Exodus 18:1-4

"Now Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses' father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses, and for Israel his people, how that Jehovah had brought Israel out of Egypt. And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took Zipporah, Moses wife, after he had sent her away, and her two sons, of whom the name of the one was Gershom; for he said, I have been a sojourner in a foreign land: and the name of the other was Eliezer; for he said, The God of my father was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh."

The vast importance of this visit was noted by Jones, "It affected for all time the constitutional history of Israel, separating the judicial and legislative functions of the community."[5]

Both [~'Elohiym] (God) and [~Yahweh] (Jehovah) are used in these verses for God, furnishing another example of the breakdown of allegations regarding the alleged sources of the Pentateuch, according to Allis.[6] At the time of this interview, there can be little doubt of Jethro's being a priest of the Most High God, the one and only Jehovah, but if as Keil thought, Jethro was a representative of the pagan world, it would have been possible: (1) if Moses had converted Jethro out of paganism; or (2) if Jethro had received the truth handed down through his ancestors, thus having known the true God throughout his life, in which case he would as a "faithful remnant" still have come from the pagan world. It is amazing that critics are so anxious to support their notions regarding "the evolution of monotheism," using every conceivable excuse to credit Midianites, or anyone else, with the introduction of the idea to Moses. Monotheism was known BEFORE paganism. It did not "evolve" at all. It was revealed to all mankind repeatedly throughout all of antiquity.

"He had sent her away ..." This does not mean that Moses had divorced Zipporah. Although the word here occasionally can be made to mean that, "Here it merely means that he `let her depart,' as in Exodus 18:27."[7] After God revealed to Moses the resistance that he would encounter in Egypt, and following the circumcision of Eliezer, Moses sent Zipporah and the children back to Jethro until after the exodus. The appearance here of Jethro with Moses' family is a strong proof of the goodwill that existed in the whole family. A Jewish writer assures us that the technical term here translated "sent her away" does not mean that at all, but means "sent her to her father's home."[8]

The fact of Eliezer's name being a derivative of [~'Elohiym] has led some critics to allege that Moses knew nothing of Jehovah until after Exodus 6, but, as Fields said, "To assert this is to deny the historical accuracy of all the uses of [~Yahweh] (Jehovah) throughout Genesis."[9] As noted above, Jochebed is a derivative of Yahweh. More and more it is evident that various names used for God may often be for no other reason than for variety. Gershom, Moses' oldest son, was given a name which means "I was a sojourner," and Eliezer means "God is my help." Thus, these names express respectively his despondency that was natural to exile, "and the gratitude of one who has just learned that the term of his banishment has ended."[10]