" The hospitality, free-hearted and unsought, which Jethro at once extended to the unknown, homeless wan- derer, on the relation of his daughters that he had wa- tered their flock, is a picture of Eastern manners no less true than lovely. We may perhaps suppose that Je-
JETIIRO
904
JETZER
thro, before his acquaintance with Moses, was not a wor- shipper of the true (iod. Traces of this appear in the delay which jMoscs had suffered to take place with re- spect to the circumcision of his son (Exod. iv, 2-1-26) : indeed, it is even possible that Zipporah had afterwards been subjected to a kind of divorce (Exod. xviii, 2, rTin^^'i'), on account of her attachment to an alien creed, but that growing convictions were at work in the mind of Jethro, from the circumstance of Israel's con- tinued prosperitj', till at last, acting upon these, he brought back his daughter, and declared that his im- pressions were confirmed, for 'now he knew that the Lord was greater than all gods, for in the thing wherein thev dealt proudly, he was above them :' consequently we 'are told that 'Jethro, Moses's father-in-law, took a burnt-offering and sacrifices for God: and Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses's fa- ther-in-law bcfot-e God,' as if to celebrate the event of his conversion" (Smith). See IMoses.
"Shortly after the Exodus (B.C. 1658), Jethro paid a visit to Moses, while the Hebrew camp was lying in the environs of Sinai, bringing with him Zipporah, Moses's wife, who, together with her two sons, had been left with her family while her husband was absent on his embassy to Pharaoh. The interview was on both sides affectionate, and was celebrated first by the solemn rites of religion, and afterwards by festivities, of which Aaron and the elders of Israel were invited to partake. On the following day, observing IMoses incessantly oc^cupied in deciding causes that were submitted to him for judg- ment, his experienced kinsman remonstrated with him on the speedj- exhaustion which a perseverance in such arduous labors would superinduce ; and in order to re- lieve himself, as well as secure a due attention to every case, he urged Moses to appoint a number of subordinate officers to divide with him the duty of the judicial tri- bunals, with power to decide in all common affairs, while the weightier and more serious matters were reserved to himself. This wise suggestion the Hebrew legislator adopted (Exod. xviii). As the Hebrews were shortlj' afterwards about preparing to decamp from Sinai, the kinsmen of Moses announced their intention to return to their own territory," and Jloses interposed no special objection to the purpose on the part of his father-in- law, whose presence was doubtless essential at home, and who accordingly took his dcparure (Exod. xviii,, 27). His brother-in-law Hobali naturally purposed to accompany his father back to Midian, and at first ex- pressed a refusal to the invitation of AIosos to accompa- ny the Israelites to Canaan (Numb, x, 29, .30). It is not stated whether he actually returned with his father, " but if he did carry that purpose into execution, it was in ojiposition to the urgent solicitations of the Jewish leader, who entreated him, for his own advantage, to cast in his lot with the people of God ; at all events to continue with them, and afford them the benefit of his tliorough acfpiaintance with the wilderness. 'Leave us not, I i)ray thee,' said Moses, ' forasmuch as thou know- est how we are to encamp in the wilderness, and thou mayest he to vs instead of eyes ;' Avhich the Sept. has ren- dered 'and thou shalt be an elder among us.' But there can be little doubt that the true meaning is that Hobab might perform the office of a hyhir or guide (see Bruce's Tnirels, iv, oHO) — his influence as an Arab chief, liis knowledge of the routes, the situation of the wells, the places for fuel, the prognostics of the weather, and the most eligible stations for encamping, rendering him pe- culiarly qualified to act in that imiiortant caijacity. See Caravan. It is true that (Jod was their leader, l)y the pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night, the advance- ment or the halting of which regulated tlieir journeys and fixed their encampments. But Iwyond these gen- eral directions the tokens of their heavenly guide did not extend. As smaller parties were frequently sallying forth from the main body in quest of forage and other necessaries, which human observation or enterprise were
sufficient to provide, so Moses discovered his wisdom and good sense in enlisting the aid of the son of a native sheik, who, from his family connection with himself, his powerful influence, and his long experience, promised to render the Israelites most important services." To these solicitations we may infer, from the absence of any fur-, ther refusal, that Hobab finally yielded; a conclusion that, indeed, seems to be explicitlj' referred to in Judg. i, 16; iv, 11. See Kknitk; Ithuite.
No other particulars of the life of Jethro are known, but the Arabs, who call him Shoaih, have a variety of traditions concerning him. They say that Michael, the son of Taskir, and grandson of Midian, was his father : this last was the immediate son of Ishmael, according to the author of Leb-Tarik, but IMoses makes no men- tion of IMidian among the sons of Ishmael (Gen. xxv, 13, 14). Jethro gave his son-in-law Moses the miracu- lous rod ; it had once been the rod of Adam, and was of the myrtle of Paradise, etc. (Lane's A'oro??,p. 190; Weil's Bihl.Le(jends,X).\Ql-\m). Although blind (Lane,p.l80, note), he was favored with the gift of prophecy, and (iod sent him to the Midianites to preach the unity of God, and to withdraw them from idolatry. A commentator on the Koran affirms that whenever Jethro performed liis devotions on the top of a certain mountain, the moun- tain became lower, in order to render his ascent more easy. Another Arabian commentator says that Jethro took pains to reform the bad customs of the Midianites, such as stealing, having two sorts of weights and meas- ures, for buying by the larger and selling by the small- er. Besides these frauds of the IMidianites in their trad- ing, they offered violence to travellers, and robbed them on the highways. They threatened even Jethro for liis remonstrances. This insolence obliged God to manifest his -wrath : he sent the angel Gabriel, -who, Avith a voice of thunder, made the earth to tremble, which destroyed them all except Jethro, and those who, like him, be- lieved the unity of God (Lane, p. 179-181). After this punishment Jethro went to Moses, as related in Exod. xviii. 1-3. The IMohammedans term him, from the ad- vice he gave to Moses, " The preacher of the prophets" (D'Herbelot, Jiihl. Orient, iii, 273 sq. ; comp. J. C. Maier, he Jethrone, Helmst. 1715). " The name of Sho'eib still remains attached to one of the -wadys on the east side of the Jordan, opposite Jericho, through w-hich, accord- ing to the tra<lition of the locality (Seetzen, lieisen, 1854, ii, 319, 376), the children of Israel descended to the Jor- dan. Other places bearing his name and those of his tw^o daughters are shown at Sinai and on the Gulf of Akaba (Stanley, Syr. and Pal. p. 33)" (Smith).