arrow, so that it fell into the camp. [153] The letter read: "I adjure
thee, by thy two sons and by thy God, to come to meet me and
receive me kindly. If thou wilt not do if for my sake, do it for thy
wife's sake; and if thou wilt not do it for her sake, do it for thy
sons' sake." For Jethro brought with him his daughter Zipporah,
from whom Moses had been divorced, as well as her two sons, her
only children, for after her separation from Moses, she had wed no
other man.

At first Moses was inclined to give no ear to this letter, but God
said to him: "I, through whose word the world came into being, I
bring men to Me and do not thrust them back. I permitted Jethro to
approach Me, and did not push him from Me. So do thou, too,
receive this man, who desires to betake himself under the wings of
the Shekinah, let him approach, and do not repulse him." God
herewith taught Moses that one should repulse with the left hand,
and beckon with the right. [154]

Moses, Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, together with the seventy elders
of Israel, carrying with them the sacred Ark, hastened to welcome
Jethro kindly; and Moses so honored his father-in-law as to make
an obeisance before him and kiss him. Before Moses told his
father-in-law of the great miracles God had wrought for Egypt,
such as the exodus from Egypt, the cleaving of the sea, the rain of
manna, and the rest, he offered him the greeting of peace; for great
is peace, that precedes event he praise of God. [155] After the
peace-greeting, Moses, to draw his father-in-law nearer to true
faith in God and His revelation, began to relate to him the miracles
that God had wrought for them at the exodus from Egypt, during
the passing through the Red Sea, and during the war with Amalek.