And when they came to Reuel their father
Or Ragouel, as the Septuagint; and so Artapanus F19 calls him. The Targum of Jonathan has it, their father's father; and so Aben Ezra says he was; and is the sense of others, induced thereto by ( Numbers 10:29 ) , but it does not follow from thence: he said,
how is it that you are come so soon today?
it being not only sooner than they were wont to come, but perhaps their business was done in so short a time; that it was marvellous to him that it could be done in it, so quick a dispatch had Moses made, and they through his assistance; and especially it might be more strange, if it was usual, as it seems it was, to be molested by the shepherds.