And Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife unto Moses into the wilderness, where he encamped at the mount of God:
5. into the wilderness, &c.] The ‘mount of God’ (Exo 3:1) is Horeb, the ‘wilderness’ consequently can be only the ‘wilderness of Sinai,’ ‘in font of the mount,’ which, however, the Israelites do not reach till Exo 19:1-2, and which (if Rephidim be in W. Feiran, and Jebel Ms be Sinai) was at least 24 miles beyond Rephidim (see on Exo 19:1 b, 2). The passage affords a strong argument for the supposition (see above) that Exodus 18 stood originally at a later point in the narrative.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The wilderness – i. e., according to the view which seems on the whole most probable, the plain near the northern summit of Horeb, the mountain of God. The valley which opens upon Er Rahah on the left of Horeh is called Wady Shueib by the Arabs, i. e. the vale of Hobab.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 5. Jethro – came with his sons] There are several reasons to induce us to believe that the fact related here is out of its due chronological order, and that Jethro did not come to Moses till the beginning of the second year of the exodus, (see Nu 10:11), some time after the tabernacle had been erected, and the Hebrew commonwealth established, both in things civil and ecclesiastical. This opinion is founded on the following reasons: –
1. On this verse, where it is said that Jethro came to Moses while he was encamped at the mount of God. Now it appears, from Ex 19:1-2, that they were not yet come to Horeb, the mount of God, and that they did not arrive there till the third month after their departure from Egypt; and the transactions with which this account is connected certainly took place in the second month; see Ex 16:1.
2. Moses, in De 1:6; De 1:9; De 1:10; De 1:12-15, relates that when they were about to depart from Horeb, which was on the 20th day of the second month of the second year from their leaving Egypt, that he then complained that he was not able to bear the burden alone of the government of a people so numerous; and that it was at that time that he established judges and captains over thousands and hundreds and fifties and tens, which appears to be the very transaction recorded in this place; the measure itself being recommended by Jethro, and done in consequence of his advice.
3. From Nu 10:11; Nu 10:29, c., we find that when the cloud was taken up, and the Israelites were about to depart from Horeb, that Moses addressed Hobab, who is supposed to have been the same as Jethro, and who then was about to return to Midian, his own country, entreating him to stay with them as a guide while they travelled through the wilderness. It therefore seems necessary that the transaction recorded in this chapter should be inserted Num. x. between the 10th and 11th verses. Nu 10:10-11.
4. It has been remarked, that shortly after they had departed from Sinai the dispute took place between Miriam, Aaron, and Moses, concerning the AEthiopian woman Zipporah whom he had married, (see Nu 12:1, c.); and this is supposed to have taken place shortly after she had been brought back by Jethro.
5. In the discourse between Moses and Jethro, mentioned in this chapter, we find that Moses speaks of the statutes and laws of the Lord as things already revealed and acknowledged, which necessarily implies that these laws had already been given, (Ex 18:16), which we know did not take place till several months after the transactions mentioned in the preceding chapters.
6. Jethro offers burnt-offerings and sacrifices to God apparently in that way in which they were commanded in the law. Now the law respecting burnt-offerings was not given till after the transactions mentioned here, unless we refer this chapter to a time posterior to that in which it appears in this place. See Clarke on Ex 18:12.
From all these reasons, but particularly from the two first and the two last, it seems most likely that this chapter stands out of its due chronological order, and therefore I have adjusted the chronology in the margin to the time in which, from the reasons above alleged, I suppose these transactions to have taken place but the matter is not of much importance, and the reader is at liberty to follow the common opinion. As Moses had in the preceding chapter related the war with Amalek and the curse under which they were laid, he may be supposed to have introduced here the account concerning Jethro the Midianite, to show that he was free from that curse, although the Midianites and the Kenites, the family of Jethro, were as one people, dwelling with the Amalekites. See Jdg 1:16; 1Ch 2:55; 1Sa 15:6. For although the Kenites were some of those people whose lands God had promised to the descendants of Abraham, (see Ge 15:18-19), yet, in consideration of Jethro, the relative of Moses, all of them who submitted to the Hebrews were suffered to live in their own country; the rest are supposed to have taken refuge among the Edomites and Amalekites. See Calmet, Locke, &c.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Jethro came, not at this time, but after the delivery of the law at Mount Sinai; as it may appear,
1. Because he finds them encamped, as it here follows, at the mount of God, i.e. Sinai, whither they came not till Exo 19:2.
