Friend of El - Exodus 2:16-25

2:16- 22- It seems to me that many important events that are recorded in the scriptures, happens at a well. That’s significant because obviously, people need water to survive and we need a large and constant flow of it. Unfortunately, people weren’t born with indoor plumbing and running water, which would have been nice. Because of this lack of naturally occurring constant supply of water into our homes, finding a clean water source and bringing the water from that common source to individual homes was very time consuming. In fact, I’ve heard it suggested that shortening the distance to a well to just 1 mile allows millions of girls worldwide to attend school, because they aren’t spending their whole life walking to and from the water source.

The flight that Moses took from Egypt to Midian ended at a well where he came upon the “seven daughters” of the “priest of Midian.” They were drawing water to put into the trough for their sheep when “the shepherds came and drove them away: but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock.” This is a recall to when Jacob did something similar for Rachel, moved the heavy stone all by himself and then gave her flocks water.

I don’t know if Moses was showing off here like Jacob did, but these girls sure did need the help. In fact, TB notes that Moses’ motivation was “driven by his underlying anger and a crusader mentality that we have seen develop, utilizes the fighting skills he would have learned as a standard part of his royal training.” In the movies, it’s portrayed as these guys coming and trying to steal the sheep or chase them off, like a seriously malicious act on their part, the description here doesn’t necessarily portray that, but they are still douchebags, for sure.

After being saved by this “Egyptian”, as the girls call him, “Moses suddenly finds himself with 7 girlfriends, who promptly take him home to daddy.” I thought that was a funny description of the situation. Interestingly, TB notes that even though Moses is a Hebrew, the girls thought he was Egyptian because of “his lack of a beard, which characterized Egyptians (but a beard was required of Hebrew males), and his dress.”

We learn that the father of all these girls, the priest of Midian is called Reuel, which surprised me because I thought his name was Jethro. The IM explains that Jethro is just another interpretation of Reuel, however TB suggests that the name Reuel “is thought to mean ‘friend of El’… El being the name God is called before He announced His actual name. So, in one form or another, Reu’el knew the true God… the one generally known as El.” In this way, Reuel might not have been a given name as much as it was a designation.

TB also notes that Reuel is called ‘the priest’ instead of just ‘a priest,’ and correlates the designation ‘the’ vs. ‘a’ to other parts of the Bible “when it means to indicate the HIGH priest of Israel. So, Reu’el was the chief priest, or high priest, of the Midianites.” Additionally, the IM explains, “Jethro was a descendant of Midian, who was a son of Abraham and Keturah. Through this line Moses received the priesthood.” Jethro welcomes Moses into his household and “gave Moses Zipporah his daughter,” who gave him a son whom he named Gershom, “for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land.”

2:23-25 – With Moses living his life 300 miles away, the Pharaoh who knew Moses, died, and with the new Pharaoh being at least just as severe, “the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage… And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. An God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them.”

It’s important to look at a few of the word used here with some context. The word “remember” doesn’t mean the same thing that it means to us now. We think about it as a “oh I forgot but now I remember,” whereas in this context, it’s more of a “I’ve been waiting to bring up this topic that I’ve been holding onto. Additionally, the word “respect” doesn’t mean “I have a new found deeply held admiration for you,” I think it means, to me, that God felt that it was time for the next stage of their spiritual journey.

A few posts back, TB had made the comment of something like, “Israel is like a cake that got mixed together, then put into the oven to cook for 400 years in slavery,” but during this lecture, he noted that it was time for the cake to come out because it was done, meaning that the people of Israel were ready. This concept of “ready” is so complicated for me because it’s so subjective. Addicts can only become sober when they are ready, no one can force them to do it. People will accept the gospel when they are ready, they can’t be compelled to believe.

But this opens up so many questions, like if someone is sober for a notable chunk of time, but then relapses, does that mean that they weren’t really ready the first time? With respect to the children of Israel, seeing how they acted once they were out of Egypt, with all the constant turning back, were they really more ready than previous generations to accept God? How is it determined that it is time for someone or some group to move forward in their progression, when it wasn’t time for another person when they hit that same land mark? It’s just so subjective, I struggle with it.