Jethro

Also known as: Hobab / Jether / Keni / Putiel / Reuel · Family: Midian · Role: priest · First appears: Jethro

After Pharaoh dismissed Reuel in disgrace, he went to Midian. There Jethro gave up his priestly charge before the idols, but the townspeople suspected his motives, put him under the ban, and refused to help him. On the very day Moses arrived, he rescued Jethro’s daughters from the water and watered their flocks. Later, Jethro gave Moses his uprooted rod, then seized him and threw him into a pit. After learning that Moses had survived there for seven years, Jethro freed him, saying, “Blessed be God, who guarded thee for seven years in the pit.”

Jethro gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage, with a condition concerning the upbringing of their children, and Moses swore not to leave Jethro without his consent. Jethro made him shepherd of his flocks; the account describes Moses as his “future son-in-law.” Later, Jethro freely gave Moses permission to return to Egypt. When Aaron objected to bringing Zipporah and their sons there, Moses sent them back to Jethro.