Exodus 18 (exposition)*

1.    God is greater than all gods (Exodus 18:1-12).

Jethro had a keen interest in what had happened to Israel in Egypt and to Moses, his son-in-law, so he made efforts to collect all the news coming from Egypt and all the stories from the Israelites themselves. He heard about the ten plagues, Israel’s Exodus, the Red Sea crossing, and the death of the Egyptian army. These were great events, yet some of these were stories from a third party; he didn’t know how much truth was in them. However, Jethro was still happy to hear such great news about Moses and his people.

Moses sent his wife and two children to Jethro, who received them gladly; he knew one of his grandsons, but the other,  younger one, was new to him. This youngest grandson’s name was Eliezer, meaning “my father’s God is my helper”; Jethro came to know how the God of Israel had helped both Moses and the Israelites, through his grandson’s name.

When he heard that Moses and the Israelites had camped near Mount Horeb, which was not far from his home (when Moses had tended Jethro’s sheep, he had come to Mount Horeb; likewise, Jethro had been told about Moses’ meeting with God in this place). Jethro thought that it was time to bring Moses’ family to the camp before Israel met God at Horeb and, while there, he wanted to learn more about what God had done for Israel throughout their journey to this mountain. So he sent word to Moses that he was coming with Moses’ wife and two sons. Moses welcomed them and, during a  private encounter in Moses’ tent, Jethro heard all  about the events surrounding the Exodus and Israel’s journey so far. ‘How God had saved them’ was the key theme of the whole story. Again, Jethro heard the story about how God had worked mightily for Israel. This was the third time that he had heard about what God had done. After hearing or being acquainted with God’s work for the third time, Jethro confessed this:

“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).

This was not all that he had learned; he also became deeply convinced, without a doubt, that the Lord was greater than all other gods. This testimony was so important for Israel, Moses, the world, and us.

The kind of honor of which the Lord is worthy is ultimately expressed by offering Him a sacrifice; Jethro took the initiative and brought burnt offerings and other sacrifices to God. Aaron and all the Israelite elders joined with Moses and Jethro in worshipping the Lord.

“There they ate a meal in the presence of God” (Exodus 18:12b).

This was an enunciation of God’s willingness to accept them and His happiness over this sacrifice. A similar event is seen in Exodus 24:1-12.

So the works that God had accomplished during Israel’s journey, from the Exodus to Mount Horeb, served as a testimony to the world about who He was. This statement was clear, not only to Israel, but also to all those who study these events, both in those days and today.

These demonstrations of God’s power were tightly woven with His work to rescue His people from their slavery in Egypt. So, three things are connected here: the promise, God’s mighty works,  and Israel’s salvation; these three were interwoven to testify to who the God of salvation is.

Jesus was the revelation of the God of salvation. In his work, these three things came together again: in the early stages of Jesus’ work, he did many miraculous healings,  drove out demonic forces, and controlled  nature (i.e. the wind and storm), which was comparable to God’s work during the Exodus. As God’s power in the Exodus was for Israel’s salvation, so were Jesus’ works during the first stage of his ministry.

In both cases, God called for evidence-based faith, because He knew our utter helplessness in believing in Him without visible or tangible evidence.

2.    You must be the people's representative before God and bring their disputes to Him (Exodus 18:13-27).

As we know from Scripture, Israel was under great stress from many causes – the Egyptian army, starvation, intense thirst that threatened many lives, and attacks from the Amalekites; all of these events drove them to their limit of tolerance and good-will. I am pretty sure that many of them fought each other for water and argued about who was going to get the first drink of the small amount of water that was left. When one’s life is on the line, everyone fights to survive. As God put them in these circumstances, all their weaknesses were exposed, such as envy, jealousy, hatred, mistrust, and so on. These are expressions of men’s sins and their fallen human nature. As they came close to meeting God at Mount Horeb, these became very sensitive issues in their minds. Many of the Israelites flocked around Moses’ tent in order to meet with him. There were so many of them, and there seemed to be no end in sight to their coming to him for help. What were their needs?

“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).

They sought God’s will through Moses. God’s will was so important for them, because they knew that they were supposed to worship Him at Mount Horeb. They saw how He had punished the Egyptians with the death of their firstborns, and how He had buried the Egyptian army in the sea. So it was paramount for them to know His will and, if there were any wrongs among them, to rectify them before they met God. Certainly all these details are not given in Scripture, but we know that a large number of people came to Moses. There were so many issues that Moses could not handle  them all, even by working till late in the evening. Whatever their needs were, he had to communicate God’s will to them.

Jethro saw the problem with how Moses was handling this situation: a large demand and only one person trying to meet all of their needs.

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

All genuine human leadership always starts with an effort to meet peoples’ needs. Moses was undoubtedly Israel’s leader; he alone had been chosen to be God’s servant, doing what He told him to do. Moses soon took the initiative and fought against the Amalekites by faith. He went from being a messenger of God’s word to being the leader of His people. Moses’ faith in the Lord caused him to become Israel’s leader. This was good and the people saw this as they crowded around him, in order to seek God’s will, since he knew it the best. Seeing their needs, Moses poured all of his efforts into meeting them.

But here, Jethro suggested that Moses’ primary function should be bringing Israel’s needs to God. In other words, the answers to Israel’s unmet needs must come from God, not Moses. The knowledge of truth for their lives was the Lord’s law and decrees. Jethro rephrased this more clearly in v20:

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

Here, the emphasis is on ‘his decree’ and ‘his instructions’; these were decrees and instructions from God to His people. The people should be taught to obey all of these; here, ‘teaching’ is seen as a necessary part of a believer’s life. In other words, teaching and learning are not optional, but must be essential parts of the process of receiving and conveying the truth of salvation. These were God’s requirements for Israel, who, in turn, was to seek His will, in and through His instructions. Moses’ role was to plead to God on Israel’s behalf. Here, a cycle of implementing God’s law was created, i.e. God-law-people-Moses-God.

It is noteworthy that, in Numbers 11:14-17, Moses expressed his inability to handle this role, which eventually created the necessity for the Messiah’s coming, who could take care of the needs of God’s chosen people.