Jitro (person)
Jitro ( Hebrew יִתְרוֹ; also: Jethro or Jetro ) is in the Torah , the biblical Five Books of Moses , the (non-Jewish) priest of Midian and father-in-law of Moses .
Representation of the person
Jitro is also called by another name - Reguel ( Ex 2.18 EU ), but always introduced as a priest of Midian . Reguel's son Hobab is introduced as Moses' brother-in-law ( Judges 4.11 EU ; Num 10.29 EU ). Accordingly, Jitro had a cultic leadership position in the tribe of the Midianites, a people of warlike nomads . These lived east of the Gulf of Aqaba , but roamed long distances on their campaigns. The god's mountain Horeb , which was identified much later with Mount Sinai in the south of the Sinai peninsula , is believed to be in its main area .
According to Ex 2.16 EU Jitro had seven daughters, the eldest of whom, Zippora , he gave to Moses as his wife. Near the mountain sanctuary of the Midianites, where Jitro performed his priesthood, after Ex 3 EU , Moses met the god YHWH for the first time in the Burning Bush , whom the Israelites experienced as their liberator from Egyptian slavery when they exited Egypt .
According to the account of the book of Moses, Moses later led his liberated people back to this mountain . After Ex 18 EU , Jitro advised him to appoint incorruptible judges and leave them to rule for the people, i.e. to separate cultic from legal tasks. At the same time he confessed with a sacrifice for the God of the Israelites: Now I know: YHWH is greater than all gods. ( Ex 18.11a EU )
Parasha
The Parasha of the same name , Jitro , is named after Jitro - one of the reading sections of the Torah that are read continuously on the Sabbaths of the year. It comprises the chapters Ex 18.1 EU -20.23 EU and contains, among other things, the Ten Commandments .
souvenir
Jitro's tomb is venerated in the abandoned village of Hittin , especially by the Druze .
Role in Islam
In Islam , Jitro is called Shuʿayb, Shuʿayb or Shoaib ( Arabic شعيب Schu'aib , DMG Šuʿayb 'He who shows the right way'). He is considered one of the 25 prophets . He ismentioned by nameeleven times in the Koran , often parallel to the missions of the prophets Lut , Noah , Hūd and Salih . Shuʿayb was the prophet for the Madyan people, the "people of the wood" ( Sura 26: 176). He preached Islam to them, but they accuse him of lying, whereupon they were destroyed - according to sura 7 : 91 by an earthquake , according to sura 26: 176 by the "torment of overshadowing".
Film adaptations
Jitro is portrayed by the following actors in a number of films about the history of Israel and Moses :
- 1956: The Ten Commandments (D: Eduard Franz )
- 1975: Moses - The Legislator (D: Shmuel Rodensky )
- 1980: Oh, Moses! (D: Richard B. Shull )
- 1996: The Bible - Moses (D: Philip Stone )
- 1998: The Prince of Egypt (D: Danny Glover ) ( voice only )
- 2000: In the Beginning (D: Alan Bates )
- 2006: The Ten Commandments (2006) (D: Omar Sharif )
- 2014: Exodus: Gods and Kings (D: Kevork Malikyan )