And he said unto Moses, I thy father-in-law Jethro am come unto thee, and thy wife, and her two sons with her.
6. am come ] rather, am coming (the ptcp.; cf. Gen 29:6 cometh,’ lit is coming). ‘Said’ must mean here, ‘said by the hand of messengers’: see the next verse. Perhaps it is better, however, to read, with LXX. Sam. Pesh., , ‘Behold,’ for , ‘I’; i.e. ‘And the said (Gen 48:1 Heb.) unto Moses, Behold, thy father-in-law, Jethro, is come,’ &c.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And he said … – Or according to the Greek Version, And it was told to Moses, saying, Lo, thy father in law Jether is come.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 6. And he said unto Moses] That is, by a messenger; in consequence of which Moses went out to meet him, as is stated in the next verse, for an interview had not yet taken place. This is supported by reading hinneh, behold, for ani, I, which is the reading of the Septuagint and Syriac, and several Samaritan MSS.; instead therefore of I, thy father, we should read, Behold thy father, &c. – Kennicott’s Remarks.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
He spoke, not by word of mouth, as the next verse showeth, but either by a letter, or by a messenger, as that word is used, Mat 8:6,8, compared with Luk 7:3,6.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6. and thy wife, and her twosonsSee Ex 4:20.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And he said unto Moses,…. By a messenger, as Jarchi: or by a written letter, as Aben Ezra: or, as the Septuagint version, “it was told to Moses, thy father”, c. for as yet he was not come to him, as appears by Moses going forth to meet him:
I thy father in law Jethro am come to thee: or, “am coming” m for, as yet, he was not in his presence, and they were not personally present face to face: the Targum of Jonathan adds, “to become a proselyte”; but it seems that before, as well as now, he had been a worshipper of the true God, and always speaks like one that had had the fear of God before him continually:
and thy wife, and her sons with her; this he thought fit to acquaint him of by messenger or letter, that he might be in expectation of them, and not be surprised at once with their appearance: besides, as some observe, and not amiss, after the late attack of the Amalekites upon their rear, guards or sentinels might be placed in the outer parts of the camp for its safety, and who would not easily, without order, let strangers pass into it, and therefore previous notice was necessary to get admission.
m “veniens”, Montanus.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
When Jethro announced his arrival to Moses (“he said,” sc., through a messenger), he received his father-in-law with the honour due to his rank; and when he had conducted him to his tent, he related to him all the leading events connected with the departure from Egypt, and all the troubles they had met with on the way, and how Jehovah had delivered them out of them all. Jethro rejoiced at this, and broke out in praise to Jehovah, declaring that Jehovah was greater than all gods, i.e., that He had shown Himself to be exalted above all gods, for God is great in the eyes of men only when He makes known His greatness through the display of His omnipotence. He then gave a practical expression to his praise by a burnt-offering and slain-offering, which he presented to God. The second in Exo 18:11 is only an emphatic repetition of the first, and is not dependent upon , but upon nopu tub , or upon understood, which is to be supplied in thought after the second : “ That He has proved Himself great by the affair in which they (the Egyptians) dealt proudly against them (the Israelites).” Compare Neh 9:10, from which it is evident, that to refer these words to the destruction of Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea as a punishment for their attempt to destroy the Israelites in the water (Exo 1:22) is too contracted an interpretation; and that they rather relate to all the measures adopted by the Egyptians for the oppression and detention of the Israelites, and signify that Jehovah had shown Himself great above all gods by all the plagues inflicted upon Egypt down to the destruction of Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
6. He said unto Moses That is, as the context shows, and as true Oriental custom required, he said this word to Moses by messengers sent before him to announce his coming . The Vulgate reads: He sent word (mandavit) to Moses, saying . Septuagint: It was told Moses, saying, Behold Jethro, thy father in law, is come to thee .
Exo 18:6. And he said The Vulgate renders it, mandavit ad Mosem: he sent persons to tell Moses. The word amar is sometimes used in this sense, which is certainly just in this place; as it appears from the following verse, that Jethro and Moses had not yet met: it should therefore be rendered, and he sent to tell Moses; so the Arabic renders it. The Syriac has it, it was told Moses; and the LXX use the word , which is of the same import.
Some, however, think, that Jethro wrote a letter to Moses, in which number is Sir Isaac Newton; who is further of opinion, that the use of letters was very early among the Midianites; and that Moses, “marrying the daughter of the prince of Midian, and dwelling with him forty years, there learned the art of writing.” See his Chronology, p. 210.
Probably this was said by a messenger: Gen 32:20 .
Exo 18:6 And he said unto Moses, I thy father in law Jethro am come unto thee, and thy wife, and her two sons with her.
Ver. 6. And he said. ] That is, Sent him word. So God’s messages to us are to be received as his own immediate words; “He that heareth you, heareth me.”
I. The Samaritan Pentateuch, Septuagint, and Syriac read “Lo”, or “Behold “: in which case we must read instead of “he”, Exo 18:6, “and one said unto Moses, ‘ Behold, thy father-in-law cometh'”, &c.
said: i.e. by means of messengers sent beforehand, Mat 12:47
18:6 And he {c} said unto Moses, I thy father in law Jethro am come unto thee, and thy wife, and her two sons with her.
(c) That is, he sent messengers to say to him.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes