Roll With The Winner (Exodus 18:1-12) Series

Today's story is mostly going to be about Jethro, the priest of Midian, and Moses' father-in-law. It's been a few months since we've mentioned his name. So let's start by simply rereading Exodus 4:18:

(18) and Moses went,

and he returned to Jethro his father-in-law,

and he said to him,

"Let me go, please,

so I will return to my brothers

who [are] in Egypt,

so I can see if they are still alive,"

and Jethro said to Moses,

"Go in peace (shalom),"

God had just appeared to Moses in the burning bush, and told him that Moses would free Israel from slavery to Egypt. Moses has been commissioned; this is the job God has given him to do.

Now, before Moses can go do this, he has to say something to Jethro. You can't just abandon your father-in-law.

What do you say to him?

Moses isn't open with Jethro, at all. He doesn't say one word about Yahweh, or the bush. Instead, he asks Jethro for permission to see if there's any Israelites left alive. That's why he's leaving-- over curiosity, and maybe concern, over his brothers.

Why does Moses sell it this way? Is it because Jethro is a priest of Midian, and serves other gods, and Moses doesn't know what he will think about Yahweh's commission? I don't know. But Moses hides the truth from him.

That said, the truth always seems to come out in the end. And in Exodus 18, Jethro has heard the truth about what Yahweh has done. Let's start by reading verse 1:

(1) And Jethro the priest of Midian, the father-in-law of Moses, heard all that God/Elohim had done for Moses and for Israel his people,

that Yahweh had brought out Israel from Egypt,

The focus of our story today is on Jethro. Specifically, Jethro in the two roles he's had throughout Exodus: he is a [pagan] priest, and he is Moses' father-in-law.

And Jethro has heard the good news about what Yahweh has done for Israel.

Those are the three things we need to know, for the story to make sense.

Verse 2:

(2) and Jethro the father-in-law of Moses took Zipporah, the wife of Moses, after he had sent her away,

Why did Moses send Zipporah away? Some scholars (Duane Garrett) wonder if this means Moses divorced her, or she divorced him. But that's reading a ton into a verb that's ambiguous. And Zipporah is still called Moses' wife in verse 5.

I think the best explanation here is that Moses knew his fight with Pharaoh would be big, and ugly. It was hard to say exactly how it would go. There's no certainties, in a situation like that. But regardless, it's not a time or place for women and children; it's a time and place for men. A good husband sends his wife and kids to safety, and he does what needs to be done with other men. And if that makes me sexist, so be it.

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In Afghanistan, when the 13 soldiers died at the bombing at the airport, there was one death in particular that wrecked people back here in the States. There was a picture of a young female Marine, Nicole Gee, holding an Afghani baby, that went around. And every guy looked at that, and thought, "She should be a wife and mom at home. That should be her baby." That's what Moses is avoiding.

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Let's reread verse 2, and then push ahead:

(2) and Jethro the father-in-law of Moses took Zipporah, the wife of Moses, after he had sent her away,

(3) with her two sons, the one named "Gershom" ("Stranger there"), because he had said, "A stranger ("ger") I have been in a foreign land,"

(4) while the name of the other [was] Eliezer ("El/God is my help"), because "[The] God of my Fathers [was] my help (ezer), and He delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh,"

These verses are key to the story. It matters, that we remember the names of Moses' sons. And when hear them together, we see that they have become a summary of the gospel message. Moses used to be a stranger in Egypt. But now, God has helped him, and delivered him from Pharaoh. His children have become a testimony to what God has done. And his testimony, has become the testimony of Israel as a whole. They were foreigners, stuck in a far off-land. And God helped them, and rescued them. And now He's bringing them to their new home.

Verse 5:

(5) and Jethro the father-in-law of Moses came, with his sons and his wife, to Moses-- to the wilderness where he was camping there at the mountain of the God/Elohim,

Verse 5 is really interesting, because it shows this entire story has been put here out of chronological order (h/t Duane Garrett). Verse 5 assumes that Israel is already at God's mountain. But let's read Exodus 19:1-2 (NIV no reason):