Yitro
· Biblical era · Midian
Yitro was the priest of Midian and the father-in-law of Moshe. When Moshe fled Egypt, he defended the priest's seven daughters at a well. Their father, called Reuel in this passage, welcomed him and gave him his daughter Tzipporah as a wife (Exodus 2:15-21). Moshe was tending Yitro's flock when he came to Horeb, the mountain of God, and saw the burning bush (Exodus 3:1). Moshe asked his leave before returning to Egypt (Exodus 4:18). After the Exodus, Yitro brought Tzipporah and her two sons to Moshe's camp in the wilderness. He rejoiced at what God had done, declared 'Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods', and offered sacrifices (Exodus 18:1-12). Watching Moshe judge the people alone from morning to evening, he advised him to appoint capable, God-fearing officers over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens, keeping only the hardest cases for himself. Moshe followed this advice (Exodus 18:13-26). Rashi, drawing on the Mekhilta, records a tradition that Yitro had seven names, among them Reuel, Hobab and Keni (Rashi on Exodus 18:1).
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Midianמדין
What they did here
Priest of Midian, where Moshe found refuge and married his daughter (Exodus 2:15-21; 3:1). Midian is a region generally placed in north-western Arabia, east of the Gulf of Aqaba. The pin is regional.
About Midian
Midian was a region inhabited by the Midianite people, generally located in the northwestern Arabian Peninsula east of the Gulf of Aqaba. According to the Torah, Moses fled to Midian after leaving Egypt, married Zipporah the daughter of the Midianite priest Jethro, and encountered the burning bush there.
In the same place & time
Sages whose lives overlapped with Yitro’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.
In the same tradition
Works
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