Why is jethro and reuel

It is difficult to explain the different names given for Moses' father-in-law if we assume, according to tradition, that Moses was the author of the Book of Exodus. This is resolved within the Documentary Hypothesis , which attributes Exodus to multiple authors.

As originally proposed by Wellhausen, the Documentary Hypothesis is no longer accepted by the majority of biblical scholars as definitive but, with the identification and correction of the methodological problems that plagued earlier scholarship, it is regaining its place as a viable, productive and current approach to the Pentateuch. According to this hypothesis, the J Yahwist source referred to Moses' father-in-law as Reuel or Hobab, whereas the E Elohist source referred to Moses' father-in-law as Jethro.

The Documentary Hypothesis does much to explain the existence of two or more different names for Moses' father-in-law, but which is historically correct? The answer to this question ultimately depends on whether Moses was a real, historical person. In turn, the answer to this can be based on whether the stories written about him can be regarded as historically true, and the strong consensus of scholars is that there was no Exodus from Egypt as described in the Bible.

Carol A. Redmount says, in 'Bitter lives',published in The Oxford History of the Biblical World , page 63, the biblical Exodus account was never intended to function or to be understood as history in the present-day sense of the word. If the Exodus never really occurred as described in the Bible, then there was no biblical Moses and therefore no father-in-law. The question of what the father-in-law's name was becomes unanswerable.

Now Heber the Kenite had separated from the Kenites, the descendants of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent as far away as the oak in Zaanannim, which is near Kedesh.

ESV translation. Thus, Reuel is not the father in law of Moses, but the grandfather in law of Moses. Why then does Exodus refer to the father of the girls Moses met which included his future wife, Zipporah as Reuel, if he was actually their grandfather?

One suggestion offered by the ancient rabbis in their midrashic commentary Sifrei to Numbers is that in accordance with Numbers and Judges Reuel was the grandfather, but is referred to as the father because it is common for children to refer to their grandfather as father.

While this resolves the contradiction of Reuel vs Jethro, it leaves us with the same question of Hobab vs Jethro. Though the question here did not ask about this, the same rabbinic commentary suggests that Hobab and Jethro were two names for the same person in fact, according to one rabbi there, Reuel too is just another name for the same person.

They are the same person. Reuel may have been his personal name whereas Jethro could have been his title. At this Moses got up and helped the women and watered their flock. I believe The Lord has made clear His word from the start. When we try to attribute human reason with diety we will always fall short, as well as applying our current cultural systems with that of historical systems and cultures.

I don't know how old or where you all are from, but in my 40 years on the Earth in the USA, I have watched American History books be rewritten. My daughter has learned that there are fewer planets than I did, the accounts of American slavery have been altered, presidential monuments are being removed, what was a symbol of promise by God upon the Earth has now been reassigned to represent that which He deems an abomination.

So in my 40 years, I've witnessed, in my own country a rearranging of the past years of "his-tory". That does not include the difference of history of these yrs in America taken from the vantage of European, Indian, Chinese, etc cultures. The typical person does not truly care about the cultural history beyond their own bubble. I digress. My opinion and belief are to use what He defined as His word that would never fade.

All of the aforementioned statements, I'd add: the Pharisees told Jesus directly, "Abraham not Abram, his name before God changed his name is our father" well, I believe you know where I'm going with this, but I'll continue. Did they live how many years after the death of Abraham? They did not even default to Jacob, the one closest to them. I am confident the only reason for the mentions of Horeb, Jethro, Reuel is the relation of the bloodline for the sake of proving fulfillment of the prophecies.

The name is not of significance beyond the blood attached to it. In the former passage, Moses asked Hobab to act as a guide for the Israelites through the wilderness. His final reply is not given there, but from Judges it would seem that he allowed himself to be persuaded. Another difficulty lies in the fact that the Pentateuch describes Moses' father-in-law as a Midianite, whereas he is elsewhere termed a Kenite Judg.

Varying solutions have been suggested to account for the conflicting data for traditional account see below. Some modern scholars assign Hobab to the J source and Jethro to the E document. Others take Jethro and Reuel to be one and the same person and regard Hobab as the son, a solution that requires the emendation of Judges In the opinion of W.

