And Jethro the priest of Midian, Moses' father-in-law, heard of all that God had done to Moses, and to Israel his people; that Jehovah had brought Israel out of Egypt.
Israel has crossed the Red Sea, eaten manna, drunk from the rock, and beaten Amalek. Now a man from outside the nation hears the report and comes to share their joy — the whole chapter turns on that word "heard."
Everything up to this chapter has shown God's grace at work. This chapter marks a turn.
We now come to the end of a very marked division of the book of Exodus. We have seen God, in His perfect grace, visit and redeem His people. He brought them out of the land of Egypt. He delivered them first from the hand of Pharaoh, and then from the hand of Amalek. We have also seen the manna as a picture of Christ come down from heaven. The rock is a picture of Christ struck for His people. The gushing stream is a picture of the Spirit given. Then, in striking and beautiful order, comes a view of the future glory. It has three great parts: the Jew, the Gentile, and the Church of God.
The verse names Jethro by his office: priest of Midian. What kind of priest was he?
Moses shows all proper respect for his father-in-law, who was a priest of Midian (v. 7). There is no suggestion that he was an idolatrous priest, and it may well be that he was more like Melchizedek, who was "priest of God Most High" (Gen. 14:18). For God is able to preserve some true reverence for Himself, even outside of Israel.
The rescue of Israel is finished, but its effect is only starting.
The deliverance is complete: the grace which begins perfects the work. Nothing more is needed as to this. But we have yet to see the effect of the work. God's way is always to make the blessing of one the means of blessing others too. So it will be when God brings Israel's final salvation. It will be to the world, says the apostle, "as life from the dead" (Rom. 11:15).
Verse 1 says Jethro heard what God had done for Moses, and how the LORD brought Israel out of Egypt. When Moses retells the story a few verses later, his own name is gone from it.
Notice that when Moses speaks to Jethro, he leaves out all mention of himself. That is an example we may well want to follow. He uses the name that shows the relationship in which God stood to Israel. He simply "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." It is a blessed thing for believers now when they meet and speak of what their God and Father has done in His beloved Son. The mercy that delivered them from so great a death, and still delivers, is their subject and their praise. It is beautiful to see that Moses' account made his father-in-law rejoice and bless the LORD. It brought him right into the spirit of the song recorded in Exodus 15.
Jethro praises a rescue that was not his own. One writer sees in that a picture of a day still to come.
Jethro too has his place. "He heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel His people, how the LORD had brought Israel out of Egypt" (v. 1)… He looked on without envy and praised the LORD for all His goodness. He acknowledged Him to be greater than all gods. So it will be in the day of Christ's glory. Everyone will fall into the place God assigns them, and no one will envy another his share of joy… The Gentiles will praise God's ways of grace and power, and will themselves enjoy them along with the people of God's choice.
- Heard. The chapter opens with news travelling. God finishes His work in one people and then lets the report of it carry to another.
- Reached. God blesses one in order to bless others. When Israel's final salvation comes, it will be "life from the dead" for the world.
- Received. Jethro is a priest of Midian, and nothing here marks him as an idol worshipper. God keeps some true reverence for Himself outside Israel too.
- Retold. Moses tells the story and leaves his own name out. His hearer ends up blessing the LORD. Testimony that hides the messenger produces praise.
- Pictured. The scene closes a long stretch of grace with a glimpse of glory. Israel is delivered, an outsider rejoices without envy, and each one stands in the place God gave him.
And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took Zipporah, Moses' wife, after he had sent her back,
Jethro arrives at the mountain of God, and verse 2 drops in a fact the story never mentioned before. At some point Moses had sent Zipporah home to her father. Why did they part? And why does she come back now, after God has judged Egypt and freed Israel?
The story of the plagues and the Red Sea says nothing about Moses' family.
Jethro must have known the full story of Israel's sufferings in Egypt. Moses had lived with him for forty years. Now he had heard the wonderful story of their deliverance, and he came to rejoice with them, bringing Zipporah and her two sons. Only now do we learn that Moses had sent her back to her father, and what the name of the second son was.
Zipporah had set out with Moses toward Egypt. She did not stay. One writer pieces the sequence together like this:
Apparently Moses took his wife Zipporah and Gershom, his son, to Egypt when he returned there at God's call. Likely his second son, Eliezer, was born in Egypt. This chapter (v. 2) tells us that Moses "had sent her home" — evidently to stay with her parents until God set Israel free.
The reunion here answers an earlier parting in anger.
Remember what this lovely scene is made of! The last time Moses and Zipporah were together, they parted as if in a rage. The last time we see and hear the people, they were murmuring again and again at the ways of the Lord. The same Moses, the same Zipporah, the same people — but morally, how different! The people ask and obey instead of murmuring, and Zipporah's quarrel over her "husband of blood" ends with her bringing her children back to greet her lord and rejoice with him.
Moses married Zipporah far from Israel, years before the exodus. Writers see a picture of Christ and the church in that timing.
At that point Israel had not yet recognised Moses as the leader who would set the people free. This brings us to the first point about Zipporah: she was the bride given to Moses in the days of his rejection. In the same way the church now is the bride given to the Lord Jesus during the time when He is rejected by Israel.
Her absence matters as much as her return.
