Exodus Chapter 18 Deep-Dive: Jethro Visits Moses

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Ex Ch 18 Jethro’s Advice

1 Jethro (THE NAME “JETHRO” WAS MOST LIKELY A TITLE, the priest of Midian …

• Gen 25:1Abraham took another wife, whose name was Keturah. 2She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. Jethro is a great grandson of Abraham and a relative of Moses and the Israelites

• COMPARE Jethro the priest of Midian to Melchizedek priest of Salem who met Abram after he rescued Lot( Gen 14:17-20) 17After his (Abram’s) return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley). 18And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.) 19And he blessed him and said, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth;20and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!”And Abram gave him a tenth of everything. SO, GOD HAD PRIESTS THAT SERVED HIM OUTSIDE OF ISRAEL … THE TRUE GOD WAS WORSHIPED EVEN OUTSIDE ISRAEL.

  • Acts 18:9 And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, 10for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.”

  • Is 45:22“Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.

  • Rev 7:9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

• Jethro is Moses’ father-in-law – they’re related, Jethro is like a father to Moses. (Moses LIVED WITH HIM FOR 40 yrs, AND MOSES SERVED JETHRO WORKING AS THE SHEPHERD OF JETHRO’S FLOCKS)

… heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel his people, how the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt. 2Now Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, had taken Zipporah, Moses’ wife, after he had sent her home (just a few months before this!), 3along with her two sons. The name of the one was Gershom (for he said, “I have been a sojourner in a foreign land”), 4and the name of the other, Eliezer (for he said, “The God of my father was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh”). 5Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness where he was encamped at the mountain of God. 6And when he sent word to Moses, “I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons with her,” (Jethro got tired of taking care of Moses’ family)

7Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and bowed down and kissed him. And they asked each other of their welfare and went into the tent. 8Then Moses told his father-in-law all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, all the hardship that had come upon them in the way, and how the Lord had delivered them. 9And Jethro rejoiced for all the good that the Lord had done to Israel, in that he had delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians.

10Jethro said, “Blessed be the Lord, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh and has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. 11Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods, because in this affair they dealt arrogantly with the people.” (Neh 9:10) 12And Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and sacrifices to God; and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law before God.

Jethro had GRAVITAS before the Hebrews – he had offered sanctuary to Moses for 40 yrs and had wisdom even though he was NOT an Israelite!

13The next day Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from morning till evening. 14When Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, “What is this that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone, and all the people stand around you from morning till evening?” 15And Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God; 16when they have a dispute, they come to me and I decide between one person and another, and I make them know the statutes of God and his laws.” MOSES SPOKE FOR GOD, WHATEVER MOSES DECIDED … THAT WAS THE DECISION OF GOD. JESUS HAS GIVEN THIS SAME PRIVILEGE AND RESPONSIBILITY TO THE CHURCH

• Mt 16:19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Mt 18:18Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

• JESUS EVEN VERIFIED THE AUTHORITY GIVEN TO THE SCRIBES & PRIESTS THROUGH THE TORAH: Mt 23:1Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, 2“The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, 3so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice.

• James 5:16 … The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. 17Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. 18Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.

• 1 Cor 61When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints? 2Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? 3Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life! 4So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church? 5I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers, 6but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers? 7To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? … THIS IS THE SAME THING MOSES WAS DEALING WITH … BACK TO MOSES ...

Moses had no one he could really take advice from – the people, including Aaron and Miriam (his siblings) were so in awe of him that they never really considered him as just a man. GOD SENT Jethro to Moses because MOSES NEEDED GOOD ADVICE – WHAT HE WAS DOING WAS NOT GOOD!!

17 Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “What you are doing is not good. 18You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to do it alone. 19Now obey my voice; I will give you advice, and God be with you! You shall represent the people before God and bring their cases to God, 20and you shall warn them about the statutes and the laws, and make them know the way in which they must walk and what they must do. (Note – the law had not been given yet!) 21Moreover, look for able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe, and place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. 22And let them judge the people at all times. Every great matter they shall bring to you, but any small matter they shall decide themselves. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you. 23 If you do this, God will direct you, you will be able to endure, and all this people also will go to their place in peace.”

24So Moses listened to the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said. 25Moses chose able men out of all Israel and made them heads over the people, chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. 26And they judged the people at all times. Any hard case they brought to Moses, but any small matter they decided themselves. 27Then Moses let his father-in-law depart, and he went away to his own country.

SO, MOSES CREATES A LEADERSHIP/LEGAL/JUDGING HIERARCHY IN ISRAEL, REPORTING TO HIM/GOD ... BEFORE THE ORDINANCE OF THE PRIESTHOOD WAS GIVEN … … THE SAME PATTERN WAS FOLLOWED IN THE EARLY CHURCH WHEN PAUL, TITUS AND TIMOTHY ESTABLISHED ELDERS & DEACONS IN THE CHURCHES THEY HAD PLANTED…

Jethro’s descendants join the Hebrews

Judges 1: 16 And the descendants of the Kenite, Moses’ father-in-law, went up with the people of Judah from the city of palms into the wilderness of Judah, which lies in the Negeb near Arad, and they went and settled with the people.

AND THAT WILL WRAP UP EX CH 18

 

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