What I Would Do Differently
Exodus 18:13 At this point the teacher should prompt the class to literally look in their Bible at verse 13.] Notice with me how the verse says that “Moses sat to judge the
1. The source of the counsel Moses receives
Where does the counsel come from? As Moses gets advice in this text; who actually is giving him the advice? At first glance, the counsel given to Moses appears to flow solely from the mind of Jethro. After all, it is Jethro who is speaking to Moses.
Now at this point one may want to dismiss Jethro’s counsel because Jethro is only a man.
One will perhaps see Jethro’s advice as a pragmatic tactic which employees a strategy of man. Furthermore, according Exodus 18:1 Jethro is a priest of Midian and not Israel. So why should Moses listen to Jethro? Is it possible that Israel’s judicial system came from the mind of Jethro and not God? The answer is no. And there are two observations which can be made from this text that verify how the wisdom of God is behind this counsel.
First of all, this text indicates that after hearing of all that “God had done for Moses and for Israel” (Ex 18:1), Jethro becomes a man committed to the God of Israel. News of God’s gracious acts to His children prods Jethro to not only rejoice (Ex 18:9), but also confess the following word in Exodus 18:11 [At this point the teacher should encourage the class to look at verse 11 in their Bible, and exhort them to listen to
what Jethro says about the God of Israel]: “Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods” (Ex 18:11). One commentator puts forth the thought that with this confession,
“Jethro bears witness to God’s saving power and thus acknowledges him as the true God.”6 And Jethro doesn’t just give God lip service.
After Jethro makes his confession about God, he then makes a burnt offering which according to Tony Merida would have been “understood to atone for . . . sins and to appeal for forgiveness and acceptance before God.”7 Merida goes on to state confidently that “at some point Jethro got converted” and notes how after the offering, Jethro joins Aaron, Moses, and all the elders of Israel for a meal in the very presence of God.8 So the text lets us know that Jethro has been converted.
So Jethro’s conversion gives him credibility as one who can give offer counsel from God.
Amazingly, the priest of Midian is converted to follow the God of Israel, and the very next day he is used by God to speak divine instruction to Moses. Therefore any concern that Jethro’s counsel is worldly or somehow not from God may be dismissed.
Now there is another observation that makes it even more clear that Jethro’s counsel is not the counsel of man, and it is in verse 19. Let’s look at it together [At this point the teacher should pause and give the students time to find verse 19 and then read the verse.]
6 Peter Enns, Exodus, The NIV Application Commentary Series (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000), 290.
7 Tony Merida, Exalting Jesus in Exodus, Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary Series (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2014), 113.
8 Merida, Exalting Jesus in Exodus, 112-13.
Now there is no denying that the casual reading of Jethro’s words “obey my voice; I will give you advice, and God be with you” (Ex 18:19), appears to establish Jethro as the authority behind his counsel. However, Douglas Stuart (an Old Testament language scholar) notes that the phrase “and God be with you” is Jethro’s way of saying his counsel is “subject to God’s confirmation.”9 Other commentators agree with Stewart.
John Calvin and Charles Bingham note that Jethro “does . . . not proudly boast that this will be the fruit of his own prudence, but ascribes it to God’s blessing and grace.”10 We can strengthen our understanding as God being the source of this counsel by looking also at verse 23 [At this point the teacher should pause and give the students time to find verse 23 and then read the verse.]
I like how the NIV translates this verse. It translates Jethro’s exhortation to Moses like this, “If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain” (Ex 18:23). Peter Enns, a highly credible Bible scholar, notes how “a number of
commentators have mentioned, Jethro’s advice is also God’s command” and furthermore states how it makes most sense to read the “clause [of verse 23] as Jethro adding “punch”
to his advice: “If you do this—God commands you—you will be able to stand the
strain.”11 In other words, Jethro takes no credit for his proposal for shared leadership, but insists that his counsel is God’s command.
Now, I want to call to your attention how it is not out of the ordinary for God to use the counsel of others to point us in the right direction. The writer of Proverbs informs us of how “iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another” (Prov 27:17). One glorious
9 Stuart, Exodus, 417.
10 John Calvin and Charles W. Bingham, Commentaries on the Four Last Books of Moses Arranged in the Form of a Harmony (Bellingham, WA: Logos, 2010), 1:305.
11 Enns, Exodus, 288-89, emphasis added.
implication of this truth is that God will often send counsel through the avenue of other individuals to aid His people. That is what has happened here in Exodus 18.
Jethro has committed his life to the God of Israel. He has exhorted Moses to affirm that this counsel is from God. Therefore, we can be certain that although Jethro is the avenue of the counsel, God is the source of the counsel. So let’s now turn our attention to…