It is significant that Zipporah stayed hidden in her father's house. She was not with Moses when he carried out the judgements on Egypt and set the people of Israel free. The Lord is the true Moses, who will deliver His people with might and power and who will execute judgement on the world.
Moses named Gershom years earlier. Eliezer's name appears only here, and the order matters.
The episode in Exodus 4 had shown us that Zipporah was not ready for circumcision, the sign of the covenant with Abraham, and the picture of the cutting off of the flesh. In naming his elder son Gershom, Moses revealed that he knew he was a stranger in the world where he lived. The cutting off of circumcision was very fitting for a stranger. Now the second son appears, and we move from what is negative to what is positive, since Eliezer means "My God is a help."
Read as a picture of Israel's history, the two names mark two stages:
The first is Gershom, "for he said, I have been an alien," or a pilgrim, "in a strange land." It recalls the weary days when Israel was away from their own land, scattered as strangers throughout the world. The name of the second is Eliezer: "For the God of my father was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh." This certainly recalled the past, but it is also a prophecy of the future. Taken as a picture, it speaks of the final deliverance of Israel, before they enter into blessing under the reign of Messiah.
The returning wife and sons are not a domestic footnote. They complete a picture.
The whole congregation assembled in triumph before the Lord, with the Gentile presenting sacrifice. And to complete the picture, the bride of the deliverer comes in too, together with the children God had given him. In short, it is a strikingly clear foreshadowing of the coming kingdom.
- Sent back. Moses sent Zipporah to her father's house while he faced Pharaoh. The parting was temporary, not final.
- Given in rejection. She became Moses' wife before Israel recognised him as their deliverer. The bride belongs to the time of rejection.
- Kept from the judgment. She was absent from Egypt while the blows fell; the deliverer acted alone.
- Named in hope. Gershom recalls Moses' words, "I have been an alien in a strange land." Eliezer, whose name we learn only after the rescue, means "My God is a help."
- Brought back for joy. Wife, sons and a rejoicing Gentile stand with the freed people at the mountain of God. It pictures the kingdom to come.
and her two sons, of whom the name of the one was Gershom -- for he said, I have been a sojourner in a foreign land,
Moses' father-in-law Jethro brings Moses' family to him in the wilderness, and the story pauses to explain the elder boy's name. Moses gave that name years earlier in a foreign land. It returns here, just as Israel walks free from Egypt, and commentators read far more in it than family history.
Moses put his own homelessness into his son's name. The ESV has him say, "I have been a sojourner in a foreign land"; the older wording the writers quote is "a stranger in a strange land." One writer sees our own place in the world in that name:
We find Moses then in the land of Midian, and soon with a Gentile bride. But his son's name tells us that he has still found no real home. He names his son "Gershom" — "a stranger" — for he says: "I have been a stranger in a strange land." Here Moses beautifully reflects our character and position in the world, and that of Him to whom we belong. The wife belongs no more to Midian, but to her husband. The "stranger" son never becomes a resident of the land where he is born. These things should need no explanation to any of our hearts. May God make us more Gershoms in the land of Midian — strangers in a world where Christ can find a bride, but not a home.
Moses spent forty years in Midian. Look at how little Exodus keeps from those years:
It is strange indeed that the chief record of the forty long years Moses spent in Midian is this: he called his son by the Egyptian name Gershom, which means banishment — "for," said he, "I have been a stranger in a strange land." Even the name of his second son, born in Midian, does not appear in the book of Exodus until Moses had led Israel out of Egypt. Forty long years of schooling, and yet hardly a word said about this one-third of Moses' life!
Moses gained his wife and sons while he lived apart from Israel. His own people had refused him. One writer reads that timing as a pattern:
And I would add this: Moses got a wife and children when he was separated from his brothers, the children of Israel, through their unbelief and rejection of him. As a result, as he says himself, he was then "a stranger in a strange land" (Ex. 2:22; Ex. 18:3). In the same way, the unbelief and rejection of Israel has brought the Lord in among the Gentiles, and He is gathering a church, a wife and children, out from among them.
Zipporah, Moses' wife, comes to him only now — after God judged Egypt and Israel went free. One writer finds meaning in her absence:
It is significant that Zipporah was hidden in her father's house, and not with Moses, while he carried out the judgements on Egypt and set the people of Israel free. The Lord is the true Moses. He will deliver His people with might and power, and He will execute the judgement on the world.
Commentators differ on what Gershom pictures. Some see the Christian's own life as a stranger here. Others see the two brothers as marking out God's dealings with Israel across time:
The very names of the children explain the typical character of the whole scene. The first is Gershom; "for he said, I have been an alien" or a pilgrim "in a strange land." So it recalls the weary days when Israel was away from their own land, scattered as strangers throughout the world... So the two names mark two distinct periods in God's dealings with Israel... But this scene looks back on the sorrows of their scattering as past, and in picture they now hold the blessing they had waited for so long.
- Named: Gershom means "a stranger". Moses put his own exile into his son's name, so the boy's name repeated his father's confession every day.
- Remembered: forty years in Midian left almost no record in Exodus except this name. That is what God kept from them.
- Received: Moses gained wife and sons while his own people rejected him. Writers see the same pattern in Christ gathering a people while Israel refuses Him.