Albright, the Jethro-Reuel-Hobab traditions are quite homogeneous. The roles of Jethro and Hobab are so different as to preclude identity. The former is an old man who already had seven grown daughters when Moses arrived in Midian and who gave Moses in the wilderness the kind of advice that could only be the product of mature wisdom.

Hobab is a young, vigorous man who could withstand the rigors of acting as a guide in the wilderness wanderings. Reuel is the name of the clan to which both Jethro and Hobab belonged cf. But the solution appears contrived, and it is probably wisest to assume a conflation of different traditions. Beginning with the hint that Jethro was a priest, some scholars have credited the Midianites with introducing the god YHWH to the Hebrews, a theory known as the Midianite or Kenite hypothesis see van der Toorn.

These scholars note Jethro's blessing of YHWH in Exodus and his provision of sacrifices and his participation in the cultic meal "before God" Ex. While this is intriguing, the exact role of Jethro in the development of Israelite religion cannot be determined, in the absence of any data about the nature of the religion of Midian. The attribution of the organization of the judicial system in Israel to the advice of a Midianite priest is itself, however, eloquent testimony to the antiquity and reliability of the Exodus tradition.

Significantly, the account in Deuteronomy —17 completely obscures the role of Jethro. In like manner, —12, 16—18, 24—30 omits mention of Jethro in the judicial reform, attributing it to YHWH 's response to a complaint by Moses. And at the end of the story, Moses returns to Yeter his father-in-law to ask his leave to return to Egypt ! Later in the Torah, when the Children of Israel are in the desert, we find Moses asking his father in law, Hobab the son of Reuel, not to leave them but to accompany them to the Land of Israel Numbers And finally, Judges contains a reference to the children of Keni the father-in-law of Moses!

So will the real Jethro please stand up! That name appears 9 times in the Torah, far more than all the others, and it is the only name used for him when he first visits Moses in the desert shortly after the Exodus see Exodus Yeter itself is too a variation of it, just missing the final letter as minor variations of Hebrew names often appear in the Torah.

Even with all the above, Jethro clearly had several names. In that case, Jethro was quite literally a multi-faceted personality. And this follows when we examine the type of person he was. According to the Sages Mechilta , Jethro tried out literally every type of idolatry in the world in his quest to discover the truth. After a long, comprehensive search, he at last arrived at the belief in a single, all-powerful God and ultimately he and his family converted and joined the Jewish people.

Clearly, anyone who is so thorough and exhaustive in his quest for wisdom is a very committed and principled person. Everything such a person undertakes he would do thoroughly and conscientiously, fully identifying himself with his actions. Thus, Jethro became identified with his good deeds — to the extent that he could be named according to them, and they reflected on his essence. Password Assistance. Email address. Share Tweet Save. Jethlah Jetur. But while it is possible that chothen may be used in the wider sense of a wife's relative, it is nowhere translated "brother-in-law" except in Judges ; "father-in-law," the King James Version, the Revised Version margin.

If we insert, as Ewald suggests HI, II, 25 , "Jethro son of" before "Reuel" in Exodus compare the Septuagint, verse 16, where the name "Jethro" is given , we would then identify Jethro with Hobab, the son of Reuel, in Numbers , taking "Moses' father-in-law" to refer back to Hobab.

Against this identification, however, it is stated that Jethro went away into his own country without any effort on the part of Moses to detain him Exodus , whereas Hobab, though at first he refused to remain with the Israelites, seems to have yielded to the pleadings of Moses to become their guide to Canaan Numbers ; Judges , where Kittel reads "Hobab the Kenite"; Judges It may be noted that while the father-in-law of Moses is spoken of as a "Midianite" in Exodus, he is called a"Kenite" in Judges ; His Hearty Reception of Moses: When Moses fled from Egypt he found refuge in Midian, where he received a hearty welcome into the household of Jethro on account of the courtesy and kindness he had shown to the priest's 7 daughters in helping them to water their flock.