MOSHEH’ SOJOURN IN MIDIAN
Kohen Jethro revealed to Mosheh the NAME and power of YAHWEH
He was welcomed with the warmth that is customary among nomad shepherds on such occasions, especially since he shared their blood, had Abraham as his ancestor like them, and so belonged to the same race as they. Mosheh settled with this man who gave him his daughter Zipporah in marriage (Shemoth (Exodus) 2:21). The Hebrew refugee had thus become a member of Jethro’s clan.
Two points may puzzle the reader of the Scriptures: first, the different names given to Jethro; secondly, the title ‘kohen’ (priest) which the Scriptures gives him as soon as he appears.
Three names in succession are mentioned: Reuel, priest of Midian, or Rekkel, in some translations (Shemoth (Exodus) 2:18); Jethro, kohen of Midian (Shemoth (Exodus) 3:1); and Hobab, son of Reuel, the Midianite (Bemidbar (Numbers 10:29). This may be due to different traditions, or to erroneous interpretations originating in misleading glosses. But the important point is that these variations all agree that he was chieftain of the tribe of Midian. Following the majority of Scriptural scholars he will continue to be called Jethro here.
But why a kohen (priest)? In fact Jethro in common with all the nomad rulers of this remote period was a ‘kohen’, in other words he was the sole officiant of the pastoral community, the only person qualified to perform the ritual offerings, the one valid intercessor between the band of shepherds and the ABBA whose protection he invoked. Some historians have suggested that Jethro was the guardian of the ancient Semitic tradition according to which ABBA of past ages was venerated, ONE already known to a narrow circle of shepherds by the NAME of YAHWEH; on this hypothesis, it was Jethro who really revealed to Mosheh both the NAME and the powers of YAHWEH WHO was to become Yisrael’s ABBA in the future. But the inherent difficulties of this view will become obvious when the visit made by Jethro to Mosheh (then encamped at the foot of Sinai) is discussed.
Jethro was a very experienced head of a tribe; he was a sensitive and realistic administrator, and Mosheh paid a glad and thankful tribute to this fact on several occasions during his life. He was not a man given to compliments, so when he expresses his deep respect, his entire submission and his unquestioning obedience to his father-in-law’s judgment, the fact is worth stressing. He ‘bowed low’ before Jethro (Shemoth (Exodus) 18:7). When Jethro severely criticized a judicial procedure established by Mosheh after the theophany on Sinai, and said to him ‘It is not right’ (Shemoth (Exodus) 18:17), Mosheh at once accepted the reform proposed by his father-in-law. Mosheh took his advice and did as he said (Shemoth (Exodus) 18:24). These abrupt and incisive scriptural interjections show the presence of a superior personality whose influence in awakening and developing the potential genius in Mosheh was great.
We have already seen that the Midianites had a special interest in metal work. Its Kenite branch (to which, as the Scriptures indicates, Jethro belonged) was particularly distinguished in this sphere. Its members were called ‘the copper-smiths of the desert’. These nomads were always leading their flocks to fresh pastures, and at the same time they sent out a select few to inquire whether neighbouring camps had any copper vessels that needed mending, or which they wished to sell. The shepherds needed the services of these tinkers, but affected to despise them: their work, unlike shepherding, lacked nobility. In any case, it was extremely tiring and not likely to prove attractive to those whose concern was sheep. However, these craftsmen and their business activity had gradually civilized the Kenites by giving them contact with technical and artistic methods arid clients of all sorts. This was the environment, with its developed culture, in which Mosheh spent many years.
Mosheh in Midian married, the son-in-law of the wealthy head of a tribe and his close collaborator
Jethro had given him Zipporah, one of his daughters, in marriage. Two sons were born; the first was named Gershom, because, said Mosheh, ‘I am a stranger in a foreign land’ (Shemoth (Exodus) 2 22; 18:3). The second was called Eliezer (Shemoth (Exodus) 18:4). 2 The scribe, tireless in explaining proper names, gives its meaning: YAHWEH of my father is my help and has delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh.
Mosheh was now married, the son-in-law of the wealthy head of a tribe, whose friend and assistant he had become, and with his share of communal duties. He seems to have settled down to an entirely pastoral existence. This former Egyptian scribe, the son and grandson of shepherds, had promptly become an Aramean nomad again, the guardian of sheep and goats, in every way like his ancestors who had led their flocks in the Fertile Crescent from one pasture to another, from one well to the next, for thousands of years.
