Yitro “Jethro”
Exodus 18-1-20:23
This week we begin with Moses sharing with his father-in law “Jethro” all that God did for he and his people. From the plagues God put over the people of Egypt to the miraculous parting of the Red Sea.
When Moses was on the run from Pharaoh after he killed an Egyptian, he found himself in Midian by a well. Jethro had several daughters that went to the well to water their sheep. Some of the local men chased the ladies away, but Moses came to their defense. In gratitude for Moses’ care of Jethro’s daughters, he invited Moses for dinner….the rest is history with Jethro becoming Moses’ father in law.
Jethro rejoiced in what Moses shared with him about how awesome his God is. Jethro says, “Blessed be the Lord. Now I know that the Lord is greater than all other gods”. We then see Jethro making sacrifices to God and everyone broke bread together and ate. What a joyous time this was for the Hebrew people. The tradition of “breaking bread” together and fellowshipping over a meal goes much further back than our grandparents house during a holiday.
Moses needed order with the people. He worked tirelessly ministering to these people, putting out fires we would say today. The people were curious and wanted to learn all they could about God and quite frankly, Moses had most of the answers. Jethro senses, his son-in-law will soon tire out by being the only minister to these people. Jethro advises Moses, to continue to be a representative of God and continue to teach and share what God tells him; however, Jethro tells Moses to find capable men who fear the Lord and are trustworthy to become chiefs over the people and take some of the burden off of Moses. By Moses giving these men the authority to minister to these people, they will be able to handle the minor disputes and the bigger problems, they can weed through and bring directly to Moses. We see God laying out the foundation that will become part of many congregations of people today. An order, God is a God of order. And this is exactly what we see here. Moses heeds to the advice of his father-in-law and sets up this new system.
The people set up camp in front of the mountain at Sinai. God tells Moses to say to the Israelites, “You have seen what I, God, did to the Egyptians and how I brought you to Me. Now, if you will obey Me faithfully and keep My covenant, you shall be My treasured possession among all the peoples. Indeed, all the earth is Mine, but you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” Moses relays the message to the people and they come into agreement and vow to do exactly as God commands. God then says to Moses, “In three days, I will come to you in a thick cloud in order that the people may hear when I speak to you and so trust you ever after. Now, warn the people they must be clean and pure, for the Lord will soon appear at Mount Sinai.” And Moses told the people to prepare for God’s presence. On the third day, as morning dawned, there was thunder and lightning and a dense cloud upon the mountain and a very loud blast of the shofar horn. All the people trembled. Moses led the people out of the camp toward God and they took their places at the foot of the mountain.
Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke, for the Lord had come down upon it in fire and the whole mountain trembled violently. The blast of the shofar grew louder and louder. The Lord said, “Go down, warn the people and priests not to try to come up or look at the Lord, less they perish.”
God spoke all these words, saying, “I the Lord am your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. God tells the people that they should not have any other God. They are not to create any sculpted images, they are not to bow down to anything that is man made and created. He also tells them to never take His name in vain. God directs them to remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. They have (6) days to work, but on the (7) day, God wants them to rest and do no regular work. We also see God giving the rest of the commandments to Moses. These are guidelines for the people to learn, understand and truly become the chosen people of God.
We see this nation coming together in order. Today in our lives, it’s a blessing when we have an order of the way we do things. And ultimately, we are representing God because He is a God of order and speaks of it very early on in our scriptures!