References (11)
When the daughters came home to their father Reguel [which means "friend of God"; he is also called Jethro], he asked, "Why are you home so early today?"
Moses tended the sheep of his father-in-law Jethro (Hebr. Jitro), who was a priest in Midian. Once, he drove the sheep beyond the desert and came to God's (Elohim's) mountain Horeb (Hebr. Chorev) [another name for Mount Sinai].
[Moses is now 80 years old; he left Egypt at the age of 40 and has been tending his father-in-law's sheep ever since, see . Chorev shares its root with the word for dry/desolate (Hebr. charev), which indicates that the mountain and the area are desert. The word also shares its root with the word cherev, which means sword. This takes on a deeper meaning when we know that God's word is described as a sword () and it was on this mountain that God would later give them the teaching, the Torah, which is the fundamental part of God's word.]
Moses went home to his father-in-law Jethro (Hebr. Yitro) and said, "Let me go back to my brothers and sisters in Egypt, I want to see if they are still alive."
Jethro said to Moses, "Go in peace (be blessed)."
Now Jethro (Hebr. Jitro), the priest of Midian and Moses' father-in-law [], about all that God (Elohim) had done for Moses and for his people Israel, and how the Lord (Yahweh) had brought Israel out of Egypt (Hebr. Mitsrajim – 'the land of confinement').
Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, had taken care of Moses' wife Zipporah after Moses sent her away
So Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness where he had encamped on the mountain of God (Elohim).
He said to Moses [via a messenger]: "I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you, and your wife and her two sons." [In , it literally says "his sons" and "his wife," but here it says "her children"; see also . For them to be their children, both parents need to be involved in raising them.]
Jethro rejoiced (was very happy) over all the goodness that the Lord (Yahweh) had shown toward Israel, because he had delivered them from the hand of Egypt.
And Jethro said, "Blessed be the Lord (Yahweh) who has delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of Pharaoh, and has delivered the people from the hand of Egypt.
Then Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and sacrificed it to God (Elohim). Aaron also came, together with all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law before God (Elohim).
And Moses said to Hobab, the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses' father-in-law, "We are journeying to the place of which the Lord (Yahweh) has said, 'I will give it to you,' come with us and we will treat you well, for the Lord (Yahweh) has spoken well of Israel."
