Jethro
Encyclopedia
In the Old Testament
Old Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...

 or the Hebrew Bible
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...

, Jethro (icon; , Standard Yitro Tiberian
Tiberian vocalization
The Tiberian vocalization is a system of diacritics devised by the Masoretes to add to the consonantal Masoretic text of the Hebrew Bible; this system soon became used to vocalize other texts as well...

 ; "His Excellence/Posterity" ; Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

  Shu-ayb) is Moses
Moses
Moses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed...

' father-in-law, a Kenite
Kenite
Kenites or Cinites , according to the Hebrew Bible, were a nomadic clan in the ancient Levant, sent under Jethro a priest in the land of Midian. They played an important role in the history of ancient Israel. The Kenites were coppersmiths and metalworkers. Moses' father-in-law, Jethro, was a...

 shepherd and priest of Midian
Midian
Midian , Madyan , or Madiam is a geographical place and a people mentioned in the Bible and in the Qur'an. It is believed to be in northwest Saudi Arabia on the east shore of the Gulf of Aqaba and the northern Red Sea...

. He is also revered as a prophet in his own right in the Druze
Druze
The Druze are an esoteric, monotheistic religious community, found primarily in Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan, which emerged during the 11th century from Ismailism. The Druze have an eclectic set of beliefs that incorporate several elements from Abrahamic religions, Gnosticism, Neoplatonism...

 religion, and considered an ancestor of the Druze.

In Exodus

Jethro is called a priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...

 of Midian
Midian
Midian , Madyan , or Madiam is a geographical place and a people mentioned in the Bible and in the Qur'an. It is believed to be in northwest Saudi Arabia on the east shore of the Gulf of Aqaba and the northern Red Sea...

 and became father-in-law of Moses
Moses
Moses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed...

 after he gave his daughter, Zipporah
Zipporah
Zipporah or Tzipora is mentioned in the Book of Exodus as the wife of Moses, and the daughter of Reuel/Jethro, the priest or prince of Midian...

, in marriage to Moses. He is introduced in .

Jethro is recorded as living in Midian; a territory stretching along the eastern edge of the Gulf of Aqaba
Gulf of Aqaba
The Gulf of Aqaba is a large gulf located at the northern tip of the Red Sea. In pre twentieth-century and modern sources it is often named the Gulf of Eilat, as Eilat is its predominant Israeli city ....

 in what is today, northwestern Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...

. Some believe Midian is within the Sinai Peninsula
Sinai Peninsula
The Sinai Peninsula or Sinai is a triangular peninsula in Egypt about in area. It is situated between the Mediterranean Sea to the north, and the Red Sea to the south, and is the only part of Egyptian territory located in Asia as opposed to Africa, effectively serving as a land bridge between two...

. Biblical maps from antiquity show Midian on both locations.

Jethro's daughter, Zipporah, became Moses's wife after Moses had fled Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

, after he killed an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew
Hebrews
Hebrews is an ethnonym used in the Hebrew Bible...

 slave
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...

. Moses is said to have worked as a shepherd
Shepherd
A shepherd is a person who tends, feeds or guards flocks of sheep.- Origins :Shepherding is one of the oldest occupations, beginning some 6,000 years ago in Asia Minor. Sheep were kept for their milk, meat and especially their wool...

 for Jethro for 40 years before returning to Egypt to lead the Hebrews to Canaan
Canaan
Canaan is a historical region roughly corresponding to modern-day Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, and the western parts of Jordan...

, the "promised land". After Moses had begun to lead the Israelites on their Exodus, it was Jethro that encouraged Moses to appoint others to share in the burden of ministry to the nation Israel by allowing others to help in the judgment of smaller matters coming before him. This takes place in the Torah portion Yitro
Yitro (parsha)
Yitro, Yithro, or Yisro is the seventeenth weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the fifth in the book of Exodus...

 (Exodus 18:1-20:23).

Names

There is a controversy about this father-in-law of Moses and whether or not the Bible contradicts itself in regard to his name(s). In the KJV version of , a man named Hobab appears as Moses' father-in-law, while makes him "the son of Raguel [Reuel] the Midianite, Moses' father in law".
One thing to consider is that there is only one Biblical Hebrew word for both "brother-in-law" and "father-in-law" (chathan) . It is, in fact, the word for any and all relations by marriage. If one takes into account the Biblical custom of multiple names for one person as well as calling Hobab Reuel's son, Reuel and Jethro both appear as Moses' father-in-law, while Hobab must be seen as his brother-in-law.
There are, however, disputes among theologians in this matter.

External links

  • Prophet Shoaib “Jethro” Mosque and Tomb near Mahis
    Mahis
    Mahis is a Jordanian town located in the Balqa Governorate north west from the governorate's capital citySalt, and 10 km west of Amman. Its population exceeds 14,000. Most of the population of Mahis descends from the Al-Abbadi tribe...

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