Exodus 2:18 question

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Deacon_Joseph

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:confused: Does anyone know why Jethro is referred to as Reuel in Ex 2:18? Thanks for any help with this. 🙂
 
According the Navarre commentary it has to do with sacred traditions and the writer/writers of the Exodus not wanting to tamper with it…

in Numbers 10:29 he is called Hobab the son of Reuel
in Judges 1:16 and 4:11 he is not considered a midianite, he’s called Heber the Kenite

nothing more, it’s strange I think. It could be, my opinion, since there are Yawistic, Elohistic and priestly … “threads” throughout the pentatuech that the different traditions were held by different writers. Just a guess on my part.
 
GeorgeShook said:
According the Navarre commentary it has to do with sacred traditions and the writer/writers of the Exodus not wanting to tamper with it…

in Numbers 10:29 he is called Hobab the son of Reuel
in Judges 1:16 and 4:11 he is not considered a midianite, he’s called Heber the Kenite

nothing more, it’s strange I think. It could be, my opinion, since there are Yawistic, Elohistic and priestly … “threads” throughout the pentatuech that the different traditions were held by different writers. Just a guess on my part.
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The concept of “Yawistic, Elohistic and priestly” threads comes from the now-refuted Higher Criticism theory. Most scholars don’t believe in Higher Criticism anymore.

As for Numbers 10:29, where does it say that “Hobab” is “Jethro”? It just says “Hobab” is one of Moses’ relatives. Could be anybody.

As for Judges 1:16 and 4:11, again how is that connected to Jethro?

Finally, as for the original post, I would say Jethro is called Reuel because Reuel is a title, “friend of God”. Think of reading the text like this:
And when his daughters came to Jethro, the “friend of God”, their father, he said, How is it that you are coming so soon today?

Does this help?
 
Thanks. Yes, that does help. My commentary books said nothing on it. Thanks again for the the info. 😃
 
Deacon_Joseph said:
:confused: Does anyone know why Jethro is referred to as Reuel in Ex 2:18? Thanks for any help with this. 🙂
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D-R Bible, Haydock Commentary:

Ver. 18. Raguel. He had two names, being also called Jethro, as appears from the first verse of the following chapter. (Challoner) — He is also called Hobab and Ceni. (Numbers x. 2; Judges i. 16.) Perhaps Raguel was father of Jethro. (Drusius)
 
Glorthac said:
The concept of “Yawistic, Elohistic and priestly” threads comes from the now-refuted Higher Criticism theory. Most scholars don’t believe in Higher Criticism anymore.

As for Numbers 10:29, where does it say that “Hobab” is “Jethro”? It just says “Hobab” is one of Moses’ relatives. Could be anybody.

As for Judges 1:16 and 4:11, again how is that connected to Jethro?
Click to expand...
I think that sometimes the english translation of the navarre leaves a lot to be desired. Looking at NAB is indicates that Hobab is Moses’ brother-in-law(Numbers) and thus from the judges 4 passage means that hobab could be the Kenite Heber. In Judges 1 though it does reference Moses’ father-in-law. But hard to determine if he(Jethro) is being called a Kenite and it means his(Jethro’s) descendants or if he(Jethro) descends from a Kenite. Different translations. Makes all this fun, if you ask me. I do agree that Reuel could really be a title. Most important though is what the author is trying to convey, and i don’t think that the author is trying to make definite statements on genealogy 🙂
 
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