And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took Zipporah, Moses' wife, after he had sent her back,
Jethro arrives at the mountain of God, and verse 2 drops in a fact the story never mentioned before. At some point Moses had sent Zipporah home to her father. Why did they part? And why does she come back now, after God has judged Egypt and freed Israel?
The story of the plagues and the Red Sea says nothing about Moses' family.
Jethro must have known the full story of Israel's sufferings in Egypt. Moses had lived with him for forty years. Now he had heard the wonderful story of their deliverance, and he came to rejoice with them, bringing Zipporah and her two sons. Only now do we learn that Moses had sent her back to her father, and what the name of the second son was.
Zipporah had set out with Moses toward Egypt. She did not stay. One writer pieces the sequence together like this:
Apparently Moses took his wife Zipporah and Gershom, his son, to Egypt when he returned there at God's call. Likely his second son, Eliezer, was born in Egypt. This chapter (v. 2) tells us that Moses "had sent her home" — evidently to stay with her parents until God set Israel free.
The reunion here answers an earlier parting in anger.
Remember what this lovely scene is made of! The last time Moses and Zipporah were together, they parted as if in a rage. The last time we see and hear the people, they were murmuring again and again at the ways of the Lord. The same Moses, the same Zipporah, the same people — but morally, how different! The people ask and obey instead of murmuring, and Zipporah's quarrel over her "husband of blood" ends with her bringing her children back to greet her lord and rejoice with him.
Moses married Zipporah far from Israel, years before the exodus. Writers see a picture of Christ and the church in that timing.
At that point Israel had not yet recognised Moses as the leader who would set the people free. This brings us to the first point about Zipporah: she was the bride given to Moses in the days of his rejection. In the same way the church now is the bride given to the Lord Jesus during the time when He is rejected by Israel.
Her absence matters as much as her return.
It is significant that Zipporah stayed hidden in her father's house. She was not with Moses when he carried out the judgements on Egypt and set the people of Israel free. The Lord is the true Moses, who will deliver His people with might and power and who will execute judgement on the world.
Moses named Gershom years earlier. Eliezer's name appears only here, and the order matters.
The episode in Exodus 4 had shown us that Zipporah was not ready for circumcision, the sign of the covenant with Abraham, and the picture of the cutting off of the flesh. In naming his elder son Gershom, Moses revealed that he knew he was a stranger in the world where he lived. The cutting off of circumcision was very fitting for a stranger. Now the second son appears, and we move from what is negative to what is positive, since Eliezer means "My God is a help."
Read as a picture of Israel's history, the two names mark two stages:
The first is Gershom, "for he said, I have been an alien," or a pilgrim, "in a strange land." It recalls the weary days when Israel was away from their own land, scattered as strangers throughout the world. The name of the second is Eliezer: "For the God of my father was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh." This certainly recalled the past, but it is also a prophecy of the future. Taken as a picture, it speaks of the final deliverance of Israel, before they enter into blessing under the reign of Messiah.
The returning wife and sons are not a domestic footnote. They complete a picture.
The whole congregation assembled in triumph before the Lord, with the Gentile presenting sacrifice. And to complete the picture, the bride of the deliverer comes in too, together with the children God had given him. In short, it is a strikingly clear foreshadowing of the coming kingdom.
- Sent back. Moses sent Zipporah to her father's house while he faced Pharaoh. The parting was temporary, not final.
- Given in rejection. She became Moses' wife before Israel recognised him as their deliverer. The bride belongs to the time of rejection.
- Kept from the judgment. She was absent from Egypt while the blows fell; the deliverer acted alone.
- Named in hope. Gershom recalls Moses' words, "I have been an alien in a strange land." Eliezer, whose name we learn only after the rescue, means "My God is a help."
- Brought back for joy. Wife, sons and a rejoicing Gentile stand with the freed people at the mountain of God. It pictures the kingdom to come.
and her two sons, of whom the name of the one was Gershom -- for he said, I have been a sojourner in a foreign land,
Moses' father-in-law Jethro brings Moses' family to him in the wilderness, and the story pauses to explain the elder boy's name. Moses gave that name years earlier in a foreign land. It returns here, just as Israel walks free from Egypt, and commentators read far more in it than family history.
Moses put his own homelessness into his son's name. The ESV has him say, "I have been a sojourner in a foreign land"; the older wording the writers quote is "a stranger in a strange land." One writer sees our own place in the world in that name:
We find Moses then in the land of Midian, and soon with a Gentile bride. But his son's name tells us that he has still found no real home. He names his son "Gershom" — "a stranger" — for he says: "I have been a stranger in a strange land." Here Moses beautifully reflects our character and position in the world, and that of Him to whom we belong. The wife belongs no more to Midian, but to her husband. The "stranger" son never becomes a resident of the land where he is born. These things should need no explanation to any of our hearts. May God make us more Gershoms in the land of Midian — strangers in a world where Christ can find a bride, but not a home.
