18:5 Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, together with Moses’8 sons and his wife, came to Moses in the desert where he was camping by9 the mountain of God.10
tnHeb “his”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
9
tn This is an adverbial accusative that defines the place (see GKC373–74§118.g).
10
sn The mountain of God is Horeb, and so the desert here must be the Sinai desert by it. But chap. 19 suggests that they left Rephidim to go the 24 miles to Sinai. It may be that this chapter fits in chronologically after the move to Sinai, but was placed here thematically. W. C. Kaiser defends the present location of the story by responding to other reasons for the change given by Lightfoot, but does not deal with the travel locations (W. C. Kaiser, Jr., “Exodus,” EBC 2:411).