Exodus 2:18

And when they came to Reuel their father,.... Or Ragouel, as the Septuagint; and so Artapanus (s) calls him.

Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters: and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock.

Their father; either, 1. Strictly, and then he is the same who elsewhere is called Jethro, Exodus 18$ oft times; and, as some think, Hobab, . Or, 2. Largely, i.e. their grandfather, for such are oft called fathers, as 16:2 18:3; so he was the father of Jethro, or Hobab, .

Exodus 2:18 And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, How [is it that] ye are come so soon to day?Ver. 18. To Reuel their father.] Indeed, their grandfather. Old men are usually about home, and can do little else but see to things, and advise.

Verse 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 ע 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 we translate Kenite. Some suppose that Re-u-el was father to Hobab, who was also called Jethro. This is the most likely; See Clarke on Exodus 3:1.

18. Reuel] Heb. ψςεΰμ, the ‘friend’ or ‘companion of God’ (Sayce, EHH. p. 163 ‘Shepherd of God’: but why should the name be Assyrian?). (AV. Raguel, where the g comes from the LXX., and is one of the many instances of ς being expressed in that version by g, as Gaza, Gomorrah, Gotholiah, &c.: see the writer’s Notes on Samuel, on 1 Samuel 16:20.) The name occurs also in Edom (Genesis 36:4; Genesis 36:10) and Israel (1 Chronicles 9:8). Here it occasions a difficulty. In Exodus 3:1, Exodus 4:18, and ch. 18, Moses’ father-in-law is called Jethro1[102]; in Numbers 10:29, Judges 4:11 (RVm.) he is called Hobab (RV. ‘brother-in-law,’ cf. Exodus 1:16, is a doubtful rend., adopted entirely from harmonistic motives): here, if Reuel is correct, he would have had a third name. Perhaps, however, the word here is a gloss, due to a misconception of Num 10:29 (so Ryssel in Di. al.): had the name been original, it would naturally have been given in v. 16 (where the ‘priest of Midian’ is first mentioned). Still, it is strange, if a name had to be found, that it was taken from the remote Numbers 10:29, rather than from Exodus 3:1. ‘Tradition,’ says Prof. Sayce (EHH. p. 163), ‘has handed down more than one name for the high-priest of Midian’; perhaps indeed, as Nielsen (Die altarab. Mondreligion u. die Mos. Ueberlief., 1904, p. 131) has suggested, the variation is due to the fact that, like many of the Sabaean kings, and some of the Sabaean priests (Mordtmann, Beitrδge zur Z. fόr Assyr. 1897, p. 75 f.), he had actually two names. There seem also to have been different traditions about his nationality; for Hobab,—whether he were really the same as Jethro, or Jethro’s son,—though he is a Midianite in Num_Exodus 10:29, is a Kenite in Judges 4:11 (cf. Exodus 1:16). [102] Or, in Exodus 4:18, Jether. The τ, or, as it might be vocalized, u, is doubtless the mark of the Arab. nomin., as in the numerous Arab. names (Zaidu, Sa‘du, etc.) of the Sinaitic inscriptions (p. 179) of 2–3d. cent. a.d.: cf. the Arabian Gashmu, Nehemiah 6:6 (called Geshem in Exodus 6:1-2). The name Yether (meaning apparently excellence) recurs as that of several Israelites. The corresponding Arab. form Watr (or Witr) occurs also several times in the Sabaean inscriptions of S. Arabia, both as a principal name (CIS. iv. Nos. 10, 70, 83), and as a cognomen (Nos. 1, 37; cf. pp. 22, 77); and Witru in CIS. 11. ii. 3156 (from Sinai), and RES. No. 53 (from Ḥ ?auran); οὔιθρος, Waddington, Inscr. Grecques de la Syrie, 2537 h.drew] actually drew: the Heb. idiom, by accentuating the fact, ‘expresses the surprise which they had felt at the kindness of his action’ (McNeile).

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.

18. Reu-El — Friend of God. The name implies that he worshipped the God of Abraham his father. Midian was the son of Abraham by Keturah. Genesis 25:2. On the relationship of Reuel, Jethro, and Hobab, see Concluding Note.