We are used to thinking that the father-in-law of Moses was named Jethro (Exodus 3:1, 4:18, 18:1ff), but in today’s reading he is called Hobab (Numbers 10:29; also in Judges 4:11 and the early Greek translation of Judges 2:16), and in the story of Moses first arriving in Midian he is named Reuel (Exodus 2:18). This is confusing: did the man have three names?

Probably not; but it is possible that he had two names, Jethro and Reuel (just like Jacob gained a second name, Israel, with the two names being used interchangeably). It’s also possible that ‘Jethro’ was a title rather than a name, the title for priests of Midian, in the same way that Pharaoh is a title rather than a name: Pharaoh Thutmose, Pharaoh Rameses, and so on.

What about Hobab? It is possible that this was an actual third name for the man, or a nickname; but there is another possibility. The NRSV text refers to “Hobab son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’s father-in-law” (Numbers 10:29) – we should notice that this line is ambiguous, as it may indicate that Hobab was Moses’s father-in-law, or it may indicate that Reuel was Moses’s father-in-law. If Reuel was the father-in-law, then Hobab his son would be the brother of Zipporah, Reuel’s daughter who was given to Moses as his wife (Exodus 2:18), and therefore Hobab would have been Moses’s brother-in-law. Most English translations opt to identify Hobab as Moses’s father-in-law in this passage, but a handful label him as Moses’s brother-in-law.

This, then, is one of the many texts in the Bible that gives us some information, but less than we would like to have. We would prefer to be able to identify the full cast of characters with certainty, but we cannot do that. Instead, we go on reading the Bible, understanding as best we can, and recognizing that our knowledge is incomplete.

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We give you thanks, O Lord, for all that we can learn from the Bible: and we ask you would grant us patience, in those places where we cannot see the details as well as we wish. Speak to our souls, and give us hearts to follow you always.

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