Jethro, having remarked that the worship of an idol was foolish, abandoned it. The Midianites therefore excommunicated him, and none would keep his flocks; so that his daughters were compelled to tend them and were ill-treated by the shepherds. This, however, is in conflict with another statement, to the effect that Jethro gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses on condition that their first son should be brought up in the worship of idols, and that Moses swore to respect this condition. However, commentaries explain this away by saying that the purpose of this was that he wanted his grandson to truly appreciate the foolishness of idolatry and that which led Jethro himself to abandon it and that Moses only acceded when he saw through divine inspiration that Jethro would end up releasing him of the vow anyways.