Cytowanie Komentarza do Wyjścia 18:2

AND HE RETURNED TO THE LAND OF EGYPT. I.e., with those mentioned [at the beginning of the verse, namely, his wife and his sons]. Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra said that the expression, and he returned to the land of Egypt, means that Moses alone returned. When he was met by G-d,³⁰¹Verse 24. Ibn Ezra refers to the language of the verse: and the Eternal met him. See above, Note 298. Eliezer was circumcised, and when he was healed, Zipporah together with her children returned to her father.
This [explanation of Ibn Ezra] is possible, for due to the fact that Eliezer was circumcised, Moses could not take him on the road until the child would become strong. At the same time, he did not want to delay the mission of the Holy One, blessed be He, and therefore he left them in the lodging-place and commanded Zipporah to return to her father’s home when the child will become healed. This is the purport of the expression, after he had sent her away.³⁰²Further, 18:2. It is also probable that they all went to Egypt, and after they stayed there for some time, she longed for her father and so Moses sent her with the children. This then would be the sense of the word shilucheha (after ‘he had sent her away’),³⁰²Further, 18:2. since Jethro feared that perhaps it was Moses’ intent to divorce her.
And in V’eileh Shemoth Rabbah,³⁰³Shemoth Rabbah 4:4. [the Rabbis have said]: “And Moses went and returned to Jether his father-in-law.²⁹¹Verse 18. Where did he go? He went to take his wife and sons. Jethro said to him, ‘Where do you take them?’ Moses replied, ‘To Egypt.’ Jethro said to him, ‘Now that those who are in Egypt wish to leave it, do you desire to lead them there?’ Moses replied, ‘Very soon [those held in bondage] are destined to go forth from there and stand at Mount Sinai and hear the words of the Almighty, I am the Eternal thy G-d Who brought thee out of the land of Egypt.³⁰⁴Further, 20:2. Should my children not hear it together with them?’ Jethro said to Moses, ‘Go in peace.’”²⁹¹Verse 18. In accordance with the opinion of the Rabbis [in the above Midrash], it is proper that we explain that after Moses and Jethro agreed on Moses’ returning to Egypt, the Holy One, blessed be He, commanded him thereon, thus confirming the word of His servant,³⁰⁵See Isaiah 44:26. and he returned to Egypt with his sons and his wife, as I have explained.

Though there are, in fact, several major differences in the two narratives under discussion,⁷¹A contrast worthy of study but not obviously relevant to the present discussion is the difference in the relationship between Ya’akov and Moshe and their respective fathers-in-law. We will look at this contrast more carefully in Chapter 5. when it comes to the issue of alienation, the interaction presented between Ya’akov and his wives on the one hand and Moshe and his wife, Tzipporah, on the other, takes on far more importance than anything else. Compared with the description of the marriages of Ya’akov and his wives, the story of Moshe and Tzipporah is highly truncated. In fact, Tzipporah’s name appears only three times in the entire Torah. What we do hear about the relationship between Moshe and his spouse leads us to conclude that it was emotionally distant. Even before their final separation alluded to in the book of Bemidbar (Bemidbar 12:1-4),⁷²12:1–4. Moshe and Tzipporah had already known a protracted geographical separation, something unknown to any other couple in the entire Torah.⁷³See Shemot 18:2. This early separation would not only impact on the frequency of their interaction, it would also set its tone.

Related to the paucity of interaction between Moshe and his wife is the parallel lack of connection between Moshe and his children, who at one point are appropriately referred to as “the children of Tzipporah” (Shemot 18:2).⁷⁵Shemot 18:2 (see Netziv) and especially 18:6, where Yitro refers to himself as Moshe’s father-in-law, to Tzipporah as Moshe’s wife, but to Gershom and Eliezer as Tzipporah’s children. Though the narrative seems to describe them as “his” (i.e., Moshe’s) sons in 18:5, the reference is not entirely clear and “his” could be referring to Yitro and not to Moshe (see Perush Yonatan on Targum Yonatan, which mentions this possibility). The one clear reference to them as Moshe’s children appears in Shemot 4:20, when Moshe has not yet returned to Egypt to focus on his mission. In other words, they may have begun as his children but they soon enough become his wife’s children. The Torah tells us almost nothing about Moshe’s children – even less, in fact, than it tells us about Tzipporah. That being the case, we are almost surprised when the Torah uncharacteristically focuses even briefly on the significance of their names (Shemot 18:3–4).⁷⁶Shemot 18:3–4. This is all in marked contrast to the detailed and colorful description of Ya’akov and his children.