Commentaria in Exodum
Chapter 18
Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, brings back to him his wife Sephora with her sons; and by his advice, verse 13, Moses shares the government of the people with others, and appoints magistrates and judges to decide lesser matters.
1. And when Jethro the priest of Madian, the kinsman of Moses, had heard all the things that God had done to Moses, and to Israel his people, and that the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt: 2. He took Sephora the wife of Moses, whom he had sent back: 3. And her two sons, of whom one was called Gersam, his father saying: I have been a stranger in a foreign country. 4. And the other Eliezer: For the God of my father, said he, is my helper, and hath delivered me from the sword of Pharao. 5. And Jethro the kinsman of Moses came with his sons and his wife to Moses, into the desert where he was camped by the mountain of God. 6. And he sent word to Moses, saying: I Jethro thy kinsman come to thee, and thy wife, and thy two sons with her. 7. And he went out to meet his kinsman, and worshipped and kissed him: and they saluted one another with words of peace. And when he was come into the tent, 8. Moses told his kinsman all that the Lord had done to Pharao, and to the Egyptians in favour of Israel: and all the labour which had befallen them in the journey, and that the Lord had delivered them. 9. And Jethro rejoiced for all the good things that the Lord had done to Israel, because he had delivered them out of the hands of the Egyptians. 10. And he said: Blessed is the Lord, who hath delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of Pharao: who hath delivered his people out of the hand of Egypt. 11. Now I know that the Lord is great above all gods: because they dealt proudly against them. 12. So Jethro, the kinsman of Moses, offered holocausts and sacrifices to God: and Aaron and all the ancients of Israel came, to eat bread with him before God. 13. And the next day Moses sat to judge the people, who stood by Moses from morning until night. 14. And when his kinsman had seen all things that he did among the people, he said: What is it that thou dost among the people? Why sittest thou alone, and all the people wait from morning till night? 15. And Moses answered him: The people come to me to seek the sentence of God. 16. And when any controversy falleth out among them, they come to me to judge between them, and to shew the precepts of God, and his laws. 17. But he said: The thing thou dost is not good. 18. Thou art spent with foolish labour, both thou and this people that is with thee: the business is above thy strength, thou alone canst not bear it. 19. But hear my words and counsels, and God shall be with thee. Be thou to the people in those things that pertain to God, to bring their words to him: 20. And to shew the people the ceremonies, and the manner of worshipping, and the way wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do. 21. And provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, in whom there is truth, and that hate covetousness, and appoint of them rulers of thousands, and of hundreds, and of fifties, and of tens. 22. Who may judge the people at all times: and when any great matter soever shall fall out, let them refer it to thee, and let them judge the lesser matters only: that so it may be easier for thee, the burden being shared out unto others. 23. If thou do this, thou shalt fulfil the commandment of God, and shalt be able to bear his precepts: and all this people shall return to their places with peace. 24. When Moses heard this, he did all things that he had suggested to him. 25. And choosing out of all Israel able men, he appointed them rulers of the people, rulers over thousands, and over hundreds, and over fifties, and over tens. 26. And they judged the people at all times: and whatsoever was of greater difficulty they referred to him, taking cognizance of the easier cases only. 27. And he let his kinsman depart: and he returned, and went into his own country.
1. AND WHEN JETHRO, THE PRIEST OF MADIAN, HAD HEARD.—The Chaldee renders, prince of Madian. For the Hebrew cohen signifies both priest and prince, because anciently he who was prince was also priest.
THE KINSMAN OF MOSES,—father-in-law of Moses: for Moses had married his daughter Sephora, chap. 2, verse 21. The Hebrew choten signifies a kinsman, or one related in general (such as a father-in-law). Whence from choten is formed hitchattên, that is, to be joined in affinity by marriage.
2. HE TOOK SEPHORA THE WIFE OF MOSES, WHOM HE HAD SENT BACK,—namely when Moses, returning from Madian into Egypt, about to contend with Pharao, had undertaken so great and so dangerous a burden of affairs that he could not attend to his wife and children; whence he sent her back with her sons to Madian, she fearing, willing and consenting, from Pharao, as I said chap. 4, Epiphanius, Heresies 8, relates that Moses, from the time he began to prophesy, did not know his wife: for otherwise, he says, he could not have been so familiar and united with God.
5. BY THE MOUNTAIN OF GOD,—namely Horeb, or Sinai, as appears chap. 3, verse 1. Hence it is plain that Jethro came not in Raphidim but in Sinai, of which in the following chapter, and therefore that this is inserted by prolepsis, perhaps because Jethro came to Moses roused most of all by the very recent victory of the Hebrews against Amalec, of which in the preceding chapter.
Whence probably against Lyranus teaches and
When did Jethro come to Moses?
so Jeremias praises them, chap. 35, of whom more there. Abulensis teaches that Jethro came to Moses after the law was given on Sinai, toward the end of the first year of the exodus from Egypt: and he gathers it from Deut. 1:6, 7, 9, 15, where it is said that Moses created magistrates a little before the camp was to be moved from Sinai: and the camp was moved from Sinai in the second year, the second month, as appears Num. 10:11. But these magistrates are said in this chapter 18 to have been created when Jethro came to Moses, and suggested and persuaded to Moses their creation; therefore he came to Moses toward the end of the first year, a little before the camp was to be moved from Sinai. Whence the same Abulensis thinks that this chapter ought to be referred and inserted before Num. chap. 10, verse 11. For in the same place, verse 29, Hobab (who according to Abulensis and others is Jethro) is asked by Moses to be a guide of the way for the Hebrews through the desert: whence also soon after, Num. 12, arose the strife and murmuring of Aaron and Mary, when they saw the Ethiopian wife of Moses, namely Sephora the Madianitess, who together with her father Jethro had come to Moses her husband.
7. AND HE WENT OUT TO MEET HIS KINSMAN (father-in-law), AND WORSHIPPED,—namely by bowing himself; for this the Hebrew root schacha signifies. Moses showed his father-in-law Jethro reverence after the custom of the nation, which reverence and adoration is a certain participation of the reverence and adoration due to God: for parents, princes and eminent men share something of the power and honour of God. In like manner Abraham adored the children of Heth, Gen. 23:12; Jacob adored Esau, Genesis 33:3; the brethren adored Joseph, chap. 43:26.