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Jethro

also known as: Hobab

Meaning: his excellence, or gain

This is a prince or priest of Midian, who succeeded his father Reuel.

He was also called Hobab, which was probably his personal name, while Jethro was an official name.

Moses spent 40 years after his exile from the Egyptian court as keeper of Jethro’s flocks.

While the Israelites were camped at Sinai, and soon after their victory over Amalek, Jethro came to meet Moses, bringing with him Moses’s wife Zipporah (daughter of Reuel) and her two sons. They met at the “mount of God,” and Moses told him everything that the Yahweh had done to Pharaoh (Exodus 18:8).

On the following day, Jethro—observing the numerous the duties devolving on Moses—advised him to appoint subordinate judges, rulers of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens, to decide smaller matters, leaving only the weightier matters to be referred to Moses, to be laid before God. This advice Moses adopted (Exodus 18).

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Article Version: December 30, 2025