tribe of Judah, and he married a Levite, therefore Mary was from both the tribe of Levi, and Judah.

So we see that Jesus was of both houses, that is to say the King line, and also of the Levitical priest line of Aaron.'

This may not be news to any. However, from Moses, a Levite, who received the Law and wrote several books of the Bible, to the Kenites scribes, his descendants, recording the scriptures, including the genealogies, being eventually integrated to the tribe of Judah and beyond...

All of it does tie into Him and nothing can be neglected, not even genealogies because they too speak of Him.

[giantsdodie]

Nina I did not say or convey that geneologies are of no imortance, nor did I say they should be neglected. Obviously the Bible lists various geneologies. What i did was in regards to Moses sons is that we have to ask that question within the light of how important is it to the overall revelation of scripture. We have no information on Moses' sons so anything we present is not scripture and therefore may not be accurate or truth. Moses's sons very well may have had nothing whatsoever to do with the Word of God being passed down to us. The Bible doesnt records anything of significant importance of their lives, so anything while it may be information might be pure speculation or conjecture.

What I said regarding geneologies is that the Bible is not a BOOK of geneologies. The Bible is not going to trace the lineage of every character and their sons and children. God choose SPECIFIC person and geneologies to reveal things through. These things YES we must read and come to understand why it was writtena and what GOD is trying to reveal to us.

However that which is not written, in many cases leads to conjecture and unfortunately sometimes flat out error.

[nina]

I understand what you say about the Bible not being a book of genealogies. And I do appreciate your conclusion, and being in error or inducing error.
However, and it may be digressing a little, at times when we are actually tempted to throw the towel in, for ourself or someone else, those genealogies can be enlightening. They take twists and turns that only God himself was able to negotiate and control, ordained in His divine wisdom for the fulfilment of His purpose, until a child was born in Bethlehem...
He is an awesome God

[krazeeboi]

Nina, that's some good info; thanks for sharing. I believe that many times, those things that pique our interest and that may not be readily apparent in the Bible aren't indicative of it not being important to the overall picture, but represents the fact that sometimes we've really got to roll up our sleeves and do some work to get to the bottom of some stuff.

I love taking the critical approach to scripture; you learn so much that way.