Numbers 10:29

_AND MOSES SAID UNTO HOBAB, THE SON OF RAGUEL THE MIDIANITE, MOSES' FATHER IN LAW, WE ARE JOURNEYING UNTO THE PLACE OF WHICH THE LORD SAID, I WILL GIVE IT YOU: COME THOU WITH US, AND WE WILL DO THEE GOOD: FOR THE LORD HATH SPOKEN GOOD CONCERNING ISRAEL._ Hobab, the son of Raguel the Midianite - called also Reuel, the same as Jethro (see the note at Exodus 2:18) х_ Rª`UW'EEL_ (H7467); Septuagint, Ragoueel]. The English translators of Exodus followed the Masoretic punctuation, while in this passage of Numbers the text of the Septuagint seems to have been adopted. Hobab, the son of this Midianite chief, and brother-in-law to Moses, seems to have sojourned among the Israelites during the whole period of their encampment at Sinai, and now on their removal proposed returning to his own abode. Moses urged him to remain, both for his ow

29._And Moses said unto Hobab the son of Raguel. _Very grossly are those mistaken who have supposed Hobab (7) to be Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, whom we have already seen to have returned a few days after he had come to see him. Now, old age almost in a state of decrepitude would have been but little suited for, or equal to, such difficult labors. Moses was now eighty years old, and still far short of the age of his father-in-law. But all doubt is removed by the fourth chapter of Judges, where we read that the descendants of Hobab were still surviving in the land of Canaan. When, therefore, the good old man went home, he left Hobab his son — still in the vigor of life, and to whom on account of his neighborhood, the desert-country was well known — as a companion for his son-in-law, that might be useful to him in the performance of many services. Here, however, whether wearied by d...

29-32 Moses invites his kindred to go to Canaan. Those that are bound for the heavenly Canaan, should ask and encourage their friends to go with them: we shall have none the less of the joys of heaven, for others coming to share with us. It is good having fellowship with those who have fellowship with God. But the things of this world, which are seen, draw strongly from the pursuit of the things of the other world, which are not seen. Moses urges that Hobab might be serviceable to them. Not to show where they must encamp, nor what way they must march, the cloud was to direct that; but to show the conveniences of the place they marched through, and encamped in. It well consists with our trust in God's providence, to use the help of our friends....

Verse Numbers 10:29. _MOSES SAID UNTO HOBAB_] For a circumstantial account of this person see the notes on Exodus 2:15-2; Exodus 2:18; Exodus 3:1; Exodus 4:20; Exodus 4:24; and for the transaction recorded here, and which is probably out of its place, see Exodus 18:5, where the subject is discussed at large. _WE ARE JOURNEYING_] God has brought us out of thraldom, and we

HOBAB, THE SON OF RAGUEL - Or Reuel Exodus 2:18. Reuel was probably not identical with Jethro: and Hobab was the brother-in-law, not the father-in-law, of Moses; the Hebrew word translated in the King James Version “father-in-law,” signifying simply any relation by marriage (Exodus 3:1 note). Hobab Judges 1:16; Judges 4:11 eventually accompanied the Israelites and obtained a settlement with them in the land of Canaan. Hobab and Jethro may have been brethren and sons of Reuel....

EXPOSITION THE INVITATION TO HOBAB (Numbers 10:29-4). NUMBERS 10:29 HOBAB, THE SON OF RAGUEL, MOSES' FATHER-IN-LAW. It is not quite certain who this "Hobab" was. The name occurs only here and in Judges 4:11. The older opinion, followed by the A.V; identified Hobab with Jethro, and Jethro with Reuel the "priest of Midian," and father of Zipporah, Moses' wife. It is, of course, no real objection to this opinion that Hobab is here called the "son of Reuel;" for the name may quite well have been an hereditary one, like Abimelech and so many others. Nor need the multiplicity of nam

AND MOSES SAID UNTO HOBAB, THE SON OF RAGUEL THE MIDIANITE, MOSES'S FATHER IN LAW,.... Some think this Hobab was the same with Jethro, whose father's name was Raguel or Reuel; so Jarchi and Ben Gersom; but rather Raguel or Reuel, and Jethro, seem to be the same, and was Moses's father-in-law, and this Hobab was the son of him, and brother of Zipporah, Moses's wife; and the same relation is designed whether the word is rendered his "father-in-law" or his "wife's brother", so Aben Ezra; as it may be either; if the former, then it may be joined to Raguel, if the latter, then to Hobab: Jethro or Raguel, Moses's father-in-law, came to see him as soon as he came to Horeb, and after some short stay with him returned to Midian, and left this his son Hobab, who remained with Moses unto this time; but now, as Israel was about to remove from the wilderness of Sinai, he showed a disposition to retu...

RAGUEL Called Reuel, (Exodus 2:18)....

MOSES-' REQUEST TO HIS FATHER-IN-LAW. This section and the next (derived from JE) are parallel to, and not the sequel of, Numbers 10:11; for whereas in Numbers 10:12 the Israelites have reached Paran, in Numbers 10:33 they are only starting from Sinai. Moses-' father-in-law, called here (J) and in Judges 4:11 (_mg.)_ Hobab, is named in Exodus 3:1; Exodus 4:18 (E) Jethro, and in Exodus 2:18 * R

BAGUEL, called also Eeuel (Exodus 2:18)....