And Moses went and returned to Jethro his father in
law
With his flock of sheep he kept, ( Exodus 3:1 ) : and said
unto him, let me go, I pray thee, and return to my brethren
which are in Egypt;
the Israelites, who were so by nation and religion; as Jethro had
been kind and beneficent to him, he did not choose to leave him
without his knowledge and consent, and especially to take away
his wife and children without it: and see whether they be
yet alive;
it seems by this that Moses had heard nothing of them during the
forty years he lived in Midian, which may be thought strange,
since it was not very far from Egypt; and besides the Midianites
traded in Egypt, as we learn from ( Genesis
37:28 Genesis
37:36 ) but this must be ascribed to the providence of God,
that so ordered it, that there should be no intercourse between
him and his brethren, that so no step might be taken by them for
their deliverance until the set time was come. Moses did not
acquaint his father-in-law with the principal reason of his
request, nor of his chief end in going into Egypt, which it might
not be proper to acquaint him with, he being of another nation,
though a good man; and lest he should use any arguments to
dissuade Moses from going, who now having got clear of his
diffidence and distrust, was determined upon it: though some
ascribe this to his modesty in not telling Jethro of the glorious
and wonderful appearance of God to him, and of the honour he had
conferred on him to be the deliverer and governor of the people
of Israel: and Jethro said to Moses, go in
peace;
he judged his request reasonable, and gave his full consent to
it, and wished him health and prosperity in his journey.