TRADITION VS SCHOLARSHIP
The answer
Three. He is Reuel when Moses first meets the family (Exodus 2:18), and Jethro when Moses works as his shepherd (Exodus 3:1) and when he comes to visit the camp (Exodus 18:1). Judges 4:11 calls him Hobab. Numbers 10:29 tangles it further, calling Hobab "son of Reuel the Midianite." Heber, in Judges 4:11, is one of Hobab's descendants.
Why it’s interesting
A study Bible, the New Oxford Annotated Bible, says the three names likely come from different ancient sources. The same study Bible's introduction to Exodus lists reasons modern scholars doubt Moses wrote the whole book. The father-in-law's changing name is on that list, and so is the mountain called both Sinai and Horeb.
Genuinely debated
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