After the descendants of Abraham spent 400 years in Egypt under hard manual labor and slavery, the Lord sent Moses to deliver the people.
Many great depictions of the Exodus have been done, and I won’t go into detail about that event here, but after the people of Israel were released from bondage and set free from foreign control, Moses had a huge job on his hands.
There were 600,000 men who were freed, and scholars estimate that there were about 2 million Hebrews in all who were freed from Egypt.
Moses, the man who had a speech impediment and murdered an Egyptian guard, had experienced the grace of God and became the leader of this great nation.
Moses led Israel as the military leader and governed the nation as a judge, making decisions between people. As Moses navigated his newfound responsibilities, his father-in-law sought him out to bring Moses’s wife and two sons to Moses.
Jethro, a gentile man, listened as Moses recounted the wonderful works of God and the outstanding miracles that God performed as he released the people of Israel from captivity. So great were the miracles, that Jethro, a gentile person who had not fully committed his way to the Lord yet, declared,
“Blessed be the Lord, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh and has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods, because in this affair they dealt arrogantly with the people.” And Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and sacrifices to God; and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law before God.
Exodus 18:10-12
As Moses, the Hebrew, testifies about the goodness of God with Jethro, a gentile, Jethro makes sacrifices to the one true living God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
The next day, Jethro watched as Moses labored from morning to night to judge the people. He heard cases of dispute from sun up to sun down. It was an exhausting feat.
Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “What you are doing is not good. You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to do it alone.
Exodus 18:17-18
Jethro continued to speak and gave Moses advice.
Moreover, look for able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe, and place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. And let them judge the people at all times. Every great matter they shall bring to you, but any small matter they shall decide themselves. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you. If you do this, God will direct you, you will be able to endure, and all this people also will go to their place in peace.”
Exodus 18:21-23
Moses listened to the advice of his gentile father-in-law and alleviated a great deal of the burden of leading the people of Israel. It caused many leaders to step to the forefront and lead the chosen people of God.
When Jews and gentiles come together in unity, great things happen! In the case of Moses and Jethro, Moses was freed in order to oversee the most significant issues and other men were given the opportunity to step up and lead the people of God.
