Bibelkommentare

When Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses’ father in law, heard of all that God had done for Moses, and for Israel his people, [and] that the LORD had brought Israel out of Egypt;

Heard of all. — And thereby was converted, say the Rabbis, being the first proselyte to the Jewish Church that we read of in the Scripture.

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Then Jethro, Moses’ father in law, took Zipporah, Moses’ wife, after he had sent her back,

After he had sent her back. — Because she was troublesome with her peevishness, and a hindrance to the good work in hand. Exodus 4:25-26 Sulla felix fuisset ni uxorem duxisset; Adrianus ni imperitasset; Moses, both.

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And her two sons; of which the name of the one [was] Gershom; for he said, I have been an alien in a strange land:

In a strange land. — See Trapp on " Exodus 2:22 "

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And the name of the other [was] Eliezer; for the God of my father, [said he, was] mine help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh:

Eliezer. — Or, Lazarus. We should write God’s mercies upon the names of our children, or some other ways perpetuate the memory of them.

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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:

At the mount of God. — Horeb; whither they were removed from Rephidim, though the remove be not mentioned.

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And he said unto Moses, I thy father in law Jethro am come unto thee, and thy wife, and her two sons with her.

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."

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And Moses went out to meet his father in law, and did obeisance, and kissed him; and they asked each other of [their] welfare; and they came into the tent.

And did obeisance. — Sir Thomas More, Lord Chancellor, would, in Westminster Hall, beg his father’s blessing on his knees.

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And Moses told his father in law all that the LORD had done unto Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, [and] all the travail that had come upon them by the way, and [how] the LORD delivered them.

All that the Lord had done. — It is not enough to relate God’s mercies to us in the lump, and by wholesale; but we must instance the particulars both to God and men.

That had come upon them. — Heb., Had found them; yet not without a providence. Job 5:6 God cuts us out our various conditions: it is his hand that finds us when we suffer aught.

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