Bihaalothecha: direction 

A vignette in this middle of this  parsha  opens a window into one of its major messages. 

וַיֹּ֣אמֶר מֹשֶׁ֗ה לְ֠חֹבָ֠ב בֶּן־רְעוּאֵ֣ל הַמִּדְיָנִי֮ חֹתֵ֣ן מֹשֶׁה֒ נֹסְעִ֣ים ׀ אֲנַ֗חְנוּ אֶל־הַמָּקוֹם֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר אָמַ֣ר יְ

And Moshe said to Ḥovav, the son of Re῾u᾽el, the Midyanite, Moshe’s father in law, We are journeying to the place of which the Lord said, I will give it you: come thou with us, and we will do thee good: for the Lord has spoken good concerning Yisra᾽el.

Hovav answers that he will not accompany the Israelites, but rather return to his people and home.  Moses continues the negotiation: 

וַיֹּ֕אמֶר אַל־נָ֖א תַּעֲזֹ֣ב אֹתָ֑נוּ כִּ֣י ׀ עַל־כֵּ֣ן יָדַ֗עְתָּ חֲנֹתֵ֙נוּ֙ בַּמִּדְבָּ֔ר וְהָיִ֥יתָ לָּ֖נוּ לְעֵינָֽיִם׃

He said, “Please do not leave us, inasmuch as you know where we should camp in the wilderness and can be our guide.

This offer of the role of guide comes after the completion of the first journey of the camp. The cloud over the sanctum was guiding the camp.  Gd, through the visible cloud, was giving the Israelites their direction.  Why  did Moses offer a superfluous task to Hovav?

The trivial answer is that Hovav, a native in this perilous wilderness, knew the pitfalls to be avoided. The cloud would write the script, but the actual steps would benefit from the knowledge of an indigenous person as the director. The cloud could hover over obstacles, the people needed to walk around them. 

We met Moshe's father in law, then called Yithro, soon after the Exodus. Yithro observed that Moshe was the sole lawgiver and understood that this situation could not endure. Yithro suggested a hierarchy of judges; and the idea was adopted by Gd and the people. Yithro saw a vulnerability and offered a solution. He acted as a guide and, by means of a detour, maintained the course.  Could this be the kind of guidance Moshe was seeking from Hovav?  The request was not for mere geographic guidance, but as a source of advice.

 (Incidentally(?) the off-loading of leadership responsibility  is reproduced in this parsha when Moshe is faced with the demands of the populace for meat, leading to the unfortunate story of the toxic quail.  Many commentators  ( Rashi, Ibn Ezra, etc) identify a foreign element in the camp as the originators of these demands. A committee of 70 elders is selected to share the burden of leadership with Moses) 

Input from outsiders is a key issue.  In the parsha  Hovav (the beloved) , son of Reuel ( the one who sees the great power [Gd]) is a  Midyanite. This character echoes Yithro, the Cohen of  Midyan. Which of them is the father of 

 הָאִשָּׁ֥ה הַכֻּשִׁ֖ית אֲשֶׁ֣ר לָקָ֑ח כִּֽי־אִשָּׁ֥ה כֻשִׁ֖ית לָקָֽח׃

the Cushite woman,

the woman that Miriam and Aaron speak of at the end of the parsha?

Her identification as Cushite makes her non-Israelite status clear. She is not called a Midyanite, so perhaps she is not the  previously identified wife. Cushite may be a descriptor  of her appearance, as translated by Onkelos ( shapirta, beautiful) and echoed by Rashi. I think it also works to identify this woman as foreign. 

Miriam is raising  issues that are  important to woman, and the alien nature of Moses' Cushite adds to her question. Are the edicts issued by Moshe concerning women colored by his involvement ( or lack thereof) with a foreigner?

Cush comes to mean Ethiopia, implying that this woman with Moshe was black. That adds to the irony o f Miriam's punishment. She is stricken with  tzoraath, a disease that turns the skin a startling white. 

Ultimately, the Israelites take their direction from Gd. Gd is not and Israelite. Gd is not even human. 

The beliefs and direction of Judaism have evolved. The commitment to Judaism often involves a global dedication to kindness and caring. These ideas had, until recently,  grown to near universal acceptance. Have they become foreign ideas?