What does "va'Yo'el Moshe" mean?
Rashi #1 (citing Targum Onkelos) and Targum Yonasan: It means that Moshe wanted (i.e. agreed 1 ) to stay with Yisro (Re'uel). 2
Rashi #2 (citing Nedarim 65a): Moshe swore that he would not leave Midyan without Yisro's permission. 3
Hadar Zekenim: He swore to live with Yisro.
Rashi: As we find in Bereishis 18:27; and Shoftim 19:6.
Targum Yonasan: 'When Re'uel learned that Moshe had fled from Pharaoh, he threw him into jail. For ten years, his granddaughter Tziporah secretly fed him. At the end of ten years, after he set him free, Moshe was walking in the garden, Davening to Hashem and thanking Him for the miracles that He had performed with him, when he spied the staff that Hashem had created at twilight at the end of the six days of Creation, on which there was engraved the great and precious Name (of Hashem, that of Havayah), with which He was destined to split the Yam-Suf and to produce water from the rock. The staff was stuck in the (ground of the) garden. With no effort, Moshe stretched out his hand and took it (Also refer to 14:21:1:1).
Moshav Zekenim: Hashem permitted Moshe's Shevu'ah. (Why was this needed? Before Moshe went to Egypt, he told Yisro and received his blessing (4:18)! Perhaps Yisro consented only after hearing that Hashem permitted the Shevu'ah - PF. Gur Aryeh discusses this; refer to 2:21:1.2:1.)
Why did Hashem arrange that Moshe would marry Tziporah; rather than some other woman who could trace her lineage with the rest of Am Yisrael?
Maharal (Gevuros Hashem Ch. 19, p. 87): Moshe was as significant as Yisrael in their entirety; he was their Tzurah (i.e., he perfected them, and actualized their potential). Therefore, no individual woman in Klal Yisrael could serve as his parallel (Ezer k'Negdo). He married a convert, who is an addition onto Am Yisrael (rather than a single component unit). 1
See Maharal (loc. cit. at length; also in Be'er ha'Golah, Be'er #5, p. 96) - "Moshe was the head of Yisrael; and Yisro [was head] among the nations;" thus, Yisro was parallel to Moshe (EK). Maharal (Gevuros Hashem, p. 90) - According to Chazal, Yisro had served every form of idolatry, but then he stopped; he did not want to serve individual forces, but rather the Master of all forces. To sum up, Moshe was leader of Yisrael in revealing the true Torah; Yisro led the nations in rejecting the false ideologies, and in fact it was Tziporah herself who purified her own father's home. As an addition on to Am Yisrael, she was a most fitting match for Moshe. (EK)
Why did Hashem arrange that Moshe would marry Tziporah, whose father had in the past been an idolatrous priest?
Maharal (Gevuros Hashem Ch. 19, p. 89): Someone who has sinned in the past, and then abandons that sin (by doing Teshuvah), is more likely to despise sinning again in the future than someone else who has not sinned.
What is the significance of the name Tziporah?
Maharal #1 (Gevuros Hashem Ch. 19, p. 89): According to the Midrash, Tziporah had purified her father's house from Avodah Zarah. Idolatry is called "offerings of the dead" (Tehilim 106:28). A Metzora is also considered as if dead, 1 and he requires the blood of a Tzipor (a bird) 2 for his purification process (Vayikra 14). (Thus, the name Tziporah implies purification.)
Maharal #2 (ibid.): Upon hearing her father's rebuke (for having abandoned their rescuer, 2:20), Tziporah ran as swiftly as a bird to call Moshe. This expresses her superlative Chomer, 3 and also indicates her powerful bond to Moshe.
Maharal #3 (ibid. p. 90): At Creation, the birds were made from the mud, a mixture of earth and water (Rashi to Bereishis 2:19). Therefore, they do not have defining characteristics of either element. So too, Tziporah did not personify any of the (negative 4 ) traits associated with Midyan. 5 She need not even be called a Midyanitess; she was an eligible match for Moshe, leader of Yisrael. 6
See Rashi to 2:23, also compare with Rashi to Bamidbar 8:7. (CS)
Maharal (ibid.): Blood is the force of life; it counteracts the Tzara'as (which is like death; also see 2:23:3.06:2). A bird moves swiftly; whereas the dead do not move at all. A bird's physicality is light and refined (it is able to fly!); it is the antithesis of Tzara'as (spoiled Chomer). So too was Tziporah of refined Chomer (in contrast to all the idolaters); she was fit to convert, and a fitting mate with Moshe. Also see Maharal (Nesivos Olam, Nesiv ha'Emes Ch. 1, p. 198).
In all of Maharal's approaches, he emphasizes that Tziporah was unique among converts in terms of Taharas ha'Guf. (EK)
Maharal (Chidushei Agados Vol. 2, p. 81, to Sotah 43a): The Midyanim were attached to immorality. (Refer to Bereishis 37:28:1.02:1.)
Maharal (Ohr Chadash, p. 63): Every nation has its distinct nature and Tzurah. Just as a bird is neutral (by the components of its creation), so too was Tziporah neutral, belonging to neither the character nor the culture of Midyan.
Refer to 2:21:1.3:1*.
QUESTIONS ON RASHI
Rashi writes: "'Va'Yo'el Moshe' - As Targum [translates, 'he desired'] ... but according to the Midrash, the expression means 'an oath.'" Why depart from the literal meaning?
Gur Aryeh: If Moshe began to live in Midyan and even married Yisro's daughter, it goes without saying that he agreed to do so! 1
Gur Aryeh further discusses why it is grammatically valid to connect the word "va'Yo'el" (root Yud-Alef Lamed) with the word "Alah" ('an oath;' root Alef-Lamed-Hei); also compare Gur Aryeh to Bereishis 49:17:1.1. (See the footnote Bereishis 49:17:1.1:1*; also see Ha'Kesav V'Hakabalah on our Pasuk.)
Rashi writes: "Moshe swore to Yisro that he would not budge from Midyan without permission;" and in fact, he later requested that permission (Rashi to 4:18). However, from the Gemara (Nedarim 65a), it appears that Moshe had to do more than just get permission - he had to annul (Matir) his Neder!
Gur Aryeh (to 4:18): In fact, the oath that Yisro had Moshe take consisted of two aspects; a. not to leave for another land - because Yisro wanted his daughter to be close-by. This oath was for Yisro's benefit, and therefore obtaining his permission to leave would be sufficient; b. Moshe swore not to return to Mitzrayim, for he would be in danger there. This oath was not for Yisro's own benefit, and was not dependent on his permission. It would have to be nullified. 1
Gur Aryeh (ibid.): Moshe would be Matir Neder on the grounds that those who sought his life had already died (4:19), such that the danger had passed.
