Exodus 2:18 - Printer Friendly

ESV: When they came home to their father Reuel, he said, "How is it that you have come home so soon today?"

NIV: When the girls returned to Reuel their father, he asked them, "Why have you returned so early today?"

NASB: When they came to their father Reuel, he said, 'Why have you come back so soon today?'

CSB: When they returned to their father Reuel, he asked, "Why have you come back so quickly today?"

NLT: When the girls returned to Reuel, their father, he asked, 'Why are you back so soon today?'

KJV: And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, How is it that ye are come so soon to day?

NKJV: When they came to Reuel their father, he said, “How is it that you have come so soon today?”

The women watering their flock return home. Their father, Reuel, asks how they returned home so soon. He is surprised, perhaps knowing his daughters were often mistreated by male shepherds who watered their own flocks first. This leads to a response regarding Moses (Exodus 2:19). Moses then becomes the object of their father's questions (Exodus 2:20). Reuel—also known as Jethro—discovers that Moses has rescued his daughters from harassment at the hands of other shepherds (Exodus 2:16–17). Reuel eagerly desires to meet Moses, rewards him, and soon makes him part of the family (Exodus 2:21).

An interesting aspect of this verse is the theme of "home." Moses grows up in a household away from his birth family. Later, he flees this for exile. In contrast, Reuel and his family have a home where Moses will be welcomed and treated well. Even during his forty years of exile, God provides for Moses and his needs. This background foreshadows God's future provision for the Jewish people. God will bring the Jews out of Egypt (Exodus 12:41) and into exile for forty years (Numbers 14:33) where He will supernaturally provide for their needs before bringing them into their own land.

Exodus 2:11–22 describes how Moses went from his position as the adopted son of an Egyptian princess to being an exiled shepherd living in Midian. As an adult, Moses defends a fellow Jew by killing an Egyptian aggressor. Moses' attempt to hide the act fails and he is forced to flee Egypt. In Midian, Moses heroically defends a group of shepherd girls and is welcomed into their family. This establishes the backdrop of Moses' life for one of God's most dramatic encounters with man: the burning bush.

Amid an order from Pharaoh to murder newborn Hebrew boys, Moses' mother places him in a basket along the side of the river, staging her daughter there to observe. The Egyptian king's daughter sees the baby and has pity. Thanks to the presence of Moses' sister, the princess pays Moses' own mother to wean him. After this, he is raised in the home of Egypt's royal family. As an adult, Moses unsuccessfully attempts to hide his murder of an abusive Egyptian and flees to Midian as an exile. As Moses builds a family abroad, Israel cries out to God for rescue from the brutality of Egyptian slavery.

Exodus chapter 2 introduces the character of Moses, after describing the plight of Israel under Egyptian slavery. This passage provides a few interesting ironies. Primarily, the Egyptian king attempts to oppress Israel through infanticide; this very command leads to his own daughter adopting a Hebrew boy—Moses. Because of the intervention of the boy's sister, his own mother is paid to nurse and wean him. Then the Egyptian woman provides the Hebrew boy with support and education, essentially raising the future liberator of the very people her father seeks to control. After chapter 2 establishes Moses' exile from Egypt, chapter 3 will begin narrating his call to lead the nation of Israel out of captivity under the Pharaoh.

The book of Exodus establishes God's covenant relationship with the full-fledged nation of Israel. The descendants of Abraham prosper after settling in Egypt, only to be enslaved by a fearful, hateful Egyptian Pharaoh. God appoints Moses to lead the people out of this bondage. Moses serves as God's spokesman, as the Lord brings plagues and judgments on Egypt, leading to the release of Israel.