JETHRO AND DOING WHAT ONLY YOU CAN DO

By Jill Roberts and Michael Canalé

 

Tucked away in Exodus 18 is a little story, almost a vignette, that is actually quite important, even monumental, both in the place where we left Moses and the Israelites last week and within the context of where they are going in the next few weeks.

 

This passage is a bit of a cameo appearance of Jethro, Moses’s father-in-law, someone who has not crossed our Biblical path in some time. When Jethro was first introduced to us, Moses was fresh out of Egypt and on the run from the Pharaoh who meant to exact Egyptian justice on Moses for killing an Egyptian while in the process of defending one of his own people, a Hebrew.

 

Jethro, of course, was the father of Moses’ wife, Zipporah, and, during the decades that Moses was tending Jethro’s sheep, we can infer, based on the this chapter in Exodus, that Jethro became a father figure and trusted adviser to Moses.

 

Jethro was something of a Renaissance Man back in his ancient time. He was a farmer, yes, but he was also a priest. He was a practical man as well as a very religious one. Both of these attributes figure into today’s study. Both were causes for Jethro’s appearance back in Moses’s life. As stated, time wise, it was a cameo. Impact wise, it was a pebble in the water, rippling out endlessly through the lives of the Israelites and even into our modern world.

 

What triggered this reappearance? Scripture makes it very clear:

 

“Now Jethro… heard of everything God had done for Moses and for his people Israel, and how the LORD had brought Israel out of Egypt.”

(Exodus 18:1) NIV

 

We can only imagine the fame of Moses at this point in time. The stories of how God had empowered him to deliver two million Israelites out of slavery in Egypt and bring them through the Red Sea on dry land, didn’t require twenty- first century news dissemination in order to travel far and wide in the region where Jethro lived. Everyone drawing breath had heard what had happened — even those who, like Jethro, were living in the wilderness.

 

And so, upon hearing that Moses, previously known only for tending sheep in the experience of his father-in-law, had become a powerful deliverer, Jethro did the only reasonable thing such a man as he could do:

 

“Jethro…together with Moses’ sons and wife, came to him in the wilderness, where he was camped near the mountain of God.”

(Exodus 18:5) NIV

 

When he arrived,

 

“Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and bowed and kissed him. They greeted each other and then went into the tent. Moses told his father-in-law about everything the LORD had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for Israel’s sake and about all the hardships they had met along the way and how the LORD had saved them.

Jethro was delighted…He said, “Praise be to the LORD, who rescued you…”

(Exodus 18:7-9) NIV

 

Even more significantly , Jethro, who was not an Israelite, and NOT, in earlier times, a worshipper of only one God, at this pivotal moment, went from being a polytheist to exclusively worshiping the one true God:

 

“He said,…’Now I know that the LORD is greater than all other gods…”

(Exodus 18:11) NIV

 

What happened next is extraordinary:

 

Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and other sacrifices to God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat a meal with Moses’ father-in-law IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD.”

(emphasis added)

(Exodus 18:12) NIV

 

If this were the whole story in our week’s study, it would, of course, be more than enough. But, it is not. Like the very bifurcation of Jethro’s life, the highly spiritual and the amazingly practical, Chapter 18 of Exodus is very neatly organized with the same dual pattern. After the highest possible spiritual high, a meal in the presence of God, come the completely practical aspects of this passage:

 

“The next day, Moses took his seat to serve as judge for the people, and they stood around him from morning till evening. When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he said, ‘What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?”

(Exodus 18:13-14) NIV

 

In short, Jethro was saying, “Moses, this is going to result in burnout!” Moses responded to him in such a way that we can see why he would risk this over exertion.

 

“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) NIV

 

Jethro, in his great wisdom, spoke of a solution to Moses and, in Michael’s and my opinions, spoke for God, the God Jethro had now come to worship exclusively:

 

“Moses’ father-in-law replied, ‘What you are doing is not good. You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone.”

(Exodus 18:17-18) NIV

 

Jethro then proposed the entire structure for what would become the Judges of the Israelites. The essence of the proposal was that of delegating the exhausting work of judging all the disputes of all the Israelites. The responsibility was to be given to certain kinds of individuals:

 

“But select capable men from all the people — men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain — and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens…but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves.”

(Exodus 18:21-22) NIV

 

Moses followed his father-in-law’s advice in every detail. Most significantly, Moses was able to fulfill what God had prepared him alone to do.

 

There are so many lessons in today’s verses —a short little passage packed with a historic event. As Michael says,

 

“There can be many truths to one thing. It is all how you go about interpreting it.”

 

First, we have the practical, but God-sent message, that we can’t do everything in this life. We weren’t designed to. When we experience burnout, something is wrong with the way we are living our lives. It’s so easy to fall into this trap. After all, Moses did it! Our intentions are good. But our discernment is flawed.

 

The divinely inspired advice of Jethro is to do what ONLY YOU can do. The rest MUST be delegated. Moses was on a path to not doing anything well because he was exhausting himself with attempting everything. This plan of delegating serves not only you but the ones who can and need to do their parts. Shared responsibility is a gift, not a curse.

 

Secondly, this Biblical passage points out that God sends his messengers to guide us to following HIS will in how we go about life. Sometimes they are with us constantly; other times they come into our lives episodically, like Jethro.

 

Next, what frees us from exhaustion or brings about any such lifestyle change, may be quite historic. Wait, you may be saying — isn’t this a bit of hyperbole? The answer is, not at all. These Judges, whom Moses appointed, were doing more than calling the balls and strikes in every argument among the Israelites. As Michael reminds us, they went on to become government leaders, legal authorities and wartime strategists later, down the road in this Scriptural story.

 

When you delegate what you were never intended by God to carry on your own, you are making a decision about descendants that you will never know, but for whom God has very big plans. This is the clear message of the Bible. It is something of which we are only scratching the surface today. In the weeks and months to come, Michael and I will be writing about this in detail as the Biblical story continues.

 

Exodus Chapter 18 ends as follows:

 

“Then Moses sent his father-in-law on his way, and Jethro returned to his own country.”

(Exodus 18:27) NIV

 

Yes, Jethro returned and left behind him a historic change. Who are our Jethros? We have them. God sends them. We need them.