Jethro's Advice

 

Exodus 18:1-12

 

September 13, 2024

 

Jethro's Advice

Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses' father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel his people, how the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt.  Now Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, had taken Zipporah, Moses' wife, after he had sent her home, along with her two sons. The name of the one was Gershom (for he said, “I have been a sojourner in a foreign land”),  and 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”).  Jethro, 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.  And 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,”  Moses 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.  Then 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.  And 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.

Jethro 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.  Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods, because in this affair they dealt arrogantly with the people.” And 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.

Have you wondered why Jethro said her two sons with her and not your two sons?  Me too, and the Scripture does not shed light on this subject.  Moses's first encounter with his father-in-law since leaving for Egypt was very warm, and yet Scripture tells us not one thing about how he reacted toward his wife and sons.  One must understand that Moses was following the customs of the time he lived.  It had nothing to do with the joy of having his wife and sons back.  He showed great respect for his father-in-law, and he listened to his counsel.

 

But let us look for applications for our walk with the Lord.  Scripture tells us to honor our elders; in Leviticus 19:32, "You shall stand up before the gray head and honor the face of an old man, and you shall fear your God: I am the Lord.”  We have this command in 1 Peter 5:5, “ Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."  If you do not do this, you will find it very hard, maybe impossible to show honor to God.  1 Chronicles 29:11, “Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all.”

 

Moses gave an account of what God had done for him and the people of Israel, making Jethro understand that the God of Israel was the only God worthy of worship.  Once more, an area where many of us do not proclaim what God has done for us.  But that also is a commandment from our Lord, as you go tell what God has done for you.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice