Before you sit down to enjoy what the special-effects whiz kids have done to Genesis and Exodus for the "sweeps" purposes of In The Beginning . . . , you might consult a forthcoming Free Press book, The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts, by Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman. Finkelstein chairs the Department of Archaeology at Tel Aviv University and directs the Megiddo excavations. Silberman is a scholar on the Dead Sea Scrolls and the author of a fine biography, A Prophet From Amongst You: The Life of Yigael Yadin, which argued that for most of this century, archaeology in Israel has been one big Zionist dig -- an identity-politics daydream of warlords, battering rams, Joshua, and Bar Kokhba the bandit prince. According to The Bible Unearthed, not only did Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob never exist, but the Exodus never happened. They just wrote a good story in the seventh century b.c.e., which may be why the required course for undergradutes at Georgetown is called "BibLit."
Still, Martin Landau will insist on Abraham, Jacqueline Bisset on Sarah, Luke Mably and Sean Pertwee on Isaac, Rachel Stirling and Diana Rigg on Rebeccah, Frederick Weller on Jacob, Andrew Grainger on Esau, Sophie Linfield on Rachel, Eddie Cibrian on Joseph, Steven Berkoff on Potiphar, Amanda Donohoe on Zuleika, Christopher Lee on Ramses I, Richard Rees on Seti I, Billy Campbell on Moses, David Threlfall on Aaron, Geraldine Chaplin on Yocheved, Jonathan Firth on Joshua, and Art Malik on the Pharaoh whose army chased the Red Sea mermaids. I particularly like Eve and her serpent, but the golden calf is a wowser, too, and a snazzier creation myth is unlikely to be seen outside the Sistine Chapel.

From the 13 November 00 issue of New York Magazine

"Pharaoh sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh, and stayed in the land of Midian; and he sat down by a well. Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters; and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock." (Exodus 2:15-16)
And so it was that Moses found himself out in the desert wilderness of the Sinai (see The Sinai Peninsula and Bible Places), the first time, long prior to the Exodus, and how he came to meet Reuel, or Jethro, a priest of Midian, who would soon become Moses' father-in-law.
Jethro was also called Reuel. Reuel meant friend of God, while Jethro meant excellence. Reuel was apparently his personal name, while Jethro may have been a more official or honorary name.
The Midianites originated from Midian, a son of Abraham (Genesis 25:1-2), which therefore actually made Jethro and Moses distant cousins. The Midianite territory consisted mostly in the area east of The Dead Sea and The Jordan River, but during the time of Moses also included a large part of the Sinai.
Moses married Zipporah, one of Jethro's seven daughters. Together during their life in the Sinai they had two sons - Gershom and Eliezer (Exodus 18:3-4). When God sent Moses back to Egypt for the Exodus, Zipporah and their two sons remained safely with Jethro until after Moses returned to the Sinai with the Israelites.
Jethro unknowingly (or possibly knowingly) played an important part in preparing Moses for his Exodus mission. Moses had been born and raised in Egypt. He had lived a relatively easy life - the hardships of living in the Sinai wilderness would have been unknown to him while growing up in the home of the Pharoah's daughter. (Exodus 2:10)
During the long time that Moses lived and worked keeping Jethro's flocks, Jethro no doubt taught him all about desert life. Many are surprised when they first read that Moses spent 40 years out in the desert wilderness before returning to Egypt for the Exodus. Certainly by then he would have become well familiar and accustomed to life in the Sinai, where he would later spend another 40 years leading the Israelites during their Wilderness Journey before their entry into the Promised Land. The long time spent out in the very same wilderness where the freed Israelites would be taken and held for 4 more decades was all part of God's education of Moses. And that training was accomplished through Jethro the Midianite. |||