Hobab

Hobab is a Midianite kinsman of Moses through marriage. Two passages name him: an invitation to travel with Israel as the camp leaves Sinai, and a much later notice that traces the Kenite clans of the judges' period back to him.

Invited to Journey with Israel

As Israel breaks camp from Sinai, Moses appeals to a relative of his Midianite father-in-law to stay with the company: "And Moses said to Hobab, the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses' father-in-law, We are journeying to the place of which Yahweh said, I will give it to you⁺: come with us, and we will do you good; for [the Speech of] Yahweh has spoken good concerning Israel" (Num 10:29). The verse identifies Hobab as the son of Reuel — and identifies Reuel as Moses' father-in-law. Hobab is offered a share in Yahweh's good word concerning Israel if he will travel with the camp.

Ancestor of the Kenites in Israel

The book of Judges, opening the Deborah-and-Barak narrative, ties one branch of the Kenites in northern Israel back to Hobab and clarifies the relationship with Moses directly: "Now Heber the Kenite had separated himself from the Kenites, even from the sons of Hobab the brother-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent as far as the oak in Zaanannim, which is by Kedesh" (Jdg 4:11). The verse names Hobab as Moses' brother-in-law, identifies "the sons of Hobab" as a recognizable Kenite stock, and locates Heber's tent — the household into which Sisera will flee in the next scene — as a separated branch of that wider clan.