Numbers 10:11-30

The Departure from Sinai

12. Paran] see on Exodus 15:22. They do not actually reach Paran till Exodus 12:16.

29. In Exodus 2:18; Moses’s father-in-law is called Beuel and in Numbers 3:1; Numbers 4:18; Jethro. Here Hobab is called the son of Reuel (or Raguel), and therefore apparently the brother-in-law of Moses. But in Judges 4:11 (RM) and perhaps here, too, he is called the father-in-law of Moses. There is therefore much uncertainty as to these names and relationships, which is increased by the fact that the word rendered father-in-law is of wide application. It has been supposed that the name Beuel in Exodus 2:18 has been inserted by mistake, and that Hobab, otherwise called Jethro, was the son of Reuel and the fatherin-law of Moses. He was a Midianite and well acquainted with the country through which the Israelites were to pass. The service he rendered to them was not forgotten in after times, so that it may be inferred that he yielded to the pressing invitation of Moses: see Judges 1:16; 1 Samuel 15:6.

35. When the ark set forward] i.e. whenever it set forward. Every stage of the journey was begun and ended with this prayer of invocation. Psalms 68 recalls this march of the people through the wilderness with God at their head to ensure victory.