Moses spent forty years in Midian. Look at how little Exodus keeps from those years:
It is strange indeed that the chief record of the forty long years Moses spent in Midian is this: he called his son by the Egyptian name Gershom, which means banishment — "for," said he, "I have been a stranger in a strange land." Even the name of his second son, born in Midian, does not appear in the book of Exodus until Moses had led Israel out of Egypt. Forty long years of schooling, and yet hardly a word said about this one-third of Moses' life!
Moses gained his wife and sons while he lived apart from Israel. His own people had refused him. One writer reads that timing as a pattern:
And I would add this: Moses got a wife and children when he was separated from his brothers, the children of Israel, through their unbelief and rejection of him. As a result, as he says himself, he was then "a stranger in a strange land" (Ex. 2:22; Ex. 18:3). In the same way, the unbelief and rejection of Israel has brought the Lord in among the Gentiles, and He is gathering a church, a wife and children, out from among them.
Zipporah, Moses' wife, comes to him only now — after God judged Egypt and Israel went free. One writer finds meaning in her absence:
It is significant that Zipporah was hidden in her father's house, and not with Moses, while he carried out the judgements on Egypt and set the people of Israel free. The Lord is the true Moses. He will deliver His people with might and power, and He will execute the judgement on the world.
Commentators differ on what Gershom pictures. Some see the Christian's own life as a stranger here. Others see the two brothers as marking out God's dealings with Israel across time:
The very names of the children explain the typical character of the whole scene. The first is Gershom; "for he said, I have been an alien" or a pilgrim "in a strange land." So it recalls the weary days when Israel was away from their own land, scattered as strangers throughout the world... So the two names mark two distinct periods in God's dealings with Israel... But this scene looks back on the sorrows of their scattering as past, and in picture they now hold the blessing they had waited for so long.
- Named: Gershom means "a stranger". Moses put his own exile into his son's name, so the boy's name repeated his father's confession every day.
- Remembered: forty years in Midian left almost no record in Exodus except this name. That is what God kept from them.
- Received: Moses gained wife and sons while his own people rejected him. Writers see the same pattern in Christ gathering a people while Israel refuses Him.
- Restored: Zipporah stayed away while judgement fell on Egypt. She returns only after the rescue is finished.
- Reaching forward: the two names in this chapter mark stages in God's dealings — scattering first, then rescue and joy.
-- and the name of the other, Eliezer -- For the God of my father has been my help, and has delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh.
Moses had named his second son for a rescue: God had been his help when Pharaoh wanted him dead. The name comes up again here, years later, now that Israel itself is out of Egypt. Commentators read in it both a personal memory and a picture of something far larger.
The two boys' names run in opposite directions. One records what Moses lacked; the other records what God supplied.
In naming his elder son Gershom, Moses showed that he knew himself to be a stranger in the world where he was living. Now we come to the second son, and we move from what is negative to what is positive, since Eliezer means "My God is a help." This had now become very plain. In these two names we find Moses saying in principle what Joseph before him had said in the names of his two sons, which meant "Forgetting" and "Fruitful."
Moses names a rescue from Pharaoh's sword. One writer reads the name as a clue to where and when the boy was born.
It seems Moses took his wife Zipporah and his son Gershom to Egypt when he returned there at God's call. His second son Eliezer was likely born in Egypt, for we are told in this chapter (v. 2) that "he had sent her back" — evidently to stay with her parents until God set Israel free. The meaning of the name of Eliezer ("my God is a help") seems to show that he was born while Moses was contending with Pharaoh. Moses said then that God had been his help in delivering him from the sword of Pharaoh (v. 4).
Eliezer's name appears late in the story. One writer treats that delay as a clue to how God shows Himself to His people.
We do not find Eliezer (my God is a help) until chapter 18:4. By then Israel is delivered, and the Gentiles come to eat bread with the elders of Israel. We then have the double character of the Lord's relationship with Israel. He is a Stranger with them when they are oppressed, and their Deliverer as the God of their fathers.
Commentators differ on where Moses named this son: one places Eliezer's birth in Egypt, another has both names given in Midian. Either way, the man who chose the name was still waiting on God's promises.
While Moses fled from Egypt, he still held to the sure promises of God. He held on to his confidence, against all past experience and every outward appearance. His heart was hopeful, because God was in his thoughts. God would keep him safe from the king of Egypt. He would also keep him to see His promise fulfilled. Moses had no intention of dying in Midian. The name he gave his firstborn son expressed the assurance that his stay in that country would one day be a thankful memory of praise. To his second child he gave a name that glorified the faithful mercy of the God who saved him from the sword of Pharaoh.