- Restored: Zipporah stayed away while judgement fell on Egypt. She returns only after the rescue is finished.
- Reaching forward: the two names in this chapter mark stages in God's dealings — scattering first, then rescue and joy.
-- and the name of the other, Eliezer -- For the God of my father has been my help, and has delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh.
Moses had named his second son for a rescue: God had been his help when Pharaoh wanted him dead. The name comes up again here, years later, now that Israel itself is out of Egypt. Commentators read in it both a personal memory and a picture of something far larger.
The two boys' names run in opposite directions. One records what Moses lacked; the other records what God supplied.
In naming his elder son Gershom, Moses showed that he knew himself to be a stranger in the world where he was living. Now we come to the second son, and we move from what is negative to what is positive, since Eliezer means "My God is a help." This had now become very plain. In these two names we find Moses saying in principle what Joseph before him had said in the names of his two sons, which meant "Forgetting" and "Fruitful."
Moses names a rescue from Pharaoh's sword. One writer reads the name as a clue to where and when the boy was born.
It seems Moses took his wife Zipporah and his son Gershom to Egypt when he returned there at God's call. His second son Eliezer was likely born in Egypt, for we are told in this chapter (v. 2) that "he had sent her back" — evidently to stay with her parents until God set Israel free. The meaning of the name of Eliezer ("my God is a help") seems to show that he was born while Moses was contending with Pharaoh. Moses said then that God had been his help in delivering him from the sword of Pharaoh (v. 4).
Eliezer's name appears late in the story. One writer treats that delay as a clue to how God shows Himself to His people.
We do not find Eliezer (my God is a help) until chapter 18:4. By then Israel is delivered, and the Gentiles come to eat bread with the elders of Israel. We then have the double character of the Lord's relationship with Israel. He is a Stranger with them when they are oppressed, and their Deliverer as the God of their fathers.
Commentators differ on where Moses named this son: one places Eliezer's birth in Egypt, another has both names given in Midian. Either way, the man who chose the name was still waiting on God's promises.
While Moses fled from Egypt, he still held to the sure promises of God. He held on to his confidence, against all past experience and every outward appearance. His heart was hopeful, because God was in his thoughts. God would keep him safe from the king of Egypt. He would also keep him to see His promise fulfilled. Moses had no intention of dying in Midian. The name he gave his firstborn son expressed the assurance that his stay in that country would one day be a thankful memory of praise. To his second child he gave a name that glorified the faithful mercy of the God who saved him from the sword of Pharaoh.
Some writers read the pair of names as a map of God's dealings with Israel. On that reading, Eliezer's name is not only Moses' testimony about his own past but a promise about Israel's future.
The name of the second is Eliezer: "The God of my father was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh." This certainly recalled the past. But it is also a prophecy of the future. Understood as a type, it speaks of Israel's final deliverance, just before they come into blessing under the reign of Messiah. The two names therefore mark two distinct periods in God's dealings with Israel... the second points to that great hour when the Lord will suddenly appear and snatch His people from the very jaws of the enemy.
One writer adds the promise this points to. The name of the second son "foretells Israel's final deliverance by God their helper." Then Zephaniah's words come true: "The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save" (An Outline of Sound Words).
- Danger. The name looks back to a real threat. Moses fled with Pharaoh's sword behind him, and one writer places Eliezer's birth during that conflict.
- Help. Eliezer means "My God is a help." Gershom's name said Moses was a stranger. Eliezer's name said God had helped him.
- Timing. The name appears only in chapter 18, after Israel is out of Egypt. The Lord is first a Stranger with His oppressed people, then their Deliverer.
- Faith. Moses named the boy with nothing yet to show for God's promises. He held on to them against all appearances.
- Prophecy. Commentators read the two names as two eras. First scattering, then rescue — Israel's God proving Himself their help at the last.
And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came to Moses with his sons and his wife into the wilderness, where he encamped at the mountain of God.
Moses had sent his wife and two sons home to her father; now Jethro brings them back to him in the desert, at the mountain of God. Commentators read this quiet reunion as the close of a whole section of Exodus, and as a preview of something far larger.
So far Exodus has shown God rescuing His people step by step. This arrival brings that stretch of the book to a close.
Here we come to the end of a clearly marked division of the book of Exodus. We have seen God, in His perfect grace, visiting and redeeming His people. He brought them out of the land of Egypt. He delivered them first from the hand of Pharaoh, and then from the hand of Amalek. We have also seen, in the manna, a picture of Christ come down from heaven; in the rock, a picture of Christ struck for His people; and in the flowing water, a picture of the Spirit given. Then follows, in striking and beautiful order, a picture of the future glory, divided into its three great parts: the Jew, the Gentile, and the Church of God.
The verse names the place, and that name matters. Moses had brought Jethro's sheep to this same mountain years earlier.
This mountain also carries the name "the Mount of the LORD". The same phrase turns up elsewhere in Exodus, and it always has to do with God revealing Himself at Mount Sinai. Moses once led his father-in-law's flock all the way through the desert to Horeb, the mountain of God. In the same way, he led the people of Israel through the wilderness to this mountain (Ex. 3:1; Ex. 18:5; Ex. 24:13). It was the mountain where God sat enthroned.
