JETHRO (Hebrew Jithro'; Ex. 4:18 Jether). - Priest of Midian, father-in-law of Moses (Ex. 2:16; 3:1; 4:18; 18:1, 5, 8, 12, 14, 27). A worshiper of the true God (Ex. 18:11 ff.; Judg. 1:16; 4:11), he is called a Kenite (cineaus).

In Ex. 2:18 and Num. 10:29 he is called Raguel (Rè'ù'ël). It seems that J. is a surname or title of honor ("excellence"), like watar (Heb. jether) in the Sabaean inscriptions and the title of imām among Muslims; whereas Rè'ù'ël ("friend of 'El") is a proper name. As for the identity J.-Raguel, the Greek version of the Septuagint already holds this, since in Ex. 2:16 it twice gives 'Iobép. Given the uncertainty of meaning of the Hebrew names expressing kinship, it may well be that Raguel is the ancestor of Zipporah and the father of J., just as Hobab (Num. 10:29) is only the brother-in-law or a relative of Moses.

J. received Moses, a fugitive from Egypt, and gave him his daughter Zipporah in marriage. Zipporah remained with J. with the children when Moses returned to Egypt to carry out the mission given him by Yahweh. J. brought them back to him when, victorious, Moses was leading the people of Israel free toward Canaan; and he advised him to entrust the handling of the less important matters to a chosen number of elders (Ex. 18).

Bibliography4 works

BIBL.: F. X. Kortleitner, De antiquis Arabiae incolis eorumque cum religione Mosaica ratioibus (Commentationes Biblicae, 3), Innsbruck 1930, p. 75 ff.; A. Clamer, Les Nombres (La Ste Bible, ed. L. Pirot, 2), Paris 1940, p. 279; A. Vaccari, La S. Bibbia, I, Florence 1943, pp. 186, 369; M. Torres, Tetra, sacerdote de Madian, in Rivista biblica, 6 (1944), pp. 254-62. On the relations of the Kenite nomads with the Midianites, cf. L. Desnoyers, Histoire du peuple hébreu, I, Paris 1922, p. 72.

Francesco Spadafora

@incollection{ec6_iethro_ebr_jithro_ex_4_18_ieth, author = {Spadafora, Francesco}, title = {Iethro (Ebr. Jithro'; Ex. 4, 18 iether)}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VI}, pages = {1589}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1951}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/iethro-ebr-jithro-ex-4-18-iether} }

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Jethro

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