The Many Names of Jethro Friend of God

"And they came to Reuel their father" (Exodus 2:18). Reuel was his name. Yet when Scripture says, "And Heber the Kenite, who was of the children of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, had severed himself from the Kenites" (Judges 4:11), then Hobab was his name and not Reuel. So why does Scripture say, "And they came to Reuel their father"? This teaches that little children call their grandfather "father." Rabbi Shimon ben Menasya says: Reuel was his name, meaning "friend of God" [rei'a-El], as it is said, "And Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel" (Exodus 18:12). Rabbi Dostai says: Kenite was his name, for he had withdrawn from a deed of jealousy by which men provoke the Omnipresent to jealousy, as it is said, "They have moved Me to jealousy with that which is no god," and it says, "where was the seat of the image of jealousy" (Ezekiel 8:3). Rabbi Yose says: Kenite was his name, because he acquired [kana] the heavens and the Torah. Rabbi Ishmael son of Rabbi Yose says: Reuel was his name, for he was a friend of God [rei'a-El], as it is said, "Your own friend, and your father's friend, forsake not" (Proverbs 27:10). Rabbi Shimon ben Yohai says: He had two names, Hobab and Jethro. Jethro [Yitro], because he added [yiter] one section to the Torah, "And you shall provide out of all the people" (Exodus 18:21). But surely it had been given to Moses too from Sinai, as it is said, "If you do this thing, and God command you so"? Why was it hidden from the eyes of Moses? So that the matter might be ascribed to Jethro. Hobab, because he cherished [hibev] the Torah, for we find no convert among them all who cherished the Torah like Jethro. And just as he cherished the Torah, so did his children cherish the Torah, as it is said, "Go to the house of the Rechabites" (Jeremiah 35:2) and so forth. Now this is a matter of inference from minor to major: if these who brought themselves near were thus brought near by the Omnipresent, then Israel who fulfill the Torah, how much more so.