Numbers 10 Footnotes

Source critics suggest the dual names Reuel (Ex 2:18) and Jethro (Ex 3:1) are evidence of the combination of two pentateuchal traditions. Others suggest the reference to Hobab, whose name means “beloved friend,” is a later scribal insertion to give identity to a friend of Moses. Perhaps the patriarchal clan leader of this group of Midianites (called Kenites in Judges) was Reuel (“father,” [Ex 2:18] can also mean “grandfather”), while the actual father-in-law of Moses was Jethro. But Jethro and Reuel could well be the same person since dual names are often encountered in Bronze Age texts from Mesopotamia and the eastern Mediterranean region. The Hebrew choten can mean “brother-in-law” or “father-in-law” (Ex 3:1). The blessing of God is fulfilled for Hobab and his Kenite clan in Jdg 1:16.

Did Moses lack faith in the Lord’s ability to lead the people through this unfamiliar area? The text does not even hint at this possibility, focusing instead on Hobab as a potential recipient of the Israel’s covenant blessings. Moses was the interpreter of God’s direction, revealed through the cloud in the wilderness, but Hobab could provide valuable support in the desert setting native to the clans of the Midianites. The Lord was the provider of both forms of leadership.