§ 2. Moses as husband and father.
The Midianites were descendants of Abraham (Genesis 25:24); and marriage with them was permitted, even under the Law (Numbers 31:18). Moses, in wedding Zipporah, obeyed the primeval command, "Be fruitful and multiply" (Genesis 1:28), while at the same time he gave himself the solace so much needed by an exile, of tender and loving lifelong companionship. That Reuel was willing to give him one of his daughters indicates that he had approved himself as a faithful servant in the good priest's household, and was felt to deserve a reward. That Zipporah accepted him was perhaps mere filial obedience, for which she was rewarded when the fugitive and exile became the first man in a considerable nation. God blessed the marriage with male issue, a blessing fondly desired by each true Israelite, and certainly not least by Moses, who knew so well that in some descendant of Abraham "all the families of the earth should be blessed." A shade of sadness shows itself, however, in the name which he gave his firstborn — Gershom, "a stranger there." He himself had been for years, and, for aught that he could tell. his son might always be "a stranger in a strange land" far from his true home, far from his own people, a refugee among foreigners, who could not be expected to love him as one of themselves, or treat him otherwise than with coldness. Depression like this often assails us at moments of great joy, the good obtained making us feel all the more sensibly that other goods have been lost. Such depression, however, after a time, passes away, and the desponding cry of "Gershom" is followed (Exodus 18:3-4) by that of" Eliezer," or "my God helps."
HOMILIES BY J. ORR