Zipporah had been away from Moses while God dealt with Egypt. Commentators press the timing of her return.
But God had now judged Egypt, redeemed Israel, disciplined them, and brought them to the edge of the mountain. So the right time had come for Zipporah, the Gentile wife, to appear again. Her father leads her out by the hand, to be reunited with Moses at "the Mount of God," now that all the work of judgment and redemption was finished in glory.
The verse lists four parties arriving or waiting: Moses, his wife, her sons, and Jethro. Commentators see each standing for someone.
Having administered these judgements Moses is reunited to his wife. The picture we get in Exodus 18 is that the following 'parties' are assembled together: Moses (picture of the Lord), and Zipporah (picture of the church), are together with Reuel (picture of the nations) and speak about the subject of how God has delivered his people Israel and the ways he has gone with the enemies of His people in order to bring this about.
Moses named his two sons Gershom and Eliezer. Those names carry more than family history.
The first is Gershom, "for he said, I have been an alien," or a pilgrim, "in a foreign land." It recalls the weary days when Israel was away from their own land, scattered as strangers throughout the world. The name of the second is Eliezer: "For the God of my father was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh." This certainly looks back to the past. But it is also a prophecy of the future. Taken as a picture, it speaks of the final deliverance of Israel, just before they are brought into blessing under the reign of Messiah. So the two names mark two distinct periods in God's dealings with Israel.
Jethro was nowhere near Egypt while God was judging it. Commentators treat where he lived as part of the picture.
Jethro stands for the Gentiles who are saved during the great tribulation and will come to enjoy the blessing of the coming thousand-year kingdom with the Jews... While God was judging Egypt with those terrible blows, Jethro was out of sight in a remote part of the desert. In the same way, it is the nations we now call heathen, living in places the world hardly notices, who will be blessed when long-lost Israel is gathered. Zipporah and her sons stand nearer to Israel's deliverer than anyone else at the "mount of God" could. This is the Church.
Nothing in this group's past promised peace. The place where they meet changes that.
Here we see the heavenly family and the earthly family together at the mount of God, pictured in Jethro and the ransomed tribes. The whole scene is full of moral beauty. Yet the people who make up this scene had felt very differently about each other in earlier days. Moses and Zipporah had parted in anger the last time they met, and the people had grumbled again and again. But now the mount of God has its effect on them. From the greatest to the least, from Jethro down to the furthest corner of the camp, everything stands under the power of godly order, submission, and fellowship.
- Place — Israel camps at Horeb, the mountain where God revealed Himself and sat enthroned. Everything else here happens on that ground.
- Grace — The rescue from Egypt, the manna and the water from the rock were all grace. This arrival closes that section and turns it into a picture of coming glory.
- Timing — Zipporah returns only after God has judged Egypt and redeemed Israel. Her sons' names look back to exile and forward to Israel's final deliverance.
- Company — Israel's deliverer, his Gentile wife, her two sons and Jethro from outside all stand in one scene: the Jew, the Gentile, and the Church of God.
- Order — People who once parted in anger or grumbled now stand together in fellowship and submission, from Jethro to the farthest edge of the camp.
And he sent word to Moses I, thy father-in-law Jethro, am come to thee, and thy wife, and her two sons with her.
Jethro reaches the camp at the mountain of God. He sends word ahead, naming himself, Moses' wife, and her two sons. It reads like a simple family notice. Yet commentators see in this small group — the deliverer, the Gentile father-in-law, the returning wife, the two boys — a picture of the kingdom to come.
Zipporah stayed in her father's house while Moses went back to Egypt. She appears again only now, when the work is done:
Egypt was judged, Israel redeemed, disciplined, and led to the borders of the mountain. Then the right time had come for Zipporah, the Gentile wife, to appear again. She is now brought forward, led out by her father's hand, to join Moses again at "the Mount of God." By then all the work of judgment and redemption was gloriously and fully accomplished.
One writer sees her absence as part of the picture, not an accident of the story:
It is significant that Zipporah was hidden in her father's house, and not with Moses, while he carried out the judgements on Egypt and set the people of Israel free. The Lord is the true Moses. He will deliver His people with might and power, and He will execute the judgement on the world.
The verse counts the sons but does not name them. Earlier verses give both names, and each one carries a message:
In naming his elder son Gershom, Moses revealed that he knew he was a stranger in the world where he lived... Now the second son is mentioned. We pass from what is negative to what is positive, since Eliezer means, "My God is a help." This had now been made very plain.
Another commentator traces the same two names across Israel's story:
The first name is Gershom, and it recalls the weary days of Israel's absence from their own land, when they were scattered as strangers throughout the world... The two names mark two distinct periods in God's dealings with Israel... the second points to that momentous hour in which the Lord will suddenly appear and snatch His people from the very jaws of the enemy.
Moses received his bride during the years when his own people rejected him. Writers see the church in her for that reason:
During the time when Moses was rejected by his brothers, he was taken aside and given a bride — the companion of his rejection... This is precisely what Christ is to the Church. Her connection with Him is founded upon death and resurrection... It is, as we know, during the period of Israel's unbelief, and of Christ's rejection, that the Church is called out.
