Jethro (biblical figure)
Biblical character, father-in-law of Moses
In the Hebrew Bible, Jethro was Moses's father-in-law, a Kenite shepherd and priest of Midian, sometimes called Reuel (or Raguel). In Exodus, Moses's father-in-law is initially referred to as "Reuel" (Exodus 2:18) but afterwards as "Jethro" (Exodus 3:1). He was also identified as the father of Hobab in Numbers 10:29, though Judges 4:11 identifies him as Hobab.
Druze identify Jethro with the prophet Shuaib, also said to come from Midian. For the Druze, Shuaib is considered the most important prophet, and the ancestor of all Druze.
In Exodus
Jethro is called a priest of Midian and became father-in-law of Moses after he gave his daughter, Zipporah, in marriage to Moses. He is introduced in Exodus 2:18.
Jethro is recorded as living in Midian, a territory stretching along the eastern edge of the Gulf of Aqaba, northwestern Arabia. Some believe Midian is within the Sinai Peninsula. Biblical maps from antiquity show Midian on both locations.
“Jethro (biblical figure)” enters the record as biblical character, father-in-law of Moses. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Jethro, biblical and figure can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q62788. VIAF identifies the subject as 125074331. The Library of Congress control number is n83156490. 1 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Jethro (biblical figure)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.