The Lord is greater than all gods (Exo18qa)*

Exodus 18:1-23

Key verse – Exodus 18:11

1.    [Exodus 18:1-6] Who was Jethro and what news did he hear? When he received Moses, his daughter, and his two grandchildren, what new information about Moses did he learn (Exodus 18:2-4; ref. 2:22)? What might have prompted his visit to Moses (18:5-6)?

a.            He was the priest of Midian and Moses’ father-in-law.

b.            He heard of everything God had done for Moses and for the Israelite people, and how the LORD had brought Israel out of Egypt.

c.            We do not know when Moses sent his two children and his wife to Jethro; by this time, Moses had had a second son named Eliezer:

“and the other was named Eliezer, for he said, "My father's God was my helper; he saved me from the sword of Pharaoh." (Exodus 18:4).

His first son was born when his family still lived with his father-in-law in Midian (2:22). However, at this time, Jethro received two grandsons. This served as another witness to Jethro of God’s and Moses’ work on Israel’s behalf.

d.            Jethro had two purposes; one was to bring Moses’ wife and two children to visit him. This time marks the ending of Israel’s first series of difficulties. God had pretty much resolved all of their troubles, bringing them peace.  Jethro’s second purpose was to hear and confirm what God had done for Israel.

2.    [Exodus 18:7-12] How did Moses welcome and serve his father-in-law (Exodus 18:7-8)? How did he respond to Moses’ story (10)? What was Jethro’s final understanding concerning the Lord (11)? What did he do upon hearing these things (12)? Why? Who joined with him as he offered sacrifices to the Lord? What did his testimony and his sacrifices to the Lord mean to him and to Israel?

a.    Moses welcomed his father-in-law with respect and warmth.

b.            Moses privately told his father-in-law everything that God had done on Israel’s behalf — i.e. destroying the Egyptian army and solving all their hardships while in the desert.

c.            Jethro was delighted to hear what the Lord had done.

d.            Jethro praised the Lord:

“He said, "Praise be to the LORD, who rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and of Pharaoh, and who rescued the people from the hand of the Egyptians. Now I know that the LORD is greater than all other gods, for he did this to those who had treated Israel arrogantly."” (Exodus 18:10-11).

e.            This confession is very significant, because it was made by a third party, not one of the Israelites, but by a bystander witnessing these wonderful works of God in full recognition of Him as Israel’s Lord, above all other gods.

f.             Jethro’s genuine honor of the Lord is expressed in his sacrifice. Here, Aaron and the other Israelite leaders joined with him in giving full honor before God and attributing what was worthy to Him.

g.            This full honor shown and sacrifices made to the Lord aligned Jethro with the Israelite leaders and caused him to serve as God’s representative on the issues he observed.

3.    [Exodus 18:13-18] What did Moses do all day (13)? Why (15-16)? What problem did Jethro see (14)? Why was this situation not good, according to Jethro (17-18)?

a.    “The next day Moses took his seat to serve as judge for the people, and they stood around him from morning till evening.” (Exodus 18:13).

b.    In the absence of God’s Law, all human ‘rules’ become relative. In such situations, there was no way for Israel to make correct or right judgments. They came to know that there were wrongs among them and that these were expressions of sin in their lives; however, they did not know how to remedy the problem.

“Moses answered him, "Because the people come to me to seek God's will. Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me, and I decide between the parties and inform them of God's decrees and instructions." (Exodus 18:15-16).

One thing we must note here is that there were a large number of people who had ‘disputes’; this indicates that there were no set laws among them to discern or judge right from wrong.

c.    When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the Israelite people, he said,

"What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?" (Exodus 18:14).

4.    [Exodus 18:19-23] What was Moses to do, according to Jethro (19)? How was this different from what Moses had already been doing (16)? What did Moses have to do in order to bring change (20)? How could that be done (21-22)? What were the conditions that must be met in order to make this plan successful? If it succeeded, what would happen to Moses and the rest of the Israelite nation (23)? Discuss why so many people needed Moses’ arbitration and how their needs could be met (cf. Numbers 11:14-17).

a.    Among the people, there was no law on which they could rely in their lives. Moses’ primary role should not be to adjudicate the people’s problems, but rather bring matters to God. The relationship should flow God-Moses-people.

“You must be the people's representative before God and bring their disputes to him” (Exodus 18:19b).

Here, ‘to God’ was the primary role that Jethro perceived to be the best one for Moses to focus on.

b.    Moses worked all day to adjudicate people’s arguments or complaints. People perceived him as the one who had a direct connection with God. What Moses did, pleading by faith on Israel’s behalf during their war with the Amalekites, was interpreted by the people as meaning that he alone knew God’s will; Moses was not just God’s vehicle to them, but also his pleas were heard by God and he knew what would please God.

c.     The primary function of adjudication for life’s arguments was not supposed to be Moses’ primary role, but rather the role of God’s law among His people:

“Teach them his decrees and instructions, and show them the way they are to live and how they are to behave.” (Exodus 18:20).

The law’s implementation should rest on and be accomplished by the people themselves, through the hierarchal system of leadership and with God’s law as the governing rule for their lives. This also highlights the need for God’s law and sound teaching.

d.    Read Numbers 11:14-17. This was the time when Israel was travelling towards the Promised Land, after having received the Law of Moses. They made the same complaints as they had made before meeting with God at Mountain Horeb; this time, the people complained to Moses about not having any meat. Moses expressed this to God, saying he could not bear the people’s complaints alone. God heard his request and gave the same spirit that He had placed on Moses to seventy leaders among the people.

                                              i.                This was based on the system that was set up according to Jethro’s suggestion.

                                            ii.                Moses was Israel’s leader and the only one to accept the blame for their human weakness and sin; now, this responsibility was to be shared by seventy elders.

                                           iii.                This may also imply the weakness of the system in which Moses alone had to bear the sins of his people.

                                           iv.                It also implies that God would give His spirit to many leaders, enabling them to help bear the Israelites’ sins.

5.    What did Moses do with Jethro’s suggestion (Exodus 18:24-26)? What did Jethro do afterward (18:27)? Discuss Jethro’s works, regarding his belief and suggestion.  

a.    Moses did all that Jethro had suggested; this means that God was also in agreement with Jethro’s suggestions (v23 – “if God so commands”).

b.    Jethro left the camp and returned to his home, so the significance of his visit was solely based on what he accomplished in the camp, such as: listening to what God had done for His people, building an altar to the Lord, and acknowledging that He was the greatest God, above all others. His assessment of what God had done served as an objective opinion that led him to offer Him sacrifices. This was so that anyone who heard about what God had done would surely come to realize that He is the Lord and worthy of such honor, i.e. that of offering a sacrifice.
Based on this understanding, Jethro’s suggestion came from his full appreciation of God’s character as the greatest God among all other gods. To honor Him was Jethro’s first priority and, in this understanding, he suggested that Moses’ primary role be to mediate between God and Israel, instead of being an arbiter of people’s conflicts of interest or personally attempting to meet their needs for justice. If justice was to exist among these people, it must be in the form of God’s law. This was the reason for their need of God’s law, which would be presented to them on Mount Sinai.

c.    Overall, this chapter provides a summary of what God did for Israel from the time of the Exodus to their time at Mount Sinai, just before they received His law.