Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Exodus 2:21

And Moses was content to dwell with the man: and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter.

21. was content ] or agreed; cf. Jdg 17:11; Jdg 19:6.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Moses tells us nothing of what he may have learned from his father-in-law, but he must have found in him a man conversant with the traditions of the family of Abraham; nor is there any improbability in the supposition that, as hereditary priest, Reuel may have possessed written documents concerning their common ancestors.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 21. Zipporah his daughter.] Abul Farajius calls her “Saphura the black, daughter of Rewel the Midianite, the son of Dedan, the son of Abraham by his wife Keturah.” The Targum calls her the granddaughter of Reuel. It appears that Moses obtained Zipporah something in the same way that Jacob obtained Rachel; namely, for the performance of certain services, probably keeping of sheep: see Ex 3:1.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Moses was content; or, consented to this desire or offer. And so his present and temporary repose there is turned into a settled habitation. Moses married Zipporah not instantly, but after some years of acquaintance with the family, as may probably be gathered from the youngness and uncircumcisedness of one of his sons forty years after this, Exo 4:25. In which time, as Moses would not fail to instruct them in the knowledge of the true God, which he was able excellently to do, so it is likely he had succeeded therein in some measure, and therefore married Zipporah.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

And Moses was content to dwell with the man,…. After he had been called and brought into the house, and had had some refreshment, and after some conversation had passed between them, and perhaps after some days’ stay in Reuel’s house; Reuel having observed his disposition and behaviour, and being delighted therewith, proposed to him to take up his residence with him, with which motion Moses was well pleased, and accepted of it:

and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter; to be his wife. It is not to be supposed that this was done directly; though both Philo u and Josephus w intimate as if it was done at first meeting together; but it is not likely that Reuel would dispose of his daughter so suddenly to a stranger, though he might at once entertain an high opinion of him; nor would Moses marry a woman directly he had so slender an acquaintance with, so little knowledge of her disposition, endowments of mind and religion. The Targum of Jonathan says it was at the end of ten years; and indeed forty years after this a son of his seems to have been young, having not till then been circumcised, Ex 4:22. The author of the Life of Moses says x, that he was seventy seven years of age when he married Zipporah, which was but three years before he returned to Egypt. This circumstance of Moses’s marrying Reuel’s daughter is confirmed by Artapanus y an Heathen historian; and also by Demetrius z, and expressly calls her Sapphora, who he says was a daughter of Jother or Jethro; and likewise by Ezekiel the tragedian a.

u De Vita Mosis, l. 1. p. 611. w Antiqu. l. 2. c. 11. sect. 2. x Chronicon Mosis, fol. 9. 1. y Apud Euseb. Evangel. Praepar. l. 9. c. 27. p. 434. z Ib. c. 29. p. 439. a lb. c. 28.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Moses’ Life in Midian. – As Reguel gave a hospitable welcome to Moses, in consequence of his daughters’ report of the assistance that he had given them in watering their sheep; it pleased Moses ( ) to dwell with him. The primary meaning of is voluit (vid., Ges. thes.). for : like in Gen 4:23. – Although Moses received Reguel’s daughter Zipporah as his wife, probably after a lengthened stay, his life in Midian was still a banishment and a school of bitter humiliation. He gave expression to this feeling at the birth of his first son in the name which he gave it, viz., Gershom ( , i.e., banishment, from to drive or thrust away); “ for,” he said, interpreting the name according to the sound, “ I have been a stranger ( ) in a strange land.” In a strange land he was obliged to live, far away from his brethren in Egypt, and far from his fathers’ land of promise; and in this strange land the longing for home seems to have been still further increased by his wife Zipporah, who, to judge from Exo 4:24., neither understood nor cared for the feelings of his heart. By this he was urged on to perfect and unconditional submission to the will of his God. To this feeling of submission and confidence he gave expression at the birth of his second son, by calling him Eliezer ( God is help); for he said, “ The God of my father (Abraham or the three patriarchs, cf. Exo 3:6) is my help, and has delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh ” (Exo 18:4). The birth of this son is not mentioned in the Hebrew text, but his name is given in Exo 18:4, with this explanation.

(Note: In the Vulgate the account of his birth and name is interpolated here, and so also in some of the later codices of the lxx. But in the oldest and best of the Greek codices it is wanting here, so that there is no ground for the supposition that it has fallen out of the Hebrew text.)

In the names of his two sons, Moses expressed all that had affected his mind in the land of Midian. The pride and self-will with which he had offered himself in Egypt as the deliverer and judge of his oppressed brethren, had been broken down by the feeling of exile. This feeling, however, had not passed into despair, but had been purified and raised into firm confidence in the God of his fathers, who had shown himself as his helper by delivering him from the sword of Pharaoh. In this state of mind, not only did “his attachment to his people, and his longing to rejoin them, instead of cooling, grow stronger and stronger” ( Kurtz), but the hope of the fulfilment of the promise given to the fathers was revived within him, and ripened into the firm confidence of faith.

