פירוש על במדבר 10:29

חבב is identical with Jethro, as it is said, (Judges 4:11) of the sons of Hobab, the father-in-law of Moses”. (Thus חתן משה in our verse is to be connected with חבב and not with רעואל המדיני immediately preceding). — But why then does it state (Exodus 2:18) “and they (the daughters of Jethro) came to Reuel, their father”, since he was their grandfather and not their father? It teaches us that children are in the habit of calling their grandfather by the term “father”. — He (Jethro) was called by several names: Jethro, because he added (it was through him there was added) a section to the Torah (viz., Exodus 18:21 ff.); Hobab (חֹבָב) because he loved (חֹבֵב) the Torah, etc.

AND MOSES SAID UNTO CHOBAB. I have already explained¹³¹At the beginning of Seder Yithro (Exodus 18:1). that Chobab [of the root chavav — love] was the new name which they gave to Jethro when he converted to the Torah of Israel, for such is the way of all proselytes, for he calls His servants by another name.¹³²Isaiah 65:15. See my Hebrew commentary, p. 230, for source of this practice of renaming proselytes. Now Moses had begged him to go with them and had told him without explanation, and we will do thee good.¹³³In Verse 29 before us. But Chobab thought that they would give him of the spoil, silver and gold, garments, sheep and herd, but that he would not have an inheritance among them [in the Land]. Therefore he did not want [to go with them] and he answered, “But I will depart to mine own land, and to my kindred,¹³⁴Verse 30. since there I have an inheritance, wealth and honor.” So Moses told him, “'Leave us not, I pray thee,’¹³⁵Verse 31. for because of your familiarity with the wilderness thou shalt be to us instead of eyes¹³⁵Verse 31. [i.e., a guide] in the conquest of the lands, and you will show us the way by which we must go up,¹³⁶Deuteronomy 1:22. and of all that goodness the Eternal shall do unto us, the same we will do unto thee.”¹³⁷Verse 32. Moses thus hinted that he would be given an inheritance in the good Land as a reward for his trouble and help that he would extend to them in the conquest of the Land. In my opinion Chobab consented to this offer and he did so [as Moses requested of him], as I have mentioned there.¹³¹At the beginning of Seder Yithro (Exodus 18:1). And so the Rabbis said in the Yerushalmi:¹³⁸Yerushalmi, Bikurim I, 4. On the term “Yerushalmi,” see Vol. III, p. 192, Note 44. “The children of the Kenite, Moses’ father-in-law, bring first-fruits and read [the section of first-fruits, wherein it is stated, I have brought the first of the fruit of the soil which Thou, O Eternal, hast given me],¹³⁹Deuteronomy 26:10. because it is written, Come thou with us, and we will do thee good.”¹³³In Verse 29 before us.

נסעים אנחנו, "we are about to commence our journey, etc." Why did Moses use this introduction? Yitro knew that the Israelites were about to journey towards the land of Canaan! The Sifri on our verse, apparently aware of this question, says that Moses meant to emphasise that a single journey would suffice to bring the Israelites to their ultimate destination. We may see confirmation of this in Moses using the word אותו, "it," when referring to the place the journey would lead to. This word was quite unnecessary. Moses clearly referred only to to the land of Canaan seeing that G'd had never promised the patriarchs that the Israelites would inherit the lands of Sichon and Og. He meant to stress that there would be only that one journey. Another meaning of what Moses might have referred to was that the words אתן לכם referred to the lands of Sichon and Og which G'd would give to the Israelites of the present generation without having already allocated it to the patriarchs (compare what we wrote on Numbers 7,42). Seeing that at that time the Israelites were on the way to Canaan via the lands of Sichon and Og, Moses did not mention the land of Canaan by name but spoke vaguely about the land that G'd said He would give to the Israelites although he had not promised this to their forefathers. He had prophetic knowledge of this although G'd had not yet mentioned any of this to the people. This in spite of Sifri 2,289 describing those lands as having been appropriated by the Israelites themselves. The fact is that G'd approved of that conquest as a land the Israelites settled in after the event.