Exodus 3:1

Jethro. Another name for Reuel (see on ch. 2:18).

On his priesthood, see ch. 2:16; on the location of Midian, see ch. 2:15.

The backside of the desert. Mt. Horeb must be sought in the central part of the Sinai Peninsula (see on p. 509), and according to this verse Jethro’s home was separated from it by a desert. His home must therefore have been to the east or southeast of Horeb, and not to the northeast, as some have thought. Only thus is it possible to explain the following two facts: (1) When Moses returned from Midian to Egypt he went by way of Horeb, where Aaron, coming from Egypt, met him (ch. 4:27). (2) No Midianites were encountered by the Israelites on their journey through the desert, although the homeward road of Hobab, the Midianite, separated from theirs when they departed from Sinai (Num. 10:30). The word translated “backside” sometimes means “west,” as in the RSV of Judges 18:12; Eze. 41:15; Zech. 14:8; Isa. 9:12. This was due to the fact that the Hebrews customarily faced the east when giving directions, and west was therefore “behind” them as east was “before.” This is clear from the LXX of Isa. 9:12. It is further evidence that Horeb lay to the west of Jethro’s home. The word translated “backside” is rendered “west side” in the RSV.

The mountain of God. Exodus was written after the manifestation of God to Israel at Horeb, which gave it the name “Mount of God.” Horeb and Sinai are two names for the same mountain (see Ex. 19:11; Deut. 4:10). Since the 5th century A.D., Horeb has been identified with one of the mountain peaks in the south central part of Sinai called Jehel Musa, “the Mount of Moses.” It is c. 7,500 ft. high and rises some 1,500 ft. above the surrounding valleys. It has been observed, however, that this mountain is invisible from the largest plain of the neighborhood, the er-Raha, which has been considered the “desert of Sinai” (ch. 19:2). This plain offers space for a great number of people, and with some smaller valleys tributary to it has a number of water springs. However, Ras es-Safsaf (c. 6,600 ft.), another peak of the same mountain, overlooks the plain er-Raha. For this reason many scholars who accept the traditional identification of the plain er-Raha with the desert of Sinai, believe that Mt. Sinai is to be identified with Ras es-Safsaf rather than with Jehel Musa.

Others have identified the mountain of the law with the Jehel Serbal, which lies some 15 mi. to the northwest of Jehel Musa, the most impressive mountain of the whole Sinai Peninsula. Jehel Serbal, with a height of only c. 6,750 ft., is far from being one of the highest mountains of the area, but it rises steeply out of the Wadi Feiran, which has an average elevation of only 2,000 ft. It is the great difference in altitude that accounts for the impressiveness of Jehel Serbal. This is one of the reasons why some scholars see in it the Horeb, and in the Wadi Feiran the “desert of Sinai” of Exodus. The second reason is that the tradition connecting Jehel Serbal with Mt. Sinai seems to be earlier than the one identifying Jehel Musa with Mt. Sinai. Since no definite evidence exists to support either identification, it cannot now be determined whether Horeb is Jehel Musa, on whose slopes is the famous monastery of St. Catherine, where Tischendorf found the Codex Sinaiticus, or the neighboring Ras es-Safsaf, or even Jehel Serbal.