Scripture Daily

Context No. 1013 of 4322 · Exodus

Context · Reflection

Exodus 18:7-12: in context

7Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, and bowed and kissed him. They asked each other of their welfare, and they came into the tent. 8Moses told his father-in-law all that the LORD had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, all the hardships that had come on them on the way, and how the LORD delivered them. 9Jethro rejoiced for all the goodness which the LORD had done to Israel, in that he had delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians. 10Jethro said, “Blessed be the LORD, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of Pharaoh; who has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. 11Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods because of the way that they treated people arrogantly.” 12Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God. Aaron came with all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law before God.

Moses is reunited with his father-in-law Jethro, a Midianite priest, who has come to the wilderness bringing Moses' wife and sons. They greet each other warmly, and Moses tells Jethro the whole story: all the LORD had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians, all the hardships on the way, and how the LORD had delivered them. Jethro rejoices at all the good God had done, and blesses the LORD, and makes a striking confession: now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods. Then he offers a burnt offering and sacrifices, and Aaron and the elders come to eat bread with him before God.

Jethro is an outsider, a Midianite priest, not part of Israel, and yet he is the one in this chapter who worships rightly. He listens to the story of what God has done, and instead of being merely impressed he responds with joy, blessing, confession, and sacrifice. Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods, he says, a Gentile priest confessing the God of Israel on the strength of hearing what he had done. There is something lovely in the picture of Moses simply telling the story of God's deliverance and an outsider being moved to worship by it, and then Israel's leaders sitting down to a shared meal with this foreigner before God. The retelling of what God has done has power to draw even those outside the covenant to praise. And it is a quiet foreshadowing of the nations coming in, the Midianite at the table, worshiping the God of Israel, eating bread with Aaron and the elders. Testimony given plainly can turn a listener into a worshiper.

When I recount what God has done, do I tell it in a way that could move even an outsider to worship, and am I as ready as Jethro to rejoice at God's goodness to someone else?

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