But the picture has limits. Not everyone in the family group stands for the same thing:
In Exodus 18 come the Gentiles. Zipporah then is a type of the Church we are getting now. The two sons are not the Church, only Zipporah.
Until this message, Israel knew nothing of Moses' family in Midian. The announcement brings the connection into the open, and places them closest to him:
Until now this had been a hidden union. But now the wife and the children, led out by the father, appear in front of his own countrymen. They take a place nearer to Moses, the great centre of the whole scene, than any of them.
With Jethro's arrival, every group is present at once, and the chapter becomes a sketch of the age to come:
The whole congregation gathers in triumph before the Lord. The Gentile presents his sacrifice. And in addition, to complete the picture, the bride of the deliverer and the children whom God had given him are brought in as well. It is, in short, a remarkably striking foreshadowing of the coming kingdom.
One writer draws out what brought Jethro, and how Moses received him:
It was no wonder that Moses' father-in-law should seek to come to him while they were travelling in the wilderness, and bring his wife and two sons as well, since he had heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel His people. That Moses, camped at the mountain of God, greater than any prophet... should not stay in his tent, but go out to meet one so much lower than himself, though his father-in-law, and bow down too, was lovely.
- Kept back. Zipporah stayed in her father's house through the judgments on Egypt. She returns to the finished work, not to the fight.
- Named. Gershom speaks of life as a stranger, Eliezer of God as help — the negative answered by the positive.
- Given. The bride came to Moses in the years his own people rejected him, which is why writers see the church in her.
- Revealed. The message makes a hidden family tie public. The wife and sons now stand nearer to Moses than anyone in the camp.
- Gathered. The Gentile father-in-law, redeemed Israel, and the deliverer's household stand in one scene. The chapter sketches the coming kingdom.
And Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, and did obeisance, and kissed him; and they asked each other [after] their welfare, and went into the tent.
Exodus 18 opens with a reunion in the desert. Jethro arrives with Moses' wife and two sons, and Moses comes out of the camp to greet him. The verse is almost all gestures: going out, bowing, a kiss, a greeting, a tent. Commentators find in these small courtesies both a lesson in manners and a picture of something far larger.
Moses had every reason to stay where he was and let his father-in-law come to him. He was the leader of a nation just carried through the Red Sea. One writer weighs that standing against what Moses does:
If "The man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh's servants, and in the sight of the people," then the magnificent way Jehovah had used him to carry the people through the Red Sea could in no way have lessened his greatness... Moses was camped at the mount of God. He was greater than any prophet, "faithful in all God's house, with whom Jehovah would speak mouth to mouth, plainly, and not in dark sayings." Yet he did not stay in his tent. He went out to meet someone so much below him, though the man was his father-in-law, and he bowed down too. That was lovely. He kissed Jethro, they asked each other how they were, and then they came to rest in the tent. It is a wilderness scene the heart can linger over.
The same writer notes when this meeting happened, and what it illustrates:
The meeting of Moses and his father-in-law, recorded in Exodus 18, is all the more interesting and important to the believer now. It took place before Israel had so foolishly placed themselves under law. And it is a fine illustration of the command in 1 Peter 3:8: love as brothers, be tender-hearted, be courteous.
Jethro was a priest of Midian — an outsider to the nation God had just redeemed. Moses' bow raises the question of what kind of priest he was:
Moses shows all due respect for his father-in-law, who was a priest of Midian (v. 7). There is no suggestion that he was an idolatrous priest. He may well have been more like Melchizedek, who was "priest of the Most High God" (Gen. 14:18). For God is able to preserve some true reverence for Himself, even outside of Israel.
Verse 7 ends with the two men going inside. What Moses told Jethro there is striking for what it leaves out:
Notice that in speaking to Jethro, Moses leaves out all mention of himself. That is an example we may want to follow. He used the name of the relationship in which God stood to Israel, and "told his father-in-law all that Jehovah had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake, and all the hardship that had come on them by the way, and how Jehovah delivered them." It is a blessed thing for believers now when their conversation and their praise, as they meet, are about what their God and Father has done in His beloved Son, and about the mercy that delivered from so great a death and does deliver.
Several commentators read the whole meeting as a preview. The kiss given to an outsider is part of the picture:
The clouds open and show us a radiant and glorious vision on the MOUNT OF GOD of Moses receiving Zipporah from Jethro the Gentile, while Gershom and Eliezer stand by... So the divine Saviour will be revealed in the future with the spiritual Bride who came from the Gentile home; while the upright Gentile of Matthew 25, who is received with a kiss of peace and affection, is allowed to sacrifice.
Another writer notes how instantly the distance between them closes. Jethro comes from somewhere Israel has never been, yet nothing is awkward:
He meets here the redeemed heirs of earthly blessing, until now a stranger to them. He comes from regions unknown to Israel. But when they meet there is no lack of full companionship. A common hand seems to have led them towards each other. Once Jethro and Moses had kissed each other, and family affection had taken its course, they retold the deeds of the Lord, His famous deeds for Israel.
The beauty of the greeting stands out against the history behind it:
Jethro acts the part of the heavenly visitor, and Moses that of the head and representative of the earthly people. All is happy, from the highest to the lowest, in this mysterious millennial heavens and earth. All is full of moral beauty and order. And only remember what materials make up such a lovely scene! The last time Moses and Zipporah were together, they parted as if in a rage. The last time we see and hear the people, they were grumbling again and again at the ways of the Lord... The same Moses, the same Zipporah, the same people, but morally, how different!
