Exodus 2:18

18 When they returned to their father Reuel^[a] he asked, "Why have you come back so quickly today?"

Exodus 2:18 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 2:18

And when they came to Reuel their father
Or Ragouel, as the Septuagint; and so Artapanus ^F19 calls him. The Targum of Jonathan has it, their father's father; and so Aben Ezra says he was; and is the sense of others, induced thereto by ( Numbers 10:29 ) , but it does not follow from thence: he said,

how is it that you are come so soon today?
it being not only sooner than they were wont to come, but perhaps their business was done in so short a time; that it was marvellous to him that it could be done in it, so quick a dispatch had Moses made, and they through his assistance; and especially it might be more strange, if it was usual, as it seems it was, to be molested by the shepherds.

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FOOTNOTES:

F19 Ut supra. (Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 27. p. 434.)

Exodus 2:18 In-Context

16 Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters. They came to draw water and filled the troughs to water their father's flock.

17 Then some shepherds arrived and drove them away, but Moses came to their rescue and watered their flock.

18 When they returned to their father Reuel he asked, "Why have you come back so quickly today?"

19 They answered, "An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock."

20 "So where is he?" he asked his daughters. "Why then did you leave the man behind? Invite him to eat dinner."

Footnotes

• [a]. Jethro's clan or last name was Reuel; Ex 3:1