(1) Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman he had married: “He married a Cushite woman!” (2) They said, “Has the LORD spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us as well?” The LORD heard it. (3) Now Moses was a very humble man, more so than any other man on earth. (4) Suddenly the LORD called to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, “Come out, you three, to the Tent of Meeting.” So the three of them went out. (5) The LORD came down in a pillar of cloud, stopped at the entrance of the Tent, and called out, “Aaron and Miriam!” The two of them came forward; (6) and He said, “Hear these My words: When a prophet of the LORD arises among you, I make Myself known to him in a vision, I speak with him in a dream. (7) Not so with My servant Moses; he is trusted throughout My household. (8) With him I speak mouth to mouth, plainly and not in riddles, and he beholds the likeness of the LORD. How then did you not shrink from speaking against My servant Moses!” (9) Still incensed with them, the LORD departed. (10) As the cloud withdrew from the Tent, there was Miriam stricken with snow-white scales! When Aaron turned toward Miriam, he saw that she was stricken with scales. (11) And Aaron said to Moses, “O my lord, account not to us the sin which we committed in our folly. (12) Let her not be as one dead, who emerges from his mother’s womb with half his flesh eaten away.” (13) So Moses cried out to the LORD, saying, “O God, pray heal her!” (14) But the LORD said to Moses, “If her father spat in her face, would she not bear her shame for seven days? Let her be shut out of camp for seven days, and then let her be readmitted.” (15) So Miriam was shut out of camp seven days; and the people did not march on until Miriam was readmitted. (16) After that the people set out from Hazeroth and encamped in the wilderness of Paran.
When the elders were appointed, all of Israel lit candles and rejoiced because the seventy elders had risen to office. And when Miriam saw the candles she said,” Happy are these and happy are their wives!” Zipporah said to her: Do not say “Happy are their wives” but rather “Woe to their wives,” for since the day that God spoke to your brother Moses he has not had relations with me.” Immediately Miriam went out to Aaron and they deliberated the matter, as it says, “And Miriam and Aaron spoke about Moses concerning the woman (Num. 12:1)—about his separation from the woman . . . (Sifre Zuta 12:1) English
(21) Moses consented to stay with the man, and he gave Moses his daughter Zipporah as wife.
(ה) ותדבר מרים ואהרן במשה על אודות האשה הכושית אשר לקח, וכי כושית היתה, אלא מה כושי זה גופו משונה מכל הבריות כך צפורה משונה במעשיה הטובים, לפיכך נקראת כושית, שנ' כי אשה כושית לקח.
(5) "And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married" (Num. 12:1). Was she then a Cushite woman? Was she not Zipporah? But just as this Cushite is different as regards his body from all other people, so was Zipporah different from all other women by her words and by her good deeds; therefore was she called a Cushite, as it is said, "For he had married a Cushite woman" (ibid.).
Moses took himself a Cushite wife
In the white brightness of the desert
To focus on her out of the dust.
The people spoke about the Cushite woman
Who was a point to punctuate his ongoing verse
And against whose ankles the manna fluttered with its taste in the open
Moses did not speak about the Cushite woman
And the Cushite woman did not speak about herself
Surrounded by hills that had no frame
Next to a man white unto oblivion
She had no need for drink
And the sun blazing rhythmically on her back
Cast down from her the shadow of an almond branch
Rivkah Miriam