Multiple Names Can be Tricky

I spent a few minutes this morning updating my Bible Voices spreadsheet for the first 5 chapters of Exodus. Already I encounter an interesting situation. The father-in-law of Moses . . . was he Reuel or Jethro? The answer appears to be "both." Also, later in Judges we get the impression that his name is also "Hobab."

... Hobab the father in law of Moses. -- Judges 4:11

Then in Numbers it appears that Hobeb could be the name of Moses' brother-in-law (not father-in-law)

Hobab, the son of Raguel the Midianite, Moses' father in law... -- Numbers 10:29

Wait a minute . . . what about this "Raguel" -- now we have a 4th name! So which is it? Reuel? Jethro? Hobab? Raguel? 2 out 4? 3 out of 4? All 4? . . . Hmm.


Yes, this is tricky to the modern western mind. Much of this has to do with the fact that people from this period in history often had multiple names. Add to that the problem with the translation of "father-in-law" verses "son-in-law." Apparently these modern phrases were both represented by the same Hebrew word -- "chathan" (חָתַן). So Hobab could be the SAME as Reuel or the SON of Reuel. It's hard to know which.

I've added this whole name of Jethro thing to my list of "difficult text" that I have been compiling as I can see that it clearly qualifies as controversial (there are several conflicting theories), and little confusing, and truly difficult. Also I can see the that a study in multiple names in the scripture would be really very interesting (I can already thing of several examples of this) . . . I'll have to add that to my list as well.