Exodus 2:18

World English Bible

Contextual Overview

¹⁶ Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters. They came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock. ¹⁷ The shepherds came and drove them away; but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock. ¹⁸ When they came to Reuel, their father, he said, "How is it that you have returned so early today?" ¹⁹ They said, "An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and moreover he drew water for us, and watered the flock." ²⁰ He said to his daughters, "Where is he? Why is it that you have left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread." ²¹ Moses was content to dwell with the man. He gave Moses Zipporah, his daughter. ²² She bore a son, and he named him Gershom, for he said, "I have been a sojourner in a foreign land."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Exodus 3:1, Exodus 4:18, Exodus 18:1-12, Jethro, or, Jether, Numbers 19:20, Raguel

Reciprocal: Genesis 36:4 - Reuel Numbers 10:29 - General Judges 4:11 - Hobab John 9:12 - Where

Cross-References

Genesis 1:31
God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. There was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

Genesis 2:7
Yahweh God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Genesis 2:9
Out of the ground Yahweh God made every tree to grow that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Genesis 2:11
The name of the first is Pishon: this is the one which flows through the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;

Genesis 2:12
and the gold of that land is good. There is aromatic resin and the onyx stone.

Genesis 2:13
The name of the second river is Gihon: the same river that flows through the whole land of Cush.

Genesis 3:12
The man said, "The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate."

Ruth 3:1
Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, My daughter, shall I not seek rest for you, that it may be well with you?

Proverbs 18:22
Whoever finds a wife finds a good thing, And obtains favor of Yahweh.

1 Corinthians 7:36
But if any man thinks that he is behaving inappropriately toward his virgin, if she is past the flower of her age, and if need so requires, let him do what he desires. He doesn't sin. Let them marry.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And when they came to Reuel their father,.... Or Ragouel, as the Septuagint; and so Artapanus s calls him. The Targum of Jonathan has it, their father's father; and so Aben Ezra says he was; and is the sense of others, induced thereto by Numbers 10:29, but it does not follow from thence: he said,

how is it that you are come so soon today? it being not only sooner than they were wont to come, but perhaps their business was done in so short a time; that it was marvellous to him that it could be done in it, so quick a dispatch had Moses made, and they through his assistance; and especially it might be more strange, if it was usual, as it seems it was, to be molested by the shepherds.

s Ut supra. (Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 27. p. 434.)

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Reuel - Or, as in Numbers 10:29, “Raguel.” The name means “friend of God.” It appears to have been not uncommon among Hebrews and Edomites; e. g. Genesis 36:4, Genesis 36:10. If Reuel be identified with Jethro, a point open to grave objection (see Exodus 3:1), then Reuel was his proper name, and Jether or Jethro, which means “excellency,” was his official designation.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Exodus 2:18. Reuel, their father — In Numbers 10:29 this person is called Raguel, but the Hebrew is the same in both places. The reason of this difference is that the ×¢ ain in רעואל is sometimes used merely as vowel, sometimes as g, ng, and gn, and this is occasioned by the difficulty of the sound, which scarcely any European organs can enunciate. As pronounced by the Arabs it strongly resembles the first effort made by the throat in gargling, or as Meninski says, Est vox vituli matrem vocantis, "It is like the sound made by a calf in seeking its dam." Raguel is the worst method of pronouncing it; Re-u-el, the first syllable strongly accented, is nearer to the true sound. A proper uniformity in pronouncing the same word wherever it may occur, either in the Old or New Testament, is greatly to be desired. The person in question appears to have several names. Here he is called Reuel; in Numbers 10:29, Raguel; in Exodus 3:1, Jethor; in Judges 4:11, Hobab; and in Judges 1:16 he is called קיני Keyni, which in Exodus 4:0 we translate Kenite. Some suppose that Re-u-el was father to Hobab, who was also called Jethro. This is the most likely; Exodus 3:1; Exodus 3:1.