2. Because the laws of sacrifices were given before his coming, as appears from Exo 18:12.
3. Because the execution of this counsel here given about the choice of magistrates, Exo 18:19, is related after the Israelites departure from Sinai, Deu 1:7, &c. And therefore here is a transposal in this history, which is also frequent in other places of Holy Scripture.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And Jethro, Moses’s father in law,…. This is the third time he is so called in the chapter already, and many more times besides after in it; the reason of which seems to be, either to distinguish him from another of the same name, or to do him honour, that he should be in such a relation to so great and distinguished a man as Moses now was:
came with his sons and his wife unto Moses into the wilderness; not with his own sons and wife, but with the sons and wife of Moses; Zipporah and her sons, as before related; with those he came into the wilderness of Arabia, where Moses now was, and which was not at a great distance from Midian, since about the same spot Moses, when he dwelt there, had, and fed the flock of his father-in-law, Ex 3:1, that part of the land of Midian where Jethro lived lay somewhere eastward of Mount Sinai, and was probably situated where Sharme now stands; which, according to Dr. Pocock i, is about a day and a half’s journey from Mount Sinai, from whence the monks of Mount Sinai are chiefly supplied with fish k: it follows: where he encamped at the mount of God: at Horeb, where the Lord had appeared to Moses; and so the Targum of Jonathan adds,
“where the glory of the Lord was revealed to Moses at the beginning;”
and where, afterwards, the Lord, appeared again, and gave the law, and therefore is called the Mount of God; the one as well as the other being past when Moses wrote this book, and called the mountain by this name: it is matter of question at what time Jethro came hither, whether before or after the giving of the law: it seems, by the order in which this story is here placed, as if it was immediately after the battle with Amalek; and Saadiah Gaon is of opinion it was before the giving of the law; and one would think it most reasonable and natural that Jethro would take the first opportunity of visiting Moses, and that Moses would not long defer sending for his wife and children: but Aben Ezra thinks he did not come till the second year after the tabernacle was set up, since, in the context, mention is made of burnt offerings and sacrifices, and no account is given of a new altar built by Moses; and besides, he says, “I do make them know the statutes of God and his laws”, Ex 18:16, and it is certain from hence, that the children of Israel were removed from Rephidim, and were now encamped at the mount of God, at Horeb; but whether they had got to the other side of the mount of Sinai as yet is not so clear; though it looks as if what Moses did, by the advice of Jethro, was after the law was given on Sinai, see De 1:6 so that, upon the whole, it seems as if this account, according to the order of time, should be placed after Nu 10:28, or, as Dr. Lightfoot l thinks, between the tenth and eleventh verses of that chapter, and is put here to show that though Midian was near Amalek, as he observes, yet Jethro was exempt from the curse and destruction threatened to that, see 1Sa 15:6.
i Travels, p. 137. k See the Bishop of Clogher’s Chronology of the Hebrew Bible, p. 214. l Works, vol. 1. p. 710, 711.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
5. And Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law. It was not so much love for Moses as the fame of the miracles which drew this old man, (195) bowed down with age, from his home into the wilderness; for it will hereafter appear from the context, that he was not induced by ambition; because, after he had offered sacrifice to God, and, in solemn thanksgiving, had testified that he ascribed all the glory to God alone, he returned home again with the same simplicity in which he had come. Moses, too, at the beginning of the chapter, has stated the cause of his coming, for he does not say that he had heard of the arrival of his son-in-law, but how wonderful had been God’s goodness and power in delivering Moses and the people. He desired, therefore, to be in some measure a spectator of the things whereof he had heard, and not to neglect, by remaining at home, such illustrious instances of God’s bounty. I have already explained why Mount Horeb is distinguished by the name of “the Mount of God.” The vision, indeed, which had been already vouchsafed to Moses there, rendered it worthy of this honorable title; but here, as before, there is reference made rather to the promulgation of the Law, whereby God consecrated the mountain to Himself.