- Go out. Moses does not wait in his tent. The man God used most is the man who walks out to meet the lesser man first.
- Bow down. Bowing costs real greatness nothing. Moses stood higher than any prophet, and that made the courtesy lovely.
- Kiss. The welcome crosses the line between Israel and the outsider. A man from unknown regions is greeted as family.
- Ask, and enter. Inside the tent, Moses talks about what the Lord did, not about himself. That is the pattern for believers' talk when they meet.
- Look back. These are the same people who last parted in anger and grumbling. The same Moses, the same Zipporah, the same people — morally, how different.
And Moses told his father-in-law all that Jehovah had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake; all the trouble that had befallen them on the way, and [how] Jehovah had delivered them.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And Jethro rejoiced for all the goodness that Jehovah had done to Israel; that he had delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians.
Moses has just told his father-in-law Jethro all that the LORD did to Pharaoh, and all that Israel went through on the way out. Verse 9 gives the listener's reaction — a priest of Midian, outside Israel, glad over a rescue that was not his own.
Jethro's gladness came from a report. Commentators notice how Moses told it.
Notice that when Moses speaks to Jethro, he leaves himself out completely. That is an example we may well want to follow. He used the name that showed how God stood towards Israel. He simply "told his father-in-law all that the LORD had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake." It is a blessed thing when believers meet today and talk about what their God and Father has done in His beloved Son. They praise Him for the mercy that delivered them from so great a death, and delivers them still.
What Jethro heard was about someone else's rescue. Notice who gets the credit in his reply.
Moses told Jethro all that God had done in judging Pharaoh and Egypt to deliver Israel. He told him too of all the affliction God had brought Israel safely through (v. 8). Jethro's response was one of ungrudging thankfulness and rejoicing. He gives every honour for this to the Lord. Jethro also offered a burnt offering and other sacrifices to God at this time. Aaron and the elders of Israel ate before the Lord with him, showing clear fellowship. Though Aaron was the high priest of Israel, he did not begrudge Jethro acting as priest here, but showed fellowship with him in doing so.
Jethro does not belong to Israel. Commentators read this chapter as the point where the Gentiles — the nations outside Israel — come in. Jehovah, in the quotes below, is the name printed as the LORD in the verse.
In Exodus 18 the Gentiles come in. We see the Gentiles owning Israel and Jehovah. "Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people." The Gentiles are as much at home with Him as Israel. They own Israel to be Jehovah's own people, though they themselves are not.
Jethro rejoices over a blessing God gave to others. Commentators read the scene as a preview of a coming day.
He looked on unselfishly and praised Jehovah for all His goodness, owning Him to be greater than all gods. So it will be in the day of Christ's glory. Everyone will willingly take the place God assigns them. No one will envy another's share of joy... The tribes of Israel will rest from all their oppressors. They will enjoy the grace of God, which alone can bless a ruined people.
Another writer looks ahead to what the whole world will one day learn.
The Gentile will truly rejoice for all the goodness Jehovah will have done to Israel. He will have delivered them from the hand of all their enemies, from first to last. The people of the world will learn righteousness when His judgments are in the earth. Then they will know, as Jethro did, that Jehovah is greater than all gods.
Israel is in the desert here. One writer points out how rare joy is in these books.
Joy flows from possession. Redemption delivers, and that is essential to joy and leads into it. Yet by itself it does not produce joy... But joy is not found in the books of the wilderness. The one exception makes this all the more striking. Exodus 18 carries us forward in picture to the final result of God's ways of grace towards the people. It is a millennial scene. Here, with beautiful fitness, it is the Gentile Jethro who "rejoiced for all the good that the LORD had done to Israel."
Jethro's joy does not stay a feeling. It ends at an altar and a shared meal. What made such a meal possible, long before the law gave any rules for offerings?
So God had not yet shown Moses His mind about the offerings, set out in Leviticus 1-7. Even so, those who acknowledged God already knew how to have seasons of holy fellowship with one another in His presence. But such seasons required the sacrifice... Holy joy and happy fellowship with each other before God had to have a death behind it — the death of the sacrifice. Once that sacrifice was there, they could rejoice before God and with one another, fallen creatures though they were.
- Told — the joy began with a story: Moses recounted what the LORD had done and left himself out of it.
- Stirred — Jethro thanked God without a grudge for a rescue that was not his own. He gave the Lord every honour.
- Widened — the man rejoicing is an outsider. Commentators see here the nations owning Israel and Israel's God.
- Shared — the gladness ends at a table, and holy fellowship before God rested on a sacrifice.
- Foreshadowed — joy is rare in these books. This scene pictures the coming day when each has his place and no one envies another's.
And Jethro said, Blessed be Jehovah, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of Pharaoh; who has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians.
Jethro is a priest of Midian and Moses' father-in-law. He has just heard the whole story of the exodus from Moses, and his first words bless God instead of praising Moses. Why does a man from outside Israel praise God for Israel's rescue? And why does he name that rescue three times in one sentence?
