Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came and drew water and filled the troughs to water their father's flock. The shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses stood up and saved them, and watered their flock. When they came home to their father Reuel, he said, “How is it that you have come home so soon today?” They said, “An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds and even drew water for us and watered the flock.” He said to his daughters, “Then where is he? Why have you left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread.” And Moses was content to dwell with the man, and he gave Moses his daughter Zipporah. She gave birth to a son, and he called his name Gershom, for he said, “I have been a sojourner in a foreign land.”
Exodus 2:16-22
Interestingly enough, Moses was faced in the wilderness with the same sort of injustice as that which had been the cause of his flight from Egypt (17). This time, however, he is much more restrained, and it would seem that he is already beginning to lay a curb on that impatient nature of his. The Midianites (15, 16) were descended from Abraham by Keturah (Genesis 25:2), and there was thus a bond of sorts between them and Moses. Clearly Reuel was a religious man, from what we can gather about him and his family in Exodus. The Midianites were known to be monotheists, over against the polytheism of much of the ancient world. It is impressive to see how God 'placed' Moses in a prepared environment. It was to be a time of lonely discipline for the future leader of God's people, but God saw to it that there would also be means of grace and no lack of fellowship for him. But we should not forget either that there would necessarily be a two-way traffic in such a situation. Here was a family worshipping God, yet cut off, amidst ungodliness all around them. And God gave them Moses. What a privilege to nurture such a man in the things of God! And Moses was content (21) to dwell with Reuel; content not in the sense that he had all he wanted, for it was a time in which the discipline must often have been bleak and demanding (this is probably the force of 22, and the reason for the name he gave his firstborn son), but because he recognised that God's hand was upon him guiding his fortunes, and he was prepared to allow God to have His way with him. In acceptance lieth peace – and contentment. This is one of the biggest lessons to be learned in life,