The story
Jethro, father in law of Moses comes to visit. He brings back Zipporah (Moses’ wife) and his two children. We aren’t told when they left to see Jethro, but they are in the land-of Midian, this is Zipporahs home and where Moses himself spent 40 years tending the sheep of his Father in Law. The two men have a deep love for each other and Moses greets his friend and father with a deep bow and kisses him. This is a warm reception for a man Moses is clearly so pleased to see. Moses shares with Jethro all that the Lord has done since they last met a few years before. Jethro listens and is in awe at what Yahweh has done for Moses and his people. He acknowledges Yahweh as the most powerful God and makes a sacrifice to him. Interestingly Jethro has heard most of this story before he visits, it’s only when he hears it from Moses that he makes his own choice for Yahweh. Moses, Jethro, Aaron and the Elders all share a meal. Moses is very shortly back to work, Jethro watching on, is amazed that everything falls to Moses. He is older and wiser and knows this is a fragile way to govern. He speaks with Moses about a better way, one where the responsibility is shared out. I can imagine Moses had reservations, who could he trust to do this well? Hadn’t God asked him to do it? Wasn’t he deflecting his own responsibility by doing this? Jethro the priest had probably learnt all these leadership lessons and more in his time, he brings that experience as a gift to Moses’ ministry. A new system is set up, a Judicial system with leaders over tens of people, then fifties, then hundreds, then thousands. Trustworthy people with integrity took on much of the work, and Moses remained the mediator, no doubt with the space and time to properly hear the Lord speaking. We then read that Moses sent his father in law away, various translations word it differently, either way Jethro leaves for his home with his newly found belief in Yahweh.
Whats happening in Moses?
Moses is buried deep in the work of the Lord and perhaps not so much in the Lord of the Work? The Israelites have stayed in the same place for some time, I wonder if Moses was so caught up in the small squabbles and the administration that he had started to lose sight of the bigger picture….a wood for the trees scenario. The Lord sends in someone from outside the forest. Someone Moses trusts and respects, someone that knows him well and his integrity. Jethro comes in to speak wisdom into a situation that could rapidly descend into at worst chaos, and at best complete inactivity. Moses shares with Jethro all that the Lord has done, a testimony of the wonders he has seen and experienced since they last met. Its enough for Jethro to throw his hat in with Yahweh, Jethro responds by making sacrifices and burnt offerings to the one and most mighty God. His acceptance of Yahweh would have made his following wisdom and advice more palatable for Moses I’m sure. Can you imagine how supported and relieved Moses would have felt at this point, months of carrying the Israelites, their continuing complaints, the miles of walking, the issues of food and water. It all must have made for an exhausting and very lonely life, and here comes in someone who knows and loves him, someone he trusts to share all the highs and lows with. It must have felt like the grown ups had arrived. Jethro can see the overwhelm, maybe he too had experienced this earlier in his life, I think he knew what it was like to be too busy to ever get above the water or responsibilities. His solution for Moses to share the load, to institute a system for the problem solving was God inspired and would have freed Moses, given him the space to hear the Lords next call to join him on the mountain. Moses sends Jethro home, I wonder if he knew that it would be too easy to rely on him than on the Lord, that Jethro was a gift for this season, this part of the journey to ensure it continued, that with a little reset he was ok to continue on.
Whats happening with the Israelites?
The spiritually infant Israelites move into a new chapter in their maturity here in the Wilderness of Sinai. Until now none of them trusted their own wisdom or ability to reason. Every matter, big or small had to be brought to the one man, Moses. This would have meant that perhaps you waited days before your issue was brought up, I wonder how many issues were actually solved before they got seen, although we know they could all be very “stiff necked”. What looks like a rather corporate and secular answer, still really has the Lord in the centre of it. Many of them were now being called to take some responsibility. These people were chosen because of their character and integrity and given the authority to make judgements and decisions. They would have had to rely on their own connection of the Lord for that. Perhaps these weren’t huge situations or life altering decisions on the most part, but they would have had to be answered from a God centred heart in them. This brings each person into a closer personal relationship with Yahweh. Still not as close as the Lord would have as the destination, but a step closer into that direction. In groups of ten we are seen as individuals, in groups of a thousand or more not so much. We wouldn’t be known by name, by our gifts or by our deeds. As the system becomes more intimate so does the responsibility of each individual who is seen and known by his community. This is the seed bed for faithful leaders. I wonder if there was a little resistance, the Egyptian army I’m sure would have been organised in a similar fashion. A chain of command may have looked very uncomfortable to a people who had suffered under it, what made this system different? On some level don’t we all look for authority when we feel that there’s an injustice? Don’t we want an arbitrator when our attempts at negotiation fall flat? I think this wouldn’t have been a very easy role amongst a nation of people who had felt hard done by for a few hundred years, that it’s not going to play out well, at least until the Egypt had been purged from them. Did they question the decision of those chosen for such roles, did they feel a little affronted that they weren’t seen to be the right candidate ?….I would put good money on it.