Some writers read the pair of names as a map of God's dealings with Israel. On that reading, Eliezer's name is not only Moses' testimony about his own past but a promise about Israel's future.
The name of the second is Eliezer: "The God of my father was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh." This certainly recalled the past. But it is also a prophecy of the future. Understood as a type, it speaks of Israel's final deliverance, just before they come into blessing under the reign of Messiah. The two names therefore mark two distinct periods in God's dealings with Israel... the second points to that great hour when the Lord will suddenly appear and snatch His people from the very jaws of the enemy.
One writer adds the promise this points to. The name of the second son "foretells Israel's final deliverance by God their helper." Then Zephaniah's words come true: "The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save" (An Outline of Sound Words).
- Danger. The name looks back to a real threat. Moses fled with Pharaoh's sword behind him, and one writer places Eliezer's birth during that conflict.
- Help. Eliezer means "My God is a help." Gershom's name said Moses was a stranger. Eliezer's name said God had helped him.
- Timing. The name appears only in chapter 18, after Israel is out of Egypt. The Lord is first a Stranger with His oppressed people, then their Deliverer.
- Faith. Moses named the boy with nothing yet to show for God's promises. He held on to them against all appearances.
- Prophecy. Commentators read the two names as two eras. First scattering, then rescue — Israel's God proving Himself their help at the last.
And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came to Moses with his sons and his wife into the wilderness, where he encamped at the mountain of God.
Moses had sent his wife and two sons home to her father; now Jethro brings them back to him in the desert, at the mountain of God. Commentators read this quiet reunion as the close of a whole section of Exodus, and as a preview of something far larger.
So far Exodus has shown God rescuing His people step by step. This arrival brings that stretch of the book to a close.
Here we come to the end of a clearly marked division of the book of Exodus. We have seen God, in His perfect grace, visiting and redeeming His people. He brought them out of the land of Egypt. He delivered them first from the hand of Pharaoh, and then from the hand of Amalek. We have also seen, in the manna, a picture of Christ come down from heaven; in the rock, a picture of Christ struck for His people; and in the flowing water, a picture of the Spirit given. Then follows, in striking and beautiful order, a picture of the future glory, divided into its three great parts: the Jew, the Gentile, and the Church of God.
The verse names the place, and that name matters. Moses had brought Jethro's sheep to this same mountain years earlier.
This mountain also carries the name "the Mount of the LORD". The same phrase turns up elsewhere in Exodus, and it always has to do with God revealing Himself at Mount Sinai. Moses once led his father-in-law's flock all the way through the desert to Horeb, the mountain of God. In the same way, he led the people of Israel through the wilderness to this mountain (Ex. 3:1; Ex. 18:5; Ex. 24:13). It was the mountain where God sat enthroned.
Zipporah had been away from Moses while God dealt with Egypt. Commentators press the timing of her return.
But God had now judged Egypt, redeemed Israel, disciplined them, and brought them to the edge of the mountain. So the right time had come for Zipporah, the Gentile wife, to appear again. Her father leads her out by the hand, to be reunited with Moses at "the Mount of God," now that all the work of judgment and redemption was finished in glory.
The verse lists four parties arriving or waiting: Moses, his wife, her sons, and Jethro. Commentators see each standing for someone.
Having administered these judgements Moses is reunited to his wife. The picture we get in Exodus 18 is that the following 'parties' are assembled together: Moses (picture of the Lord), and Zipporah (picture of the church), are together with Reuel (picture of the nations) and speak about the subject of how God has delivered his people Israel and the ways he has gone with the enemies of His people in order to bring this about.
Moses named his two sons Gershom and Eliezer. Those names carry more than family history.
The first is Gershom, "for he said, I have been an alien," or a pilgrim, "in a foreign land." It recalls the weary days when Israel was away from their own land, scattered as strangers throughout the world. The name of the second is Eliezer: "For the God of my father was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh." This certainly looks back to the past. But it is also a prophecy of the future. Taken as a picture, it speaks of the final deliverance of Israel, just before they are brought into blessing under the reign of Messiah. So the two names mark two distinct periods in God's dealings with Israel.
Jethro was nowhere near Egypt while God was judging it. Commentators treat where he lived as part of the picture.
Jethro stands for the Gentiles who are saved during the great tribulation and will come to enjoy the blessing of the coming thousand-year kingdom with the Jews... While God was judging Egypt with those terrible blows, Jethro was out of sight in a remote part of the desert. In the same way, it is the nations we now call heathen, living in places the world hardly notices, who will be blessed when long-lost Israel is gathered. Zipporah and her sons stand nearer to Israel's deliverer than anyone else at the "mount of God" could. This is the Church.
Nothing in this group's past promised peace. The place where they meet changes that.
