Hobab

VIEW:34 DATA:01-04-2020
favored; beloved
Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary


HOBAB.—In E [Note: Elohist.] (Exo_3:1; Exo_4:18; Exo_18:1-2 ff.) the father-in-law of Moses is uniformly named Jethro. But Num_10:29 (J [Note: Jahwist.] ) speaks of ‘Hobab the son of Reuel the Midianite Moses’ father-in-law’ (hôthçn). It is uncertain how this should be punctuated, and whether Hobab or Reuel was Moses’ father-in-law. The former view is found in Jdg_4:11 (cf. Jdg_1:16), the latter in Exo_2:18. The RV [Note: Revised Version.] in Jdg_1:16; Jdg_4:11 attempts to harmonize the two by rendering hôthçn ‘brother-in-law.’ But this harmonization is doubtful, for (1) though it is true that in Aram. [Note: Aramaic.] and Arab. [Note: Arabic.] the cognate word can be used rather loosely to describe a wife’s relations, there is no evidence that it is ever so used in Heb.; and it would be strange to find the father and the brother of the same man’s wife described by the same term; (2) Exo_2:16 appears to imply that the priest of Midian had no sons. It is probable that the name Renel was added in Exo_2:18 by one who misunderstood Num_10:29. The suggestion that ‘Hobab the son of’ has accidentally dropped out before Renel is very improbable. Thus Jethro (E [Note: Elohist.] ) and Hobab (J [Note: Jahwist.] ) are the names of Moses’ father-in-law, and Reuel is Hobab’s father. A Mohammedan tradition identifies Sho’ aib (perhaps a corruption of Hobab), a prophet sent to the Midianites, with Moses’ father-in-law. On his nationality, and the events connected with him, see Kenites, Midian, Jethro.
A. H. M’Neile.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909


("beloved".) Only in Num_10:29; Jdg_4:11. Not probably "father-in-law," but as the Hebrew Chathan often means, "brother in law," of Moses. Son of Raguel = Reuel (as Gazah = Azzah), Exo_2:18. Moses' entreaty, "Leave us not, I pray thee, forasmuch as thou knowest how we are to encamp in the wilderness, and thou mayest be to us instead of eyes," implies that Hobab was younger than Moses' father-in-law could now have been. Reuel had seven grown daughters when Moses first went into the wilderness at 40, and now Moses was 80. It is therefore probable that by this time Reuel's son Jethro had succeeded him in his hereditary priesthood. Moreover, Hobab is not Jethro (Exo_18:27), for Jethro left the Israelites for his own land Midian before they reached Sinai, whereas Hobab accompanied them and settled in Canaan (Jdg_1:16; Jdg_4:11).
Hobab and Jethro ("excellency") were probably brothers of Zipporah, Moses' wife, and sons of Reuel; Hobab the younger, and therefore not bound, as Jethro the elder, to his own tribe by the duties of an hereditary priesthood. We do not hear of Jethro after his departure from Israel before Sinai. As Jethro helped Moses in counsel as a judicious administrator, so Hobab helped him as the experienced Arab sheikh familiar with the tracks, passes, and suitable places of the wilderness for an encampment, quick eyed in descrying the far off shrubs which betoken the presence of water, and knowing well where there was danger of hostile attacks. The ark of the covenant was their main guide (Num_10:33). But divine guidance does not preclude human; nay, the God of ordinary providence works by natural means and is the same as the God of special grace.
Moses' words to Hobab, "We are journeying unto the place of which the Lord said, I will give it you," imply Israel's assured faith in God's promise; as sure as if it were in their hands. So the believer answers every allurement to make this pilgrimage world his rest (Heb_13:14; Heb_11:13-16). He is no longer in the Egypt of the world in spirit, nor is he yet in the heavenly Canaan; he is on the way, and has no doubt of the end (2Ti_1:12). He tries to persuade all others to join him, for, whereas other riches are diminished by sharing, these are increased: "Come thou with us, and we will do thee good; for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel." Holy importunity succeeds at last.
Hobab said: "I will not go, but I will depart to mine own land and kindred." Moses replied: "Leave us not, I pray thee ... and it shall be, that what goodness the Lord shall do unto us, the same will we do unto thee." The Kenite complied, and in due time shared in Israel's blessing in Canaan. So Zec_8:23. Going with those with whom God is, we shall share in their blessing from God (1Jn_1:3). So Ruth experienced, who did not need to be entreated, but entreated to go with her godly mother-in-law (1Jn_1:16-17). Hobab's family by joining Israel escaped Amalek's doom (1Sa_15:6). If we suffer with Israel in the wilderness, we shall reign with Israel in Canaan (2Ti_2:12; Luk_22:28-29).
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.


