Numbers 10 · a question people ask
In 10:29, who is "Moses’ father-in-law": Hobab or Reuel?
The WEB reads, "Moses said to Hobab, the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law" (10:29). The words "Moses’ father-in-law" could describe Hobab or Reuel; the verse doesn't settle it. In Exodus, the priest of Midian whose daughters come to "Reuel, their father" gives Moses "Zipporah, his daughter" (Exodus 2:16-21), and after that Exodus calls Moses' father-in-law Jethro (Exodus 3:1; 4:18; 18:1). Judges speaks of "the children of Hobab, Moses’ brother-in-law" (Judges 4:11), and the Hebrew word there is the same one translated "father-in-law" in 10:29. Christians read these names in two main ways. Both agree that Hobab is "the son of Reuel the Midianite" (10:29), and that Moses asked him to come with Israel.
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
Reuel is the father-in-law
Those who hold this view read "Moses’ father-in-law" as describing Reuel, who gave Moses "Zipporah, his daughter" (Exodus 2:18-21). Jethro is also "Moses’ father-in-law" (Exodus 18:1-2). On this reading Reuel and Jethro are one man, and Hobab is his son, Zipporah's brother.
Numbers 10:29 · Exodus 2:18-21 · Exodus 3:1 · Exodus 18:1-2
Hobab is the father-in-law
Those who hold this view read "Moses’ father-in-law" as describing Hobab, the man Moses is speaking to, and note that Judges 4:11 uses the same Hebrew word of Hobab. On this reading the names belong to more than one man in the same Midianite family, and Reuel, called the daughters' "father" (Exodus 2:18), is read as the head of that family.
Numbers 10:29 · Judges 4:11 · Exodus 2:18
The verses
“Moses said to Hobab, the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, “We are journeying to 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 spoken good concerning Israel.””
“Now Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the back of the wilderness, and came to God’s mountain, to Horeb.”
“Now Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses’ father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel his people, how the LORD had brought Israel out of Egypt.”
“Now Heber the Kenite had separated himself from the Kenites, even from the children of Hobab, Moses’ brother-in-law, and had pitched his tent as far as the oak in Zaanannim, which is by Kedesh.”