III.
(1) Moses kept the flock. — The natural occupation of one who had thrown in his lot with the Midianites.
Jethro, his father-in-law. — Rather, his relation by marriage. The word is one of very wide use, corresponding with the Latin affinis. It is even applied to a husband, as in Exodus 4:25. The supposition that it means “father-in-law” has led to the identification of Jethro with Reuel, which is very unlikely. He was more probably Reuel’s son, and Moses’s brother-in-law. His father having died, he had succeeded to his father’s position, and was at once priest and sheikh of the tribe.
To the backside of the desert. — Heb., behind the desert — i.e., to the fertile tract which lay behind the sandy plain stretching from the Sinaitic range to the shore of the Elanitic gulf.
The mountain of God — i.e., Sinai. See Exodus 18:5; Exodus 19:2-23, &c.
Even Horeb. — Rather, towards Horeb, or Horeb way. Horeb seems to have been the name of the entire mountain region; Sinai of the group or mass known now as Jebel Musa.