The blessing came after a conversation in a tent. Moses gave his father-in-law the whole account and kept himself out of it.
Notice that when Moses speaks to Jethro, he leaves out all mention of himself — an example we should want to follow. Using the name that described God's relationship to Israel, he simply "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." It is a blessed thing for believers now when they meet and talk about what their God and Father has done in His beloved Son. The mercy that delivered them from so great a death, and still delivers, becomes the subject of their conversation and their praise. It is beautiful to see that Moses' account caused his father-in-law to rejoice and bless the Lord.
The man who says "Blessed be the LORD" is not an Israelite. He is a priest of Midian. His words repeat a much older scene, where a priest named Melchizedek blessed both Abram and God.
Moses told Jethro all that God had done in judging Pharaoh and Egypt to deliver Israel. He told him of all the affliction God had kept Israel safe through (v. 8). Jethro's response was one of ungrudging thankfulness and rejoicing. He gives every honour for this to the Lord. As Melchizedek said to Abram, "Blessed be Abram" and "Blessed be God Most High" (Gen. 14:19-20), so Jethro says, "Blessed be the Lord."
Jethro blesses God for a rescue he had no part in. He watches from outside the story, and he is glad.
He looked on unselfishly and praised the Lord for all His goodness, owning Him to be greater than all gods. So it will be in the day of Christ's glory. Everyone will fall readily into the place God assigns them, none envying another his share of joy.
Jethro names the rescue three times in one sentence: from the people, from their king, and from the grip they held Israel in. Nothing is half-finished. And a finished work does not stop with the people it saved.
The deliverance is complete: the grace that begins also perfects the work. Nothing more is needed as to this. But we have yet to see the full effect of the work, for God's way is always to make the blessing of one the means of blessing to others as well. So it will be when Israel's final salvation comes; it will be to the world, says the apostle, "life from the dead" (Rom. 11:15).
Two writers read this gathering as far more than a family reunion. They see the whole scene as a picture of something still to come.
This is a deeply interesting scene. The whole congregation assembled in triumph before the Lord, with the Gentile presenting sacrifice. And to complete the picture, the bride of the deliverer is brought in, together with the children whom God had given him. In short, it is a remarkably striking foreshadowing of the coming kingdom.
Another writer puts the same scene in terms of the nations:
Israel has been delivered. The marvellous ways of God with them are recounted. The nations marvel at this and begin to acknowledge that the God of Israel is the true God, "greater than all gods."
- Told. Moses told the story of what God had done and left himself out of it. That telling is what produced the praise.
- Complete. Jethro names the deliverance three times. The grace that begins a work also finishes it, and Israel had nothing to add.
- Spread. A priest of Midian blessed the LORD for a rescue he had no part in. God's way is to make the blessing of one the blessing of many.
- Shared. Jethro looked on without envy and gave God every honour for a joy that was not his own.
- Preview. The whole gathering sketches the coming kingdom. In that day the nations will own that the LORD is greater than all gods.
Now I know that Jehovah is greater than all gods; for in the thing in which they acted haughtily [he was] above them.
Jethro is a man of Midian and Moses' father-in-law. He has just heard the whole account of what God did to Pharaoh, to Egypt, and to Israel on the way out, and his answer is a confession: Israel's God is greater than every rival, and human pride is where He proved it.
One note on wording. The writers below use an older translation of the second half: "in the thing in which they dealt proudly He was above them." The ESV has "in this affair they dealt arrogantly with the people."
Jethro did not reason his way to this. He reached it by listening to what Moses told him.
Notice that when Moses speaks to Jethro he leaves himself out entirely (an example we should want to follow). He used the name that describes God's relationship to Israel. He simply "told his father-in-law all that Jehovah had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake, and all the hardship that had come on them along the way, and how Jehovah delivered them." It is beautiful to see that Moses' account made his father-in-law rejoice and bless Jehovah. It brought him right into the spirit of the song of Exodus 15. There Moses and Israel had sung, "Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?"
The phrase points back to a moment of defiance. God sent Pharaoh a demand, and Pharaoh threw it back.
So it was with Pharaoh and Israel, when Pharaoh refuses to let the people go. "Thus says the LORD, Let my people go." At once the answer comes: "Who is the LORD, that I should obey Him?" There God displayed His power in judgment on Pharaoh, to prove Himself the stronger. As Jethro puts it: "Now I know the LORD is greater than all gods: for in the thing in which they dealt proudly He was above them."
The same writer carries Jethro's words beyond Egypt and applies them to the cross.
God's love is without motive; there is nothing attractive in the object that calls it out. "At the right time Christ died for the ungodly." God's love sees no good in us. The cross gave the clearest proof of God's love and of man's hatred. They met there, and God's love proved the greater — as Jethro says, "In the thing in which they dealt proudly, He was above them."
Jethro is not an Israelite. One writer reads his confession as the pattern for the nations: they learn who God is from what He does with one people.
"The Jew" stands out as the great earthly witness of Jehovah's faithfulness, His mercy, and His power. This is what the Jew has been in past ages, what he is now, and what he will be for ever. "The Gentile" reads his deepest lessons in the book of God's dealings with the Jew. He traces the astonishing history of that peculiar and chosen people — "a people feared from their beginning until now." He sees thrones and empires overturned and nations shaken to the core. Everyone and everything must give way, so that the people on whom Jehovah has set His love stand supreme. "Now I know," he says, "that the LORD is greater than all gods." Such is the confession of "the Gentile" when the wonderful page of Jewish history lies open in front of him.