Ho'bab. (beloved). This name is found in two places only, Num_10:29; Jdg_4:11. Hobab was brother-in-law to Moses. (B.C. 1530).
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863


hō?bab (חבב, ḥōbhābh, ?beloved?; Septuagint Ὀβάβ, Obáb): This name occurs only twice (Num_10:29; Jdg_4:11). It is not certain whether it denotes the father-in-law or the brother-in-law of Moses. The direct statement of Num_10:29 is that Hobab was ?the son of Reuel? (the King James Version ?Raguel?). This is probably the correct view and finds support in Exo_18:27, which tells us that some time before the departure of the Israelites from Sinai, Jethro had departed and returned to his own land. The statement of Jdg_4:11 is ambiguous, and therefore does not help us out of the difficulty, but is rather itself to be interpreted in the light of the earlier statement in Num_10:29.
Mohammedan traditions favor the view that Hobab was only another name for Jethro. But this has little weight against the statements of Scripture. However, whether father-in-law or brother-in-law to Moses, the service he rendered to the leader of the hosts of Israel was most valuable and beautiful. Hobab was an experienced sheikh of the desert whose counsel and companionship Moses desired in the unfamiliar regions through which he was to journey. His knowledge of the wilderness and of its possible dangers would enable him to be to the Israelites ?instead of eyes.?
The facts recorded of this man are too meager to enable us to answer all the questions that arise concerning him. A difficulty that remains unsolved is the fact that in Jdg_1:16 and Jdg_4:11 he is described as a Kenite, while in Exo_3:1 and Exo_18:1, the father-in-law of Moses is spoken of as ?the priest of Midian.?

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.


Ho?bab, kinsman of Moses and priest or prince of Midian, a tract of country in Arabia Petr?a, on the eastern border of the Red Sea, at no great distance from Mount Sinai. The family of this individual seems to have observed the worship of the true God in common with the Hebrews (Exo_18:11-12).
Considerable difficulty has been felt in determining who this person was, as well as his exact relation to Moses; for the word, which, in Exo_3:1, Num_10:29, Jdg_4:11, is translated father-in-law, and in Gen_19:14, son-in-law, is a term of indeterminate signification, denoting simply relationship by marriage; and besides, the transaction which in one place (Exo_18:27) is related of Jethro, is in another related of Hobab. The probability is, that as forty years had elapsed since Moses' connection with this family was formed, his father-in-law (Exo_2:18) Reuel or Raguel (the same word in the original is used in both places) was dead, or confined to his tent by the infirmities of age, and that the person who visited Moses at the foot of Sinai was his brother-in-law, called Hobab in Num_10:29, Jdg_4:11; Jethro in Exo_3:1; and the Kenite in Jdg_1:16.
About a year after the Exodus he paid a visit to Moses, while the Hebrew camp was lying in the environs of Sinai, bringing with him Zipporah, Moses' wife, who, together with her two sons, had been left with her family while her husband was absent on his embassy to Pharaoh. The interview was on both sides affectionate, and was celebrated first by the solemn rites of religion, and afterwards by festivities, of which Aaron and the elders of Israel were invited to partake. On the following day, observing Moses incessantly occupied in deciding causes that were submitted to him for judgment, his experienced kinsman remonstrated with him on the speedy exhaustion which a perseverance in such arduous labors would superinduce; and in order to relieve himself, as well as secure a due attention to every case, he urged Moses to appoint a number of subordinate officers to divide with him the duty of the judicial tribunals, with power to decide in all common affairs, while the weightier and more serious matters were reserved to himself. This wise suggestion the Hebrew legislator adopted (Exodus 18).
When the Hebrews were preparing to decamp from Sinai, the kinsman of Moses announced his intention to return to his own territory; but if he did carry that purpose into execution, it was in opposition to the urgent solicitations of the Jewish leader, who entreated him, for his own advantage, to cast in his lot with the people of God; at all events to continue with them, and afford them the benefit of his thorough acquaintance with the wilderness. 'Leave us not, I pray thee,' said Moses, 'forasmuch as thou knowest how we are to encamp in the wilderness, and thou mayest be to us instead of eyes;' in other words, that Hobab might perform the office of a hybeer or guide [CARAVAN]?his influence as an Arab chief, his knowledge of the routes, the situation of the wells, the places for fuel, the prognostics of the weather, and the most eligible stations for encamping, rendering him peculiarly qualified to act in that important capacity. It is true that God was their leader, by the pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night, the advancement or the halting of which regulated their journeys and fixed their encampments. But beyond these general directions the tokens of their heavenly guide did not extend. And as smaller parties were frequently sallying forth from the main body in quest of forage and other necessaries, which human observation or enterprise was sufficient to provide, so Moses discovered his wisdom and good sense in enlisting the aid of a native sheik, who, from his family connection with himself, his powerful influence, and his long experience, promised to render the Israelites most important services.
The Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
by John Kitto.


Hobab
(Heb. Chobab', חֹבָב, beloved; Sept. Ο᾿βάβ, in Judges Ι᾿ωβάβ), the son of Raguel the Midianite, a kinsman of Moses (Num_10:29; Jdg_4:11). B.C. 1657. He has usually been identified with Jethro (see Exo_18:5; Exo_18:27, compared with Num_10:29-30); but it is rather his father Reuel to whom the title “Moses's father-in-law” is intended to apply in Num_10:29; for that these two latter were' names of the same person, and that the father of Moses's wife, seems clear from Exo_2:6; Exo_2:21; Exo_3:1. Hence Hobab was Moses's brother-in-law (and so we must render חֹתֵןin Jdg_4:11, where the Auth.Vers. has “father-in-law,” being, it is true, the same applied elsewhere to Jethro, but merely signifying any male relative by marriage, and rendered even “son- in-law” in Gen_19:14); so that while Jethro (as was natural for a person of his advanced age) returned to his home (Exo_18:27), Moses prevailed upon Hobab (whose comparative youth rendered his services the greater object to secure) to remain (as. seems implied by the absence of any refusal to his second importunity in Num_10:32), so that we find his descendants among the Israelites (Jdg_4:11). SEE JETHRO.

CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.





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