Exodus 2:18

18 And when they had turned again to Jethro, their father, (the son of Reuel,) he said to them, Why came ye swifter than ye were wont (to do)?

Exodus 2:18 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 2:18

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.

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FOOTNOTES:

F19 Ut supra. (Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 27. p. 434.)

Exodus 2:18 In-Context

16 Forsooth seven daughters were to the priest of Midian, that came to draw water; and when the troughs were filled, they coveted to water their father's flocks. (Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters. One day, as Moses sat beside a well, they came to draw some water; and when the troughs were filled, they desired to water their father's flocks.)

17 (But some) Shepherds came upon them, and drove them away; and Moses rose (up), and defended the damsels; and (then) he watered their sheep.

18 And when they had turned again to Jethro, their father, (the son of Reuel,) he said to them, Why came ye swifter than ye were wont (to do)?

19 They answered, A man of Egypt delivered us from the hand of the shepherds; furthermore and he drew water with us, and gave drink to the sheep. (And they answered, An Egyptian man saved us from the hands of the shepherds; and then he drew water for us, and gave it to the sheep to drink.)

20 And he said, Where is that man? why left ye the man? call ye him, that he eat bread (call ye him, so that he can come and eat with us).