Bible Strands
Numbers 10:29
Then Moses said to Hobab, the son of Moses’ father-in-law Reuel the Midianite, “We are setting out for the place of which the LORD said: ‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us, and we will treat you well, for the LORD has promised good things to Israel.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Moses addresses Hobab, identified as the son of Reuel the Midianite and his father-in-law, during the Israelites' departure from Sinai. He invites Hobab to join the march toward the land God promised to give them.
The words — The Hebrew phrase וַיֹּאמֶר (va-yomer) translates to "and he said," marking the initiation of Moses' appeal. The term חֹתֵן (choten) specifically denotes "father-in-law," anchoring Hobab's familial tie to Moses.
The thread — The promise of land echoes Genesis 12:7, where God tells Abram He will give the land to his offspring. The mention of Reuel and the Midianite connection recalls Exodus 2:18 and Exodus 3:1, where Moses' father-in-law's lineage and priestly role are established.
Why it lands — The text requires a reader to observe how covenantal promises extend beyond biological Israel to include allied outsiders. It demands recognition that divine provision is offered as an incentive for participation in the community's journey.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And Moses said unto Hobab, the son of Raguel the Midianite, Moses’ father in law, We are journeying unto the place of which the Lord said, I will give it you: come thou with us, and we will do thee good: for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel.
Cross-references
- Genesis 12:7 Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your offspring.” So Abram built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.
- Exodus 2:18 When the daughters returned to their father Reuel, he asked them, “Why have you returned so early today?”
- Exodus 3:1 Meanwhile, Moses was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.
- Judges 4:11 Now Heber the Kenite had moved away from the Kenites, the descendants of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent by the great tree of Zaanannim, which was near Kedesh.
- Genesis 32:12 But You have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper, and I will make your offspring like the sand of the sea, too numerous to count.’”
- Exodus 3:8 I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.
- Exodus 6:7 I will take you as My own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.
- Judges 1:16 Now the descendants of Moses’ father-in-law, the Kenite, went up with the men of Judah from the City of Palms to the Wilderness of Judah in the Negev near Arad. They went to live among the people.
- Psalms 34:8 Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!
- Numbers 23:19 God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?