Jethro

See Exodus 18.

I've long puzzled over Jethro's role in Exodus, and I think I'm making some progress at last.

Jethro features in Exodus 2 (as Reuel, where he welcomes Moses the refugee), in Exodus 4 (where he sends Moses back to Pharaoh in peace, although Moses hasn't been strictly honest about the nature of his mission), and in most detail in Exodus 18.

Exodus 18 sees Jethro do two things: 1. He recognises all that the Lord has done for Israel. This includes "how the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt" (Exodus 18:1, covering Exodus 5-15a), and of "all the hardships that had come upon them in the way, and how the Lord had delivered them." (Exodus 18:8, covering Exodus 15b-17). 2. He advises Moses to delegate his role as judge, leaving Moses free to teach God's law and to adjudicate the hardest cases.

The first of these things rounds off Jethro's previous role in Exodus 3-4. We last met him dismissing Moses in peace, as Moses goes to bring Israel out of Egypt. That deliverance reaches closure as Jethro meets them again, and can rejoice to see that God has done all of this. This has two implications. 1. The deliverance from hardships is part of the same rescue as the deliverance from Egypt. God doesn't just save his people at the outset; he then continues to sustain and look after them, and this is the result of his singular commitment to his people.

2. Jethro is very definitely a Gentile convert. "Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods." As such, he stands as a corrective to anyone who might read Exodus 5-17 and conclude from the way the Egyptians and Amalekites are treated that God is xenophobic. He delights to welcome those of any nation who will come and bow before him and honour his people. "Those who bless you, I will bless" (Genesis 12:3).

So far so good for Exodus 18:1-12. But what are we to make of Exodus 18:13-26, where Jethro advises an overworked Moses to delegate. Doubtless, many a Christian leadership book has picked up on this chapter and advised their readership to delegate. But why is it here?

I owe to Alec Motyer the following observation:

"The whole tone of verses 13-27 sounds administrative and legalistic, but to leave it at that level would be to miss the point. [This is about] making arrangements whereby the word of God (20, the decrees and laws) was made available right down to the smallest group, the extended family (the tens, 21), so that daily life could be ordered according to what the Lord had revealed through Moses." (Page 170)

Quite so. What this does is make Jethro a transition between Exodus 1-17 and Exodus 19-24. Exodus 19-24 records God giving his people his law. What we need is transmission - the whole life of the whole community needs to be shaped by that law. That is too big a task for Moses to perform alone. He was the unique one to whom God revealed his character and his requirements; the more complex applications of that law would need to be discerned by him. But the big need was for people who would explain and apply what is revealed to the smallest units of society.

So before we move on from God's deliverance (1-17) to learn of God's demands (19-24) [HT:VER citing DRD], we must learn from Jethro what the law of God is for. It needs to work its way throughout the community, into the smallest corners, so that it can shape the whole of life.

Now Jethro is relevant. In the incarnation, God sent his Son uniquely to reveal himself to us. But it is too big a task for Jesus to teach, personally, each unit of society how to live this out. So he sent some to be apostles, some to be evangelists, some to be prophets, and some to be pastors and teachers (Eph 4) to equip God's people for works of service. The Great Shepherd works through those he sends to be shepherds (1 Peter 5). And this is not just a passage about those with the overall pastoral charge of a church. The units of society get progressively smaller in Exodus 18:21, so that this becomes about leaders throughout the life of a church, such as home group leaders. We need people (a) who fear God, (b) who are trustworthy, and (c) who hate a bribe. Such people will propagate God's unique self-disclosure rather than feathering their own nest.

And the reason we need such people is because of what the word of God is for - it is meant to be obeyed.

So I think that Exodus 18:13-26 is there to say to us: "Before you read any further in Exodus, remember that the law you about to read is there to be obeyed. The reason chapters 19-24 are there for you to read is so that you can order your own life, your family, your extended family, your village or town, your tribe and your nation around what you will read."