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

(21) Moses was content to dwell with the man.Reuel must have been so pleased with the manner and appearance of Moses that he invited him to take service with himperhaps to share his tent. Moses consented, and in course of time took to wife Zipporah, one of Reuels daughters. Marriage with the Midianites was allowed, even under the Law. It has been conjectured that Reuel might have communicated to Moses traditions, or even documents concerning their common ancestor, Abraham, and his family. But there is nothing to indicate the use of letters at this early date by the Midianites.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

21, 22. The Egyptian prince is content to become the shepherd of an humble Arab priest, whose daughter, a child of the desert, becomes the Zipporah ( little bird) of his wilderness home . The sceptre that had been almost within his grasp is exchanged for a shepherd’s crook . The learning, luxury, and power of Egypt are exchanged for the barbarism, sand, and stones of Midian . It was the way of duty, but a wonderfully mysterious way! The deliverer is in the glory of his strength and eager for his work, and his people are dying yet God does not speak! The name of his first-born,

Gershom a stranger there tells us that he feels his exile, that his heart is with his far-off people, but we hear no murmur; and the name of his second born,

Eliezer my God (is my) help shows that his faith was firm. He vanishes into the awful solitudes of Sinai, and we neither see nor hear of him any more for forty years.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Moses Makes His Home With The Midianites ( Exo 2:21-22 ).

The situation suited both parties. The tribe acquired a valuable man of ability and courage. Moses found a home.

a Moses is content to dwell with the man (Exo 2:21 a).

b Reuel gives him his daughter to wife (Exo 2:21 b).

b His wife bears a son who is called Gershom (Exo 2:22 a).

a This is because he is dwelling as a resident alien in a foreign land (Exo 2:22 b).

Note how in ‘a’ Moses takes up residence in Midian and in the parallel has named his son accordingly. In ‘b’ he marries Reuel’s daughter and in the parallel the daughter bears him a son.

Exo 2:20-21

‘And Moses was content to dwell with the man, and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter, and she bore a son and he called his name Gershom, for he said, “I have been a sojourner in a strange land.”

Like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Reuel was probably the leader of a family tribe. But in the area in which they were they may not only have been involved in keeping sheep and tilling the ground, but also in mining copper (the Kenites – ‘smiths’ – were Midianites and Hobab was later seen as connected with the Kenites), in trading, and sometimes in robbing caravans in alliance with other Midianites. Moses joined the group under the protection of the chief. As a man well able to look after himself and knowledgeable about administrative and military affairs, both of which he would have learned in Egypt, he would be welcome. There he married the chief’s daughter and had a son.

But the fact that no men had been available to accompany the seven daughters with their sheep may serve to demonstrate that the group was not very large, although probably part of a larger loose confederacy. For although well born daughters did look after sheep in those days, these were having particular frustrations. However it may be that the group’s main activity was trading (compare the Midianites who bought Joseph) or raiding so that the men of the group were not seen as available for the task of looking after the sheep which could thus easily be left to the womenfolk, and their frustrations were probably dismissed as long as no harm came to the sheep. Jethro certainly later demonstrated some knowledge of controlling tribal affairs (chapter 18) and he was also ‘the priest of Midian’. It suggests that he was used to overseeing a tribe, although how far that reached we cannot know.

“He gave Moses Zipporah his daughter.” Zipporah means ‘Little Bird’, and we can significantly compare Judges 6-8 where the Midianite chiefs were ‘Raven’ and ‘Wolf’. This is evidence of historicity. Moses was now well established as the chief’s son. In this marriage both parties gave recognition of each other’s social status.

“Called his name Gershom.” ‘Ger’ means a foreigner, a sojourner, a stranger. Moses construes the name here as meaning ‘a stranger there’, the regular play on words common with both tribal and Egyptian names. Moses’ comment suggests how hardly he understandably felt his exile. For a time he longed to be back in Egypt.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Exo 2:21. Gave Moses Zipporah his daughter Moses is extremely concise in this account which he gives of himself. It is most probable, that he continued some time with Reuel, and approved himself to him by his good services, before he gave him Zipporah to wife. It is observed by Philo, that men of a great genius quickly shew themselves, and are not made known by length of time: and therefore he thinks, “that Jethro, being first struck with admiration of his goodly aspect, and then, of his wise discourse, immediately gave him the most beautiful of all his daughters to be his wife: not staying to inquire of any body who he was, because his own most excellent qualities sufficiently recommended him to his affection.” De vita Mosis, l. i. By her he had two sons, Gershom, whom he so called because he had been a stranger in a strange land, and Eliezer, so named because God was his help.

REFLECTIONS.We may observe here, 1. From Moses’s assistance to the daughters of Reuel at the well, that no man is too great to do a kind act for the distressed. 2. From the report of it to their father, that, though sensible of the kindness, they were too modest to ask him home, till their father was acquainted with it. Note; Nothing is so hateful in a woman as forwardness, nothing so pleasing as modesty. 3. We have the entertainment which Reuel gave Moses. Here he finds a retreat, and while he feeds his father’s or brother’s flocks, is prepared, by communion with God, and his appearances to him, for the great work he had appointed him. Note; There are greater enjoyments to be obtained in the wilderness with God, than in all the pleasures of the courts of princes.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Exo 2:21 And Moses was content to dwell with the man: and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter.

Ver. 21. Zipporah his daughter. ] A peevish piece; a cold armful. a He had better, haply, have been married to a quartan ague. Sulla felix si non hobuisset uxorem, &c. It is not ill to marry, but good to be wary, lest we make shipwreck in the haven.

a . – Lycophron.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)