18 And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, How is it that ye are come so soon to day?

19 And they said, An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and also drew water enough for us, and watered the flock.

20 And he said unto his daughters, And where is he? why is it that ye have left the man? call him, that he may eat bread.

Moses had saved the sheep of Reuel, but the daughters did not invite him back to meet their father. Perhaps they were nervous inviting a stranger to their home? Reuel soon sets the matter right, upbraiding them for their lacking manners he speaks of hospitality as a matter of common sense.

It was mentioned back in verse 16 that Reuel was a “priest of Midian,” and his name literally means “friend of God.” However, while the “el” at the end of his name might mean the God Elohim, or it could be referring to any pagan god as well. Thus we cannot tell just from his name and station whether he is a priest for the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, or for some idolatrous being.

Obviously, Reuel isn’t one of the Israelites in Egypt, but that doesn’t mean that he cannot be a believer of the one, true God. King Melchizedek, to whom Abraham paid tithes, was a priest of God, even though he was clearly not part of the Abrahamic lineage. Thus we know that there were other factions who knew about the Lord. Not only this, but Reuel is the priest of Midian, and the land of Midian presumably got its name from its progenitor, Midian, who was the son of Abraham and Keturah. While Midian, Abraham’s son, may not have been part of the covenant, we can assume that he was still raised in the tradition of worshipping the Most High God, and would hopefully have continued those lessons with his descendants. Thus, while we do not explicitly know the background and beliefs of Reuel and his family, there is reason to believe that Moses was being taken into the home of distant kin who still worshipped the one, true God.