John Gill Commentary Exodus 18

When Jethro the priest of Midian, Moses's father-in-law
The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan call him the prince of Midian, and so the word ^F5 is rendered in some versions; whose daughter Moses had married, and so was his father-in-law, of which see more in (Exodus 2:16–21) .

heard of all that God had done for Moses, and for Israel his people ;
the miracles he had wrought for them in Egypt, the dividing of the Red sea to make a way for them, the destruction of the Egyptians, providing them with bread and water in such a miraculous manner in the wilderness, and giving them victory over Amalek, and appearing always at the head of them in a pillar of cloud and fire:

[and] that the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt :
which was the greatest blessing of all, and for the sake of which so many wonderful things had been done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians. And now Midian being near to Egypt, it is not to be wondered at that Jethro should hear of these things, the fame of which went through all the countries round about, see (Exodus 15:14Exodus 15:15) , though it is not improbable that Moses might send messengers to Midian to acquaint his father-in-law, his wife, and sons, of what the Lord had done for him, and by him.

FOOTNOTES:

• F5: (zhk) "praeses", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.

Then Jethro, Moses's father-in-law, took Zipporah, Moses's
wife
When he had heard of the above things, he determined to pay Moses a visit, and congratulate him on that account; and he took his daughter, the wife of Moses, along with him, to deliver her to her husband, to share with him in his cares and troubles; as to partake with him of his honours and dignity, so to bear part with him in his burdens, so far as she was capable of:

after he had sent her back :
upon his call and mission to Egypt, he took his wife and children with him; but upon an affair which occurred in the inn by the way, he sent them back again to his father-in-law, where they had remained ever since, see (Exodus 4:24Exodus 4:25) .

Jarchi says this was done at meeting with Aaron his brother, (Exodus 4:27) , and relates a conversation between them upon it. As that Aaron should say to him, who are these? to which he replied, this is my wife, I married her in Midian, and these are my sons: he further said to him, and where are you carrying them? he replied, to Egypt; says he, by reason of those who are before there, we are in straits, and you will add unto them; upon which he said to his wife, go back to your father's house, and she took her sons and went thither.

Kimchi ^F6 observes, that some render the words "after her gifts"; whose sense, according to Aben Ezra, is, after she had sent gifts to her husband; but others more probably interpret it of gifts sent by him to her to engage his father-in-law to let her come to him, as well as to prevail upon her to come; perhaps it may be better rendered, "after her messenger"; that is, either after the messenger sent to her by Moses, to acquaint her and her father of what had been done for him, or after the messenger she sent to him, to let him know that she intended shortly to be with him.

Though perhaps, after all, nearer to our version and others, it may be rendered, "after her dismissions" ^F7 ; the dismission or sending away of her and her sons, as before related; for this is by no means to be interpreted of a divorce of her; after which she was brought again to her husband; for there is no reason to believe that ever anything of that kind had passed, as some have thought ^F8 :

The plain case seems to be this, that Moses finding his family would be exposed to danger, or would be too great an incumbrance upon him in the discharge of his great work he had to do in Egypt, sent them back to his father-in-law until a fit opportunity should offer of their coming to him, as now did.

FOOTNOTES:

• F6: Sepher Shorash. rad. (xlv) "post dona vel donationes ejus"; so some in Vatablus and Drusius.
• F7: (hyxwlv rha) "post dimissiones ejus", Pagninus, Montanus, Drusius.
• F8: Vid. Selden. Uxor. Hebr. p. 629.

And her two sons
Those also Jethro took along with him and his daughter:

of which the name of the one was Gershom ;
which seems to be his firstborn, (Exodus 2:22) , his name signifies a desolate stranger, as some, or, "there I was a stranger": the reason of which name follows agreeably thereunto:

for he said, I have been an alien in a strange land ;
meaning, not the land of Egypt, where he was born, and had lived forty years; but in the land of Midian, where he was when this son of his was born; and which name was given him partly to keep up the memory of his flight to Midian, and partly to instruct his son, that Midian, though his native place, was not his proper country where he was to dwell, but another, even the land of Canaan.

And the name of the other was Eliezer
Who seems to be his second son, and was that which was circumcised by Zipporah at the inn, and about which there was such a stir, (Exodus 4:24–26) , and signifies "my God [is] help", or, his helper:

for the God of my father, [said he], was mine help, and delivered me
from the sword of Pharaoh ;
who, on hearing that Moses had killed an Egyptian, was wroth with him, and sought to slay him; and perhaps drew his sword for that purpose, but was prevented: however, this, in all human probability, would have been the case, that he would have fallen by his sword either in a private or public manner, had it not been for the interposition of divine Providence, and therefore he gave this name to his child, to be a standing memorial of it.

And Jethro, Moses's father in law
This is the third time he is so called in the chapter already, and many more times besides after in it; the reason of which seems to be, either to distinguish him from another of the same name, or to do him honour, that he should be in such a relation to so great and distinguished a man as Moses now was:

came with his sons and his wife unto Moses into the wilderness ;
not with his own sons and wife, but with the sons and wife of Moses; Zipporah and her sons, as before related; with those he came into the wilderness of Arabia, where Moses now was, and which was not at a great distance from Midian, since about the same spot Moses, when he dwelt there, had, and fed the flock of his father-in-law, (Exodus 3:1) , that part of the land of Midian where Jethro lived lay somewhere eastward of Mount Sinai, and was probably situated where Sharme now stands; which, according to Dr. Pocock ^F9 , is about a day and a half's journey from Mount Sinai, from where the monks of Mount Sinai are chiefly supplied with fish ^F11 : it follows: where he encamped at the mount of God: at Horeb, where the Lord had appeared to Moses; and so the Targum of Jonathan adds,

``where the glory of the Lord was revealed to Moses at the beginning;'' and where, afterwards, the Lord, appeared again, and gave the law, and therefore is called the Mount of God; the one as well as the other being past when Moses wrote this book, and called the mountain by this name: it is matter of question at what time Jethro came hither, whether before or after the giving of the law: it seems, by the order in which this story is here placed, as if it was immediately after the battle with Amalek; and Saadiah Gaon is of opinion it was before the giving of the law; and one would think it most reasonable and natural that Jethro would take the first opportunity of visiting Moses, and that Moses would not long defer sending for his wife and children: but Aben Ezra thinks he did not come till the second year after the tabernacle was set up, since, in the context, mention is made of burnt offerings and sacrifices, and no account is given of a new altar built by Moses; and besides, he says, "I do make them know the statutes of God and his laws", (Exodus 18:16) , and it is certain from hence, that the children of Israel were removed from Rephidim, and were now encamped at the mount of God, at Horeb; but whether they had got to the other side of the mount of Sinai as yet is not so clear; though it looks as if what Moses did, by the advice of Jethro, was after the law was given on Sinai, see (Deuteronomy 1:6–16) so that, upon the whole, it seems as if this account, according to the order of time, should be placed after (Numbers 10:28) , or, as Dr. Lightfoot ^F12 thinks, between the tenth and eleventh verses of that chapter, and is put here to show that though Midian was near Amalek, as he observes, yet Jethro was exempt from the curse and destruction threatened to that, see (1 Samuel 15:6) .

FOOTNOTES:

• F9: Travels, p. 137.
• F11: See the Bishop of Clogher's Chronology of the Hebrew Bible, p. 214.
• F12: Works, vol. 1. p. 710, 711.