Tafsiran Keluaran 18:1: Rashi, Chizkuni, Da'at Zekenim & Ramban

וישמע יתרו AND JETHRO HEARD — What was the particular report which he heard so that he came? — The division of the Red Sea and the war with Amalek (cf. (Mekhilta; Zevachim 116a).

וישמע יתרו, “Yitro heard;” according to Rashi, Yitro heard about the Israelites having crossed the sea of reeds and the Egyptians having drowned in it during their pursuit of them. Rashi’s explanation is supported by Joshua 2,10 where the spies of Joshua are told by Rachav forty years later that she and her people are still scared of the G-d Who had orchestrated that event. It is also supported by the fact that the Torah mentions Yitro and Amalek in one breath in Samuel I 15,6: ויאמר שאול אל הקיני סורו רדו מתוך עמלקי פן אוסיפך עמו. “Shaul said to the Kenite: “separate yourself from the Amalekite so that you do not become a victim when I wipe out the Amalekite.’” Yitro had seven different names in the Torah, one of which is “Kenite.” How did Yitro hear about all this now? Maybe someone had escaped from the battle with Amalek and he heard it from him.

וישמע יתרו, “Yitro heard;” this man had seven different names. They were: Yitro, Yeter, Chever, Chovev, Keyni, Puti-el, and R’uel. According to some scholars, it was Yitro’s father who was called R’-uel. They base themselves on Exodus 2,18: ותבאנה אל רעואל אביהם, “they came to their father, R’uel.” Children are in the habit of referring to their grandfather as their “father.” Still, this raises the following difficulty for those scholars: if they were correct, how do we understand the line in Numbers 10,29: ויאמר משה לחובב בן רעואל המדיני חותן משה, “Moses said to Chovav, son of R’uel, the Midianite, the father-in-law of Moses;” We may have to answer this by saying that the scholar who says that that the scholar who identifies Yitro with R’uel, may not consider that the name “Chovav” was merely a compliment to this man who looked with great fondness at the Torah, חיבב את התורה, as explained by Rashi, but that he must also hold that R’uel was the father of Yitro. The reason why Yitro was also named יתר, Yeter, “addition,” is that on account of this man a whole portion has been added to the Torah in his honour. At any rate, as pointed out by Rashi, we do not have seven names for him. The “names” given in the Mechilta quoted by Rashi are only the adjectives which were added to his original name on account of historical events or events in his personal life, such as his conversion to Judaism. Judges 4,11 as well as the expression: וחבר הקיני נפרד מקין מבני חובב חותן משה, “Chever the Kenite had separated from the other Kenites, descendants of Chovav father-in-law of Moses,” presents another difficulty.