The confession does not stay a statement. It leads to sacrifice and a shared meal, and one writer notes which name of God the text uses at that table.
Jethro, being with Israel, took a burnt offering and made sacrifice to God, and peace offerings as well. He "and all the elders of Israel" joined in worship and fellowship. But the text says Jethro ate bread "before God," not before Jehovah. God did not relate to this man of Midian by the name Jehovah. This act of worship pictures the coming day. When every enemy has fallen, Jew and Gentile will worship and have fellowship together "before God."
- Told. Jethro's knowledge began with a report in which Moses left himself out and spoke only of what the Lord had done.
- Known. That account carried him into the same praise Israel had already sung in Exodus 15 — "Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods?"
- Answered. Pharaoh had asked why he should obey the LORD. God replied by proving Himself the stronger at the very point of the challenge.
- Crossed. One writer applies the same words to the cross, where God's love and man's hatred met and love proved greater.
- Seated. The confession ends at a table. A man from outside Israel eats with Israel's elders "before God" — a picture of the day when Jew and Gentile worship together.
And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took a burnt-offering and sacrifices for God; and Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law in the presence of God.
Jethro is the priest of Midian and an outsider to Israel. He has just heard what God did at the Red Sea, and he answers with an altar and a shared meal. Two questions follow. Why is a foreigner leading worship in front of Aaron? And why is the meal eaten "before God"?
The offerings do not come out of nowhere. First Moses tells his father-in-law the whole story of the rescue from Egypt.
Moses, the Jew, declares to Jethro "all that the LORD had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake... and how the LORD had delivered them." This account bows the heart of Jethro. He rejoices because of the deliverance of Israel, praises the LORD for it, and confesses His absolute supremacy.
Aaron is present, yet it is Jethro who brings the offerings — and nobody objects.
We are next introduced to Jethro, who, when Israel came out of Egypt, takes it upon himself, without rebuke, though he was only a stranger, to do priestly service in the presence of Aaron, and to give counsel about affairs of state to Moses. For a while this was a very high place in the middle of Israel. The brightest glories in Israel were outshone. This stranger sets aside Moses and Aaron, the king and the priest in Israel. A fair token, like Melchizedek before, of great things to come to the Gentiles.
What he brings matters as much as who he is.
Here we see the Gentile, one of the nations, taking his place before God in all the sweet fragrance of the offering of Christ. This surely shows the nations coming to understand Christ in all His acceptability to God, both in His Person and in His sacrificial work. These form the sure foundation of all blessing.
The verse names a burnt offering and then "sacrifices." The difference explains why a meal follows.
Until the days of Moses, this other offering simply went by the name of a sacrifice. It was festive in character, and in Exodus 24:5 it is described by that term, translated a peace offering. In the burnt offering everything went up to God. In the sacrifice, the one who brought it and those concerned feasted together. It seems God had His part, and they had theirs. On the ground of the accepted burnt offering, blessing came down to men. In this sacrifice the parties concerned eat bread before God.
The wording of the meal is deliberate, and one writer presses the exact name used.
Jethro, being with Israel, took a burnt offering and made sacrifice to God, and also peace offerings. He "and all the elders of Israel" joined in worship and fellowship. But it says Jethro ate bread "before God," not before the LORD. God did not relate to the Midianite by His name, the LORD. This meaningful act of worship pictures the coming day. Every enemy will be defeated, and Jew and Gentile will worship and have fellowship together "before God."
Look at who is at this table: Aaron, the elders of Israel, and an outsider.
Jethro then joins in worship with Aaron and the elders of Israel, together with Moses, before God. Moses is here the king, and so he, with Israel and the Gentiles (Jethro), eat bread before God. It is the union of Israel and the Gentiles in worship. It is the scene the prophet foretold: "It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains... and all the nations shall flow to it." (Isa. 2:2-3)
That table held two moods at once.
This was a festive occasion, yet a solemn one, because they were before God. It was a happy one too, because Jethro and they were rejoicing together over all the goodness the LORD had shown to Israel.
The scene also carries a plain, everyday lesson about how believers eat and host one another.
It is well for us to "show hospitality to one another without grumbling" (1 Peter 4:9). Remember that, for us, God links His glory even with a social meal.
- Told. Jethro's worship starts with a report. Moses tells the story of the rescue, and it bows Jethro's heart until he praises God.
- Offered. The burnt offering goes up wholly to God. On that accepted ground blessing comes down, and the second sacrifice becomes a shared meal — God has His part, and the worshippers theirs.
- Before God. The meal is eaten in God's presence, under the name by which He met a Midianite. It was solemn because of where they sat, and happy because of what they celebrated.
- Together. A stranger does priestly service in front of Aaron, and no one rebukes him. Commentators see a token, like Melchizedek, of blessing reaching the nations, and a preview of Jew and Gentile worshipping together.
- Today. God attaches His glory even to a shared table. Hospitality without grumbling is the everyday form of this scene.