Volkes, sec. ii. 33) that, by an ancient clerical error tbe words p Inn+, Jethro son of,' had dropped out before the name of Reuel, it would then be easy with the Targurn Jonathan, Aben Ezra, Rosemniiller, etc., to assume that Jethro was Reuel's son. Since, however, there is no trace of such an error, we conclude (3) that Yethro and Reuel are identical, a view supported by the autho rity of Josephus (Antiq. ii. 12. 1, 'TEBE-Adios earlicXvia ni; 'Pa-yoozjX), and adopted by Von Len gerke (Kenaan, i. 393), Bertheau (Gesch. .1.sr., sec. 242), Kalisch (Exod., p. 35), and others. The difficulty arising from the unexplained use of tzuo names in close proximity still remains ; but it is less than that involved by any other view.
The fourth supposition—that Jethro is identical with Hobab, is the most common ; nevertheless it seems to its exceedingly improbable. It rests mainly on the fact that in Judg. iv. 11* Hobab is called the /1311 (A. V., father-in-law) of Moses. It is true that inh generally means father-in-law, and this is alone sufficient to account for the identifica tion of Jethro with Hobab (Schoen)) in the Moham medan traditions (D'Herbelot, Bibl. Orient. s. v.
Schoaib ; Weil. Bibl. Leg., s. r6S, etc.) But it is certaint from Gen. xix. 14, if not from 2 Kings viii. 27 and other passages, that Mil may mean mei ely 'marriage-connection,' and therefore brother in-law (Jerome, Cognatus). Nothing therefore prevents us from regarding Hobab as the son of Jethro (or Reuel, Judg. iv. ir.), and brother-in-law of Moses, a view which is rendered absolutely necessary by the statements that Jethro could not be persuaded to stay with the Israelites (Exod. xviii. 27), whereas Hobab not only acted as their hybeer, or caravan-guide, in the desert, but actu ally accompanied them into palestine, and settled among them 'Cludg. iv. r t, i. 16. See KEN1; KENITES; RECHABITES).
We therefore infer that Jethro and Raguel are identical, the latter being his local title as a 'priest' of Midian, and the former the name by which he was best known to tbe Jews ; arid that Hobab was his son, whom he left to act as a guide to the Is raelites on his own return to his native land. This supposition seems required by the conditions of the case, and leaves no contradiction in the Mosaic narrative (see HOBAB; JETHER; KENI, etc.)— F. W. F. •