(195) “Ce bon veillard;” this good old man. — Fr.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(5) Where he encamped at the mount of God.It is quite possible that the mount of God may be here used, in a broad sense, of the entire Sinaitic mountain-region, as wilderness is just before used in the broad sense of the infertile region between Egypt and Palestine. Or the movement described in Exo. 19:1-2 may have taken place before Jethros arrival, though not related until after it. We must bear in mind that Exodus was probably composed in detached portions, and arranged afterwards. The present chapter has every appearance of being one such detached portion.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
5. Where he encamped at the mount of God This most naturally means that Jethro’s visit occurred after the Israelites had reached Sinai and encamped before the mountain . No other view, probably, would have been entertained were it not for the statement of Exo 19:2, which seems to place the arrival at Sinai chronologically subsequent to this visit of Jethro . The mount of God means, in this verse, the same as in Exo 3:1; but there appears no insuperable objection to understanding by it the whole Sinaitic range or mass of mountains known as Horeb. So far, therefore, as the words here used determine the question, we may admit that Jethro’s visit might have occurred either at the encampment of Rephidim or of Sinai. But the account of what was done during this visit especially the laborious work of Moses in Exo 18:13, and the appointment of judges recommended by Jethro, Exo 18:14-26, implies more time than the halt at Rephidim supposes. A comparison of Exo 16:1; Exo 19:1, appears to put all the journeys and events between the arrival at the wilderness of Sin and the arrival at Sinai within about fifteen days . This perhaps was time enough for all that is here recorded, including the visit of Jethro; and yet it is certainly more natural to understand that the adoption of Jethro’s counsel and the appointment of judges occupied more time than such a crowding of events assumes . The adoption of Jethro’s counsel, however, and the choosing of judges described in Exo 18:24-26 need not be supposed to have occurred until a later time . The writer might have introduced the statement at this point to show that the valuable advice of the aged Midianite priest was observed, without meaning to say that all this occurred during Jethro’s stay . But, on the other hand, it is not probable that such a sitting to judge the people as is described in Exo 18:13-16 would occur at Rephidim; but, after the more permanent encampment “before the mount,” (Exo 19:2,) such appointed seasons of judgment became a necessity . We incline, therefore, to the opinion that the events of this chapter belong to a period subsequent to the arrival at Sinai, and are designedly introduced out of their strict chronological order for the purpose of separating them from the more sacred revelation and legislation which proceeded from Jehovah, and which the writer wished to place by themselves. The friendly Midianite, as we have observed, is brought to our attention in immediate contrast with the hostile Amalekite, and such associations and contrasts are made more prominent by the sacred writer than mere chronological order.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Exo 18:5. At the mount of God See note on ch. Exo 3:1. The Israelites were not yet come to this mount of God; but Moses, says Houbigant, being about to relate the departure from Rephidim to the desart of Sinai, where was Horeb, the mountain of GOD, first finishes what was to be related concerning Jethro, and annexes the departure to the mountain of God, mentioned in Exo 18:1 of the following chapter, to those miracles which were wrought in that mountain, as to the principal event; and not to the visit of Jethro, which was a kind of episode, and which was not of so great moment as to interrupt the future narration. There is no impropriety therefore in Moses’s neglecting the order of time, where the cause appears why he relates those things first which happened afterwards. It is, however, supposed by many, that this event is recorded in its due place.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
This mount of God was Horeb: 1Ki 19:8 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Exo 18:5 And Jethro, Moses’ father in law, came with his sons and his wife unto Moses into the wilderness, where he encamped at the mount of God:
Ver. 5. At the mount of God. ] Horeb; whither they were removed from Rephidim, though the remove be not mentioned.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Exo 3:1, Exo 3:12, Exo 19:11, Exo 19:20, Exo 24:16, Exo 24:17, 1Ki 19:8
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
18:5 And Jethro, Moses’ father in law, came with his sons and his wife unto Moses into the wilderness, where he encamped at the {b} mount of God:
(b) Horeb is called the mount of God, because God did many miracles there. So Peter calls the mount where Christ was transfigured, the holy mount: for by Christ’s presence it was holy for a time, 2Pe 1:18.