Here we see the heavenly family and the earthly family together at the mount of God, pictured in Jethro and the ransomed tribes. The whole scene is full of moral beauty. Yet the people who make up this scene had felt very differently about each other in earlier days. Moses and Zipporah had parted in anger the last time they met, and the people had grumbled again and again. But now the mount of God has its effect on them. From the greatest to the least, from Jethro down to the furthest corner of the camp, everything stands under the power of godly order, submission, and fellowship.
- Place — Israel camps at Horeb, the mountain where God revealed Himself and sat enthroned. Everything else here happens on that ground.
- Grace — The rescue from Egypt, the manna and the water from the rock were all grace. This arrival closes that section and turns it into a picture of coming glory.
- Timing — Zipporah returns only after God has judged Egypt and redeemed Israel. Her sons' names look back to exile and forward to Israel's final deliverance.
- Company — Israel's deliverer, his Gentile wife, her two sons and Jethro from outside all stand in one scene: the Jew, the Gentile, and the Church of God.
- Order — People who once parted in anger or grumbled now stand together in fellowship and submission, from Jethro to the farthest edge of the camp.
And he sent word to Moses I, thy father-in-law Jethro, am come to thee, and thy wife, and her two sons with her.
Jethro reaches the camp at the mountain of God. He sends word ahead, naming himself, Moses' wife, and her two sons. It reads like a simple family notice. Yet commentators see in this small group — the deliverer, the Gentile father-in-law, the returning wife, the two boys — a picture of the kingdom to come.
Zipporah stayed in her father's house while Moses went back to Egypt. She appears again only now, when the work is done:
Egypt was judged, Israel redeemed, disciplined, and led to the borders of the mountain. Then the right time had come for Zipporah, the Gentile wife, to appear again. She is now brought forward, led out by her father's hand, to join Moses again at "the Mount of God." By then all the work of judgment and redemption was gloriously and fully accomplished.
One writer sees her absence as part of the picture, not an accident of the story:
It is significant that Zipporah was hidden in her father's house, and not with Moses, while he carried out the judgements on Egypt and set the people of Israel free. The Lord is the true Moses. He will deliver His people with might and power, and He will execute the judgement on the world.
The verse counts the sons but does not name them. Earlier verses give both names, and each one carries a message:
In naming his elder son Gershom, Moses revealed that he knew he was a stranger in the world where he lived... Now the second son is mentioned. We pass from what is negative to what is positive, since Eliezer means, "My God is a help." This had now been made very plain.
Another commentator traces the same two names across Israel's story:
The first name is Gershom, and it recalls the weary days of Israel's absence from their own land, when they were scattered as strangers throughout the world... The two names mark two distinct periods in God's dealings with Israel... the second points to that momentous hour in which the Lord will suddenly appear and snatch His people from the very jaws of the enemy.
Moses received his bride during the years when his own people rejected him. Writers see the church in her for that reason:
During the time when Moses was rejected by his brothers, he was taken aside and given a bride — the companion of his rejection... This is precisely what Christ is to the Church. Her connection with Him is founded upon death and resurrection... It is, as we know, during the period of Israel's unbelief, and of Christ's rejection, that the Church is called out.
But the picture has limits. Not everyone in the family group stands for the same thing:
In Exodus 18 come the Gentiles. Zipporah then is a type of the Church we are getting now. The two sons are not the Church, only Zipporah.
Until this message, Israel knew nothing of Moses' family in Midian. The announcement brings the connection into the open, and places them closest to him:
Until now this had been a hidden union. But now the wife and the children, led out by the father, appear in front of his own countrymen. They take a place nearer to Moses, the great centre of the whole scene, than any of them.
With Jethro's arrival, every group is present at once, and the chapter becomes a sketch of the age to come:
The whole congregation gathers in triumph before the Lord. The Gentile presents his sacrifice. And in addition, to complete the picture, the bride of the deliverer and the children whom God had given him are brought in as well. It is, in short, a remarkably striking foreshadowing of the coming kingdom.
One writer draws out what brought Jethro, and how Moses received him:
It was no wonder that Moses' father-in-law should seek to come to him while they were travelling in the wilderness, and bring his wife and two sons as well, since he had heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel His people. That Moses, camped at the mountain of God, greater than any prophet... should not stay in his tent, but go out to meet one so much lower than himself, though his father-in-law, and bow down too, was lovely.
- Kept back. Zipporah stayed in her father's house through the judgments on Egypt. She returns to the finished work, not to the fight.
- Named. Gershom speaks of life as a stranger, Eliezer of God as help — the negative answered by the positive.
- Given. The bride came to Moses in the years his own people rejected him, which is why writers see the church in her.
- Revealed. The message makes a hidden family tie public. The wife and sons now stand nearer to Moses than anyone in the camp.
- Gathered. The Gentile father-in-law, redeemed Israel, and the deliverer's household stand in one scene. The chapter sketches the coming kingdom.