Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents

10:29-32 Request to Hobab to Accompany Israel. The relationship of Hobab and Reuel to Jethro (Ex. 3:1; 18:1-2) is uncertain. The least difficult solution is that Reuel and Jethro are alternative names of Moses' father-in-law. This would make Hobab Moses' brother-in-law. In Judg. 4:11 Hobab's descendants are called Kenites, whereas here he is called a Midianite. Probably the Kenites were a subgroup of the Midianites. The Lord has promised good to Israel, that is, the land. I will depart to my own land and to my kindred. Hobab apparently rejects the offer of a share in Canaan (in stark contrast to Abraham's response to God's call; Gen. 12:1-4). It is not clear if Moses' subsequent entreaty persuaded him to change his mind, for the text does not say. In Numbers 25 and 31 the Midianites are fierce enemies of Israel, but in Judg. 1:16 and 4:11 the Kenites are Israel's allies, living in Canaan.