Sorry Paul, but for me the Zohar and most of the other rabbinic writings excluding Maimonides are little short of fairy tales. There are cases of them even contradicting scripture and they certainly all contradict each other.
We are told that the oral Torah was additional information given by Yahweh to Moses and passed down through the generations until it was put into writing.
So where is it? Instead of unequivocal guidance complementing the written Torah, all we are left with is a hotchpotch of fanciful and frequently unbelievable hypotheses. And, dare I say it, Rashi is the biggest culprit. Not to be overly pedantic, but the same text that tells us there were , Jews at Sinai also tells us how it got that number: by counting males between the ages of 20 and The estimate usually used is three million including children, though. You can come up with your own.
But there were well over 1. I say the text contrasts the outsider father-in-law favorably against the insider father-in-law, Laban.
The rabbis do not point this out, but I think this is the point of the text. Moses is also wrong for agreeing to this condition idolatry—no circumcision for one son , but the Midianites presented this condition. This is why Zipporah knows what to do in Exod A little joke: Jethro had five names, according to tradition. He also had five daughters. Each time he married off a daughter, he changed his name and moved to avoid the bill collectors. The variant names Jethro and Reuel may perhaps be due to different source documents.
The time Moses spent with his father-in-law, after fleeing from Egypt, is said to have been forty years. It is true that Exodus says that Moses was 80 when he and Aaron spoke to Pharaoh, and Deut says that he was when he died. It does not say how old he was when he left Egypt. And when he leaves his father-in-law, along with his wife and children, he puts them on a donkey Ex , giving the obvious impression that they were still very young, implying that Moses had not spent many years in Midian.
Another interesting fact is that Jethro comes to meet Moses at Sinai bringing him his wife and children. So, how come they were in Midian? Nothing is said about a possible trip when they would have been brought back to Midian apart from the group led by Moses.
One can ony wonder: are we here dealing with two different traditions? The same Hebrew and Greek words can be used for all three relationships through marriage. Certainly more so than Moses, the product of an Egyptian court. What was the source of the pre-Abrahamic genealogies in the Genesis scrolls? Jacob and his sons must have passed on this knowledge to their descendants while in captivity, but was it retained and carried out into the wilderness after the first Passover?
Or did Moses bring it with him after forty years of listening to Jethro? Ex ; Jg Jethro is also called Reuel. Nu Jethro may have been a title, whereas Reuel was a personal name. However, it was not uncommon for an Arabian chief to have two or even more names, as is attested to by many inscriptions.
The basic element, which probably means "excellence" or "abundance" cf. Jethro was one of Pharaoh's counselors. According to one account, he — together with Amalek — "gave the evil counsel" to throw the male Israelite children into the river to Pharaoh, but later repented Ex. According to another tradition, his fellow counselors were Balaam and Job.
Balaam advocated the destruction of the children, Job remained silent, and Jethro fled to Midian Sanh. He became a genuine convert to Judaism. His title as the "priest of Midian" Ex. The sages had an ambivalent attitude toward Jethro.
Some regarded him as an arch-idolator, and as such he was able to testify to the supremacy of God, nonetheless still holding that the idols possessed some divine powers Yal. Jethro early realized the worthlessness of idol worship and repented even before Moses fled to Midian. Jethro's neighbors excommunicated him for renouncing their idolatrous beliefs, and it was because of this ban that his daughters had to tend the sheep Ex.
A competing tradition claims that Jethro was still so steeped in idolatry at this time that he only permitted Zipporah to marry Moses on condition that their first son be raised to worship idols Mekh.
Jethro's reaction to the miracles performed by God for Israel is likewise interpreted in two contrasting fashions. Jethro was the first to utter a benediction to God for the wonders performed for the Israelites. It was a reproach to Moses and the , Israelites that they did not bless the Lord until Jethro came and did so ibid. Moses immediately went out to meet his father-in-law, accompanied by Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the 70 elders of Israel.
It is even stated that the Shekhinah also greeted Jethro Mekh. Moses finally sent Jethro away Ex. Jethro had seven different names which reflect his virtues. Not so. Peter was also called Simon, Esther was also called Hadassah. Joseph was also called Zaphenath-Paneah. None of these names were given by God.
While Documentary Hypothesis or some version of it is undoubtedly true, the redactor almost certainly would have cleared up simple errors such as this and ensured consistent naming.
Simon was renamed Simon Peter by Jesus. Esther had two names due to the multicultural context. As for the others, I don't know. All I'm saying is that having two names is one possibility, not the only. Do you have references for the claim that a redactor would clear up inconsistent naming? Then there are several other minor inconsistencies that could have been cleared up, like how many pairs of clean animals are saved in Gn.
Redactors may have been reluctant to 'clear up simple errors' as they were copying holy texts. Again, all I want to say that while this is one possibility, it is not the only one. I suggest you reword the last paragraph such that it allows for other theories. IVP Bible Background Commentary, Old Testemant: Exodus The Ibn Ezra in his commentary to Numbers keenly noticed the non-specificity of this term and correctly postulates to resolve the contradiction that it sometimes refers to a brother-in-law as well!
Bach Bach 6, 1 1 gold badge 15 15 silver badges 54 54 bronze badges. Indeed, the ASV translation renders it as "brother in law" when discussing Hobab. Dick Harfield Dick Harfield 12k 4 4 gold badges 21 21 silver badges 56 56 bronze badges. Very good answer, I do accept the Documentary hypothesis as something viable. It does answer many of the discrepancies found in the bible. I really think the hypothesis has gained a new found following because it has been revamped to a newer definition.
I did some research to find the Hobab connection, I see that in Judges it says Hobab was his father-in-law, and then Numbers states that Reuel was Moses' Grandfather-in-law through Hobab. As much as I do understand that, it always amazes me that the scribe writing the stories down would not have noticed the differences. Which makes me then wonder if these stories were not a collection of "holy" writings, but more a collection of traditions to preserve them for future generations.
Albeit I do know that many of them were laws, and held a holy status, in early times, books like Deuteronomy and Leviticus. But Gen, Ex and others were just oral traditions to start out. That's what holiness is in Judaism, preservation, respect. Opinions are winnowed and melded over periods of generations, but there is no effort to remove literary inconsistencies or to edit out opposing views within the accepted faith community.
The textual development and the development of the corpus of texts is more legalistic than ideological. Understanding this relation to text is key to making sense of the content of the OT. Show 1 more comment. Alex Alex 3 3 silver badges 14 14 bronze badges. Doesn't this just introduce another problem, that Moses's father in law now has the two names of Jethro and Hobab? Godscheetah Godscheetah 1.
Welcome to Bible Hermeneutics SE and thank you for your contribution. At some point before the exodus from Egypt, Moses sends her and the children away Exod After the exodus, her father, the priest of Midian here called Jethro , comes to visit Moses, bringing Zipporah and her two sons.
Moses goes out to greet Jethro and takes him into his tent, but nothing is said about his greeting Zipporah. Since he himself is apparently always in preparation for meeting with God, we can infer that he never sleeps with Zipporah. Other interpreters see the Cushite woman as a second wife, with Miriam and Aaron opposed to the marriage. But no children are ever recorded for a second wife of Moses. Ashby, Godfrey.
Pardes, Ilana. Countertraditions in the Bible: A Feminist Approach. Cambridge, MA: Propp, William. Robinson, Bernard P.
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