Exodus 18:1 - Meaning and Application

This event may well belong here, before the giving of the law, instead of being tied to the later passage in Numbers 10:11, Numbers 10:29, and what follows. Sacrifices had already been offered before this. Here, in Exodus 18:12, it is worth noticing that Jethro is said to take the offerings, not Aaron. As for Jethro's advice that Moses appoint judges under him, verse 13 suggests that he gave that advice the next day, but that does not mean Moses carried it out right away. He may have put it in place later, after the law was given, as it is placed in Deuteronomy 1:9. Jethro clearly did not want Moses to change the government until God gave instructions about it, which he did not receive until later (Exodus 18:23).

Jethro comes, first, to congratulate Israel on their happiness, and especially Moses, his son-in-law, on his honor. Moses had once been in distress, and Jethro had shown him kindness then, so now he may feel that kindness has been richly repaid. His daughter, too, had been given a better husband than he could have expected. Jethro had heard what the whole country was talking about, the great things God had done for Israel (Exodus 18:1). He comes to learn more and to rejoice with them, because he truly respected both the people and their God. Though he was a Midianite and had no share in the promised land, he still shared in the joy of their rescue. In the same way, we can make other people’s comfort our own by taking joy, as God does, in the good of the righteous.

Second, he comes to bring Moses his wife and children. It seems Moses had sent them back, likely from the inn where his wife’s refusal about circumcising her son had nearly cost Moses his life (Exodus 4:25). Fearing that they might only add to his burdens, he had sent them to his father-in-law’s house. He could see the discouragements ahead in Pharaoh’s court, and he did not want the pressure of family matters to weigh on him there. In that sense, he acted like the tribe described in Deuteronomy 33:9, who gave themselves fully to God’s work. In a similar way, Christ’s disciples were to leave wife and children behind when they went on a mission much like Moses’ (Matthew 19:29).

Still, when a separation like that is only for a time, they should come together again as soon as it is fitting. That is part of the duty of marriage. Husbands are told to live with their wives in understanding (1 Peter 3:7). We may suppose Jethro was glad to have his daughter near him and loved her children, but he would not keep her from her husband or her children from their father (Exodus 18:5, Exodus 18:6). Moses needed his family with him, so that while he led God’s people, he would also show wise and faithful family leadership, as required of a church leader in 1 Timothy 3:5. Moses now had both great honor and great responsibility, and it was right that his wife should share both with him.

Attention is also given to the meaningful names of his two sons. The first was named Gershom (Exodus 18:3), which means a stranger. Moses chose that name not only to remember his own condition, but also to remind his son that he, too, was a stranger in the world. We are all strangers on earth, just as our fathers were. Moses also had a close relative named Gershon, a similar name, and even though that relative was born in Canaan (Genesis 46:11), the patriarchs still confessed themselves to be strangers there.

The second son was named Eliezer (Exodus 18:4), which means, as we usually say, "My God is a help." This name looks back to Moses’ rescue from Pharaoh, when he escaped after killing the Egyptian. But if this was the son who was circumcised at the inn, as some think, then it is better to take the name forward in hope: "The Lord is my help, and he will rescue me from the sword of Pharaoh," which Moses had reason to expect when he went to bring Israel out of bondage. When we are starting any hard work for God and for our generation, it is good to encourage ourselves with God as our helper. The One who has delivered us before does deliver, and will deliver again.