What do we learn about God?
God sees the need for a little intervention with Moses on his way to burn out, he doesn’t admonish him, He doesn’t stomp in and demand a change, He gently sorts the problem by sending in one of the few people that Moses would know to trust and respect. God also brings back the family, it is very easy to work a sabbath when your tent is empty and no one other than your work is making a call on your time. The Lord is so, so subtle and gentle with Moses here. What we see is a God who is steering the ship, also a God that knows Moses inside and out and just what is needed to focus that great work ethic and that heart for his people into something fruitful and not self destructive. Its interesting here that its an outsider that comes to bring this new system in to the Israelites, it works for the good of the people, the good of Moses and for the good of Jethro who returns to his own people and home with a new found devotion to Yahweh, another little fire lit in the wake of the Israelites wanderings. We can also see another step towards the intimacy that is the goal. Thousands become hundreds, hundreds become fifties, fifties become tens, every one is going to be known by name, their personhood developing, yet more healing from the years of slavery, in doing so they are becoming responsible for one another, their hearts are being formed for love. The perfection of this will take maybe another generation, but the healing has started and the plan for the salvation of the world moves a little further forward, God has time and patience, He shows us that a big plan is made up thousands of smaller steps.
What are we to learn from this?
Friendships are important aren’t they? That relationship is usually built on some mutual connection and bond you as you share life’s experiences. Spiritual friendships are even more important, I’d say they are a necessity, they challenge our thinking, they teach us empathy, tolerance and also our need for connection. Jethro and Moses have a friendship beyond the marriage vows made with Zipporah. Only someone trusted could call Moses out here and I think we can learn from this the importance of having people in our lives who love us enough to do it. Who is the person for you who says “Wait, what are you doing here?” who is the person you trust enough to listen to? Moses tells Jethro all that the Lord had done for them from Pharaoh till then. Moses is simply relaying the story, is it his intention to convert Jethro ? I don’t think so, I think it was a more natural sharing than that, a more honest recount of their experiences since they had last met. What we can learn though is the power of just that. A simple sharing without agenda turns the heart of Jethro to Yahweh, I think the sincerity of Moses’ sharing meant there was no need for a defensive response, no need for Moses to give 100 reasons why Jethro should join His God, the action of the Lord spoke for itself and was more than enough. I’m quite surprised that so many of the Israelites were coming for decisions on disputes from Moses. We are told they are seeking Gods will,and as a people who had not yet learnt to approach the Lord individually at least they were seeking wise council. It’s Interesting how in our core we desire justice, especially if we think it will land in our favour! I think it is written into our very make up for there to be a sense of fairness, for there to be a decision maker on whats wrong or right that is removed or above the immediate situation. Another subtle indication maybe of that inbuilt need from God. Its worth noting that even though Jethro is a descendant of Abraham,just as Moses is, the Lord still wishes him to discover the truth of who He is. Its not left that Jethro remains worshipping other gods, or this God by another name. It appears important that he encounters the truth of who Yahweh is. I think that is important for us to realise too, not all worship is fitting, there is one God, and it is his identity, nature and character we need to recognise. Any distortion of that truth means we aren’t following or worshipping him.
What does this tell us about the Spiritual Journey?
There’s a very famous quote by Corrie Ten Bloom, “If the devil cant make you bad he will make you busy” How true this is, both sin and busyness have the same outcome, disconnection from God. Chautard calls it “The heresy of good works”. A trap we so easily fall into, especially in ministry. The zeal is all good, the willingness to serve is all good, the intention to give all you are is good, but the way that it is done can be life or death to the soul. How long could Moses have kept this level of work up before he crashed, physically, mentally and spiritually ? Not too long is my guess and then all the preparation the Lord had poured into Moses, the story that rides on his role crashes and burns. The zeal has been turned into the destroyer not the enabler. This is a common plan of Satan to use the good we are so eager to do to bring us and the souls the Lord is reaching through us to ruin. Our busyness disconnects us from God, the phrase “my work will have to be my prayer today” is the first of many indications that you’re heading in a wrong direction. The work, even ministry should come as a fruit of your prayer life, the work is never a replacement for it. When we have disconnected ourselves from the conversation with the one who should be directing it. The work then easily becomes the god, the time, the energy and the focus required becomes a worship of the project, not the one who called you to it. The Lord has no choice to bring down such works, he can not bless something that severs your relationship with him. This road leads to a sense of self inflation and pride as we offer up what appears to be our own works. They may well be just those, brought into being by our own hands, but if they are not done in and with the will and submission to the Lord they are worse than useless, they can be dangerous. Moses is saved from this here, the Lord intervenes in the naivety of Moses, as He will do for you and me, by allowing a failure or permitting an illness that stops you in your tracks, better this than the threat to your soul. There is also an element of pride that can be underpinning your work ethic and its worth some self examination as to whether this is a tool for making you feel powerful or even valued. Your value is not measured in your productivity, the need for your own power is excluding Gods working in you.
