Raguel

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

("friend of God.")

1. Prince priest of Midian; father of Zipporah, Moses' wife, and of Jethro and Hobab. (See JETHRO; HOBAB.) (Exodus 2:21; Exodus 3:1; Numbers 10:29). The older tradition, and the insecurity from Egyptian power which Moses would have been exposed to in the W. of the Elanitic gulf, favor the view that Raguel lived on the coast E. of the Elanitic gulf.

2. Genesis 36:4.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

Numbers 10:29 , or REUEL, Exodus 2:15,18,21 , the Hebrew word being the same in both places. These passages represent him as the father of Hobab and Zipporah, and he is generally supposed to be the same as Jethro, Moses' father-in-law. Some, however, think he was Jethro's father, and that he is called the father of the others as being the head of the family. Compare Genesis 31:43 2 Kings 14:3 16:2 .

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Ragu'el. (friend of God).

1. Probably the same as Jethro. See Jethro; Hobab. (B.C. 1490).

2. A pious Jew of "Ecbatane, a of Media," father of Sara, the wife of Tobias. Tobit 3:7; Tobit 3:17; etc. See Reuel.

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

RAGUEL . 1. See Reuel, 2. 2 . The father of Sarah, the wife of Tobias (Tob 3:7, 17, 18; 14:12).

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Numbers 10:29Exodus 2:18

Holman Bible Dictionary

Numbers 10:29

Morrish Bible Dictionary

See JETHRO.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(Heb. רְעוּאֵל; Sept. ῾Ραγουήλ ), a less correct Anglicism of the name REUEL (See Reuel) (q.v.).

1. A prince-priest of Midian, the father of Zipporah, according to Exodus ii, 21, and of Hobab according to Numbers 10:29. As the father-in-law of Moses is named Jethro in Exodus 3:1, and Hobab in Judges 4:11, and perhaps in Numbers 10:29 (though the latter passage admits of another sense), the prima-facie view would be that Raguel, Jethro, and Hobab were different names for the same individual. Such is probably the case with regard to the two first, at all events, if not with the third. (See Hobab).

One of the names may represent an official title, but whether Jethro or Raguel is uncertain, both being appropriately significant (Jethro "pre-eminent," from יתר, "to excel," and Raguel= "friend of God," from רְעוּ אֵל ). Josephus was in favor of the former (τουτο, i.e. Ι᾿εθεγλαῖος, ην ἐπίκλημα τῷ ῾Ραγουήλῳ, Ant. ii, 12, 1), and this is not unlikely, as the name Reuel was not an uncommon one. The identity of Jethro and Reuel is supported by the indiscriminate use of the names in the Sept. (Exodus 2:16; Exodus 2:18); and the application of more than one name to the same individual was a usage familiar to the Hebrews, as instanced in Jacob and Israel, Solomon anti Jedidiah, and other similar cases. Another solution of the difficulty has been sought in the loose use of terms of relationship among the Hebrews; as that chothen (חֹתֵן ) in Exodus 3:1; Exodus 18:1; Numbers 10:29, may signify any relation by marriage, and consequently that Jethro and Hobab were brothers-in-law of Moses; or that the terms arb (אָב ) and bath (בִּת ) in Exodus 2:16; Exodus 2:21, mean grandfatther and grandtdauughter. Neither of these assumptions is satisfactory, the former in the absence of any corroborative evidence, the latter because the omission of Jethro, the father's name, in so circumstantial a narrative as in Exodus ii, is inexplicable; nor can we conceive the indiscriminate use of the terms father and grandfather without good cause. Nevertheless, this view has a strong mweight of authority in its favor, being supported by the Targum Jonathan, Aben-Ezra, Michaelis, Winer, and others. SEE JETHRO

2. Another transcription of the name REUEL, occurring in Tobit, where Raguel, a pious Jew of Ecbatane. a city of Media, is father of Sara, the wife of Tobias (Tobias 3:7, 17, etc.). The name was not uncommon. and in the book of Enoch it is applied to one of the great guardian angels of the universe, who was charged with the execution of the divine judgments on the (material) world and the stars (20:4; 23:4, ed. Dillmann).

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Reuel

Ragu´el or Reuel (friend of God). 1. A son of Esau . 2. The father of Jethro . Some confound him with Jethro; but in the text last cited, he is called the father of Hobab, who seems to have been the same as Jethro. In the same passage, indeed, the daughters of the 'priest of Midian' relate to 'Reuel their father' their adventure with Moses: which might seem to support his identity with Jethro; but it is quite a Scriptural usage to call a grandfather 'father,' and a granddaughter, 'daughter' [HOBAB]. 3. Another person of this name occurs in .