From Mosheh’ movements recorded in Shemoth (Exodus) we may conclude that the number of Jethro’s beasts was significant. As soon as a tribe came to own a reasonably-sized flock, it was necessary to divide it, giving each group pastures well apart from those of the others. This was all the more urgent in these regions because good pasture was rare. Shepherds thought little of taking their animals hundreds of miles in search of nourishing grass. Mosheh is said to have set up his camp in Horeb, near Sinai, nearly a hundred miles (or 120 if the inevitable wanderings are taken into account) from Jethro’s tents on the eastern coast of the gulf of Aqaba. This was in no sense an excessive journey for small animals, and the distance was quite reasonable for a change of pasture of some importance. Mosheh was looking after the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law (Shemoth (Exodus) 3:1). A hasty reading of these words might suggest that Mosheh was simply a herdsman on his own, whose work was to take care of a flock, yet to describe him as a mere shepherd does not fit in to the context. At every point he is seen to act as the chieftain’s close collaborator. And it looks as if in his recent establishment in the pastures of Sinai, he acted as the head of a pastoral community, subject, of course, to the authority, for the moment somewhat remote, of Jethro.
2 An etymology drawn from popular usage, which is always ready to see in proper names a play on words. For their particular purpose, in this instance, only the first syllable, get has been retained. It means: foreigner, resident.
Mosheh, a Midianite shepherd of a special kind; a Hebrew by blood and in Ruwach
In fact, the rest of the narrative makes it plain that neither intellectually nor spiritually can Mosheh be compared with any other Kenite chief of the period. Although he was closely incorporated in a Midianite tribe, married to a Midianite woman, and the father of Midianite children, he remained a Hebrew by blood and in Ruwach (spirit): his heart never left the distant land of Rameses. His future mission, it can be said, was potentially within him, and he never questioned the imposing role that was to be his. We can feel that he was ready to be used, ready to leave his adopted country and give himself body and soul to the work of delivering his brethren, the sons of Yacob, still groaning in harsh slavery in the Egyptian land of Goshen.
Naturally he did not consider himself exempt from the stern business of his herdsman’s task; the supervision of sheep and men; the careful selection of dates and places for a change of pasture; the search for watering-places and for ground with fodder.
Death of Rameses; hope of an end to the frightful slavery and The Burning Bush
In 1224 the noble, powerful and formidable Rameses II died. In the Near East such news traveled swiftly. Official messengers and the drivers of camel caravans proclaimed the change in dynasty practically everywhere. Rameses’ son, Meneptah, was the new monarch. The news created profound disturbances throughout the empire. West of the Delta, the Libyans, always restless, took advantage of the new political situation and rose threateningly. In the east, the Canaanite princelings, vassals of the late pharaoh, believed it to be a propitious moment to throw off the Egyptian yoke and make an attempt to regain their independence. In the Nile valley itself there was some opposition to Meneptah. The majestic and monolithic solidity of Rameses’ empire seemed really to be in danger; revolt was widespread.
The Hebrews in Goshen, still engaged in building works, began to hope. Would the pharaoh’s death mean an end to their frightful slavery? Logically they might well have thought that they would soon be able to return to their true and original calling as shepherds, Unfortunately, Meneptah seemed determined to continue his father’s building programme, and so the Hebrews remained subject to forced labour; the work of the chain gang in brick-making followed the same rhythm as before. Shemoth (Exodus) records: The sons of Yisrael groaning, cried out for help and from the depths of their slavery their cry came up to YAHWEH, In these ancient texts a primitive anthropomorphism is still customary: YAHWEH heard their groaning and HE called to mind HIS covenant with Abraham, Yitschaq (Isaac) and Yacob. YAHWEH looked down kindly upon the sons of Yisrael (Shemoth (Exodus) 2:23-25).
At this time, Mosheh, with his tents and animals, was wandering in the plain of Sinai. Was it a caravan from Egypt coming to Arabia on business that told the leader of the isolated little camp the great news of such concern to everyone in the Middle East: ‘Rameses is dead’? Very probably.
The rest of the story leaves no doubt about the thoughts that were always troubling him. A day came, probably while he was looking for new pastures on one of the slopes of Horeb (that is, Sinai) 3 when he saw a flame rising from a bush.
3 There is now practically unanimous agreement as to the exact geographical position of the Scriptural Sinai, It is now called Jebel Musa: its summit rises to 7449 feet.
Back Mosheh and Yahshua Ben Nun Index Next
Mosheh and Yahshua Ben Nun Founders of the Nation Scripture History Through the Ages