Exodus 2:21

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

content: Exodus 2:10, Genesis 31:38-40, Philippians 4:11, Philippians 4:12, 1 Timothy 6:6, Hebrews 11:25, Hebrews 13:5, James 1:10

Zipporah: Exodus 4:20-25, Exodus 18:2-6, Numbers 12:1

Reciprocal: Genesis 29:9 - Rachel Exodus 3:1 - his father Exodus 18:1 - Jethro

Cross-References

Genesis 15:12
When the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. Now terror and great darkness fell on him.

1 Samuel 26:12
So David took the spear and the jar of water from Saul's head; and they got them away: and no man saw it, nor knew it, neither did any awake; for they were all asleep, because a deep sleep from Yahweh was fallen on them.

Job 4:13
In thoughts from the visions of the night, When deep sleep falls on men,

Job 33:15
In a dream, in a vision of the night, When deep sleep falls on men, In slumbering on the bed;

Proverbs 19:15
Slothfulness casts into a deep sleep. The idle soul shall suffer hunger.

Daniel 8:18
Now as he was speaking with me, I fell into a deep sleep with my face toward the ground; but he touched me, and set me upright.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And Moses was content to dwell with the man,.... After he had been called and brought into the house, and had had some refreshment, and after some conversation had passed between them, and perhaps after some days' stay in Reuel's house; Reuel having observed his disposition and behaviour, and being delighted therewith, proposed to him to take up his residence with him, with which motion Moses was well pleased, and accepted of it:

and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter; to be his wife. It is not to be supposed that this was done directly; though both Philo u and Josephus w intimate as if it was done at first meeting together; but it is not likely that Reuel would dispose of his daughter so suddenly to a stranger, though he might at once entertain an high opinion of him; nor would Moses marry a woman directly he had so slender an acquaintance with, so little knowledge of her disposition, endowments of mind and religion. The Targum of Jonathan says it was at the end of ten years; and indeed forty years after this a son of his seems to have been young, having not till then been circumcised, Exodus 4:22. The author of the Life of Moses says x, that he was seventy seven years of age when he married Zipporah, which was but three years before he returned to Egypt. This circumstance of Moses's marrying Reuel's daughter is confirmed by Artapanus y an Heathen historian; and also by Demetrius z, and expressly calls her Sapphora, who he says was a daughter of Jother or Jethro; and likewise by Ezekiel the tragedian a.

u De Vita Mosis, l. 1. p. 611. w Antiqu. l. 2. c. 11. sect. 2. x Chronicon Mosis, fol. 9. 1. y Apud Euseb. Evangel. Praepar. l. 9. c. 27. p. 434. z Ib. c. 29. p. 439. a lb. c. 28.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Moses tells us nothing of what he may have learned from his father-in-law, but he must have found in him a man conversant with the traditions of the family of Abraham; nor is there any improbability in the supposition that, as hereditary priest, Reuel may have possessed written documents concerning their common ancestors.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Exodus 2:21. Zipporah his daughter. — Abul Farajius calls her "Saphura the black, daughter of Rewel the Midianite, the son of Dedan, the son of Abraham by his wife Keturah." The Targum calls her the granddaughter of Reuel. It appears that Moses obtained Zipporah something in the same way that Jacob obtained Rachel; namely, for the performance of certain services, probably keeping of sheep: see Exodus 3:1.