Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah
Ibn Ezra on Exodus 2:22/אבן עזרא על שמות ב׳:כ״ב
אותלד. כי אמר, משה, וזאת צפורה היא האשה הכושית אשר אמר, ואשר כתוב בדברי הימים דמשה אל תאמין, וכלל אומר לך כל ספר שלא כתבוהו נביאים או חכמים מפי הקבלה אין לסמוך עליו, ואף כי יש בו דברים שמכחישים הדעת הנכונה וככה ספר זרובבל, וגם ס' אלדד הדני והדומה להם:
1AND SHE BORE A SON, AND HE CALLED HIS NAME GERSHOM; FOR HE SAID. He refers to Moses. Zipporah is the Cushite woman of whom Scripture later speaks.161 Do not believe what is written in the book called The History of Moses.162, chap. 8. I.E. makes this point here because it is recorded in The History of Moses that Moses was a king in the land of Cush and that there he married a Cushite queen. The latter contradicts I.E.’s opinion that Zipporah and the Cushite are one and the same person. I will give you a general rule: We should not rely on any book not written by prophets or by the sages who transcribed traditions passed on to them. We definitely should not rely on these books163 when they contradict reason. The same applies to The Book of Zeruhbabel, The Book of Eldad Ha-dani,164, chap. 8. and similar compositions.