Cecil B. De Mille's The Ten Commandments Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Sephora (2)
Sephora
Race Midianite
Homeland Midian
Father Jethro
Spouse Moses
Children Gershom, Eliezer
Your eyes are sharp as they are beautiful!

Moses to Sephora

Sephora was a Midianite shepherd girl and the eldest daughter of Jethro, the sheik of Midian.[1] She was the second wife of Moses, and the mother of Gershom.[2][3] She was also a fervent believer of the God of Abraham, known to her people as "He who has no name."[4]

Biography[]

Marriage to Moses[]

Sephora and Moses beneath the Holy Mountain (2)

Sephora and Moses on the night of their wedding

Sephora was the most dutiful and stalwart of Jethro's seven daughters; her younger sisters regarded her as "the old one." While herding her father's sheep, she noticed a foreigner (Moses) sleeping among the bushes near her father's well; it seemed that he had eaten many dates. She informed her six younger sisters who rushed quickly to see the stranger and noted that his sandals, but not his robe, were Egyptian. Sephora then returned to the well to confront some Amalekites who were intruding and driving away the flock. When one of them threw her down, Moses woke up and attacked the them with his staff. Sephora told Jethro, her father, who rewarded Moses' kindness by giving him refuge in Midian and offering Sephora to teach him to become a shepherd.

After many days, Moses prospers and is well respected among the sheiks of Sinai. Jethro grants him the selection of one of his seven daughters for wife. Six of the daughters, excluding Sephora, dance for Moses as a ritual for the choosing of the bride. He chooses none, arguing that he still loves another woman and leaves the tent. He finds Sephora tending her duties and begins a convseration with her. She notices that his love for the other woman but points out the qualities and virtues of the women of her people, and gives the following speech:

Our hands are not so soft, but they can serve. Our bodies not so white, but they are strong. Our lips are not perfumed, but they speak the truth. Love is not an art to us. It's life to us. We are not dressed in gold and fine linen. Strength and honor are our clothing. Our tents are not the columned halls of Egypt, but our children play happily before them. We can offer you little... but we offer all we have.

Admiring her sincerity and virtue, Moses chooses Sephora as his bride. After five years, they have a son (Gershom) and live a tranquil life, herding sheep on the slopes of Mount Sinai. Sephora's sharp vision detects Joshua on the slopes who is brought down by Moses. Moses travels to the summit of Sinai after he sees a strange distant light on the mount. Moses comes down with the revalation of God to deliver his people, and with white streaks in his hair. Sephora quotes in astonishment, "Moses, your hair... your sandles."

Journey to Egypt[]

Sephora and Moses

Sephora and Moses shortly before their journey to Egypt

After this Sephora, Moses, Gershom, and Joshua journey to Egypt to deliver the Hebrew people. During Sephora's short stay in Egypt, she confronts Nefretiri, who in an act of apparent generosity, sends Gershom and her back in a camel caravan to Midian.

Behind the scenes[]

Yvonne De Carlo plays Sephora in Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments (1956).

References[]

  1. The Ten Commandments: "Well of Midian" (Chapter 23)
  2. The Ten Commandments: "Moses Chooses Sephora" (Chapter 26)
  3. The Ten Commandments: "A Man Among the Sheep" (Chapter 28)
  4. The Ten Commandments: "Mountain of God" (Chapter 24)
Advertisement