THROUGH THE BIBLE - Exodus 1..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses' father-in-law, heard all that God had done for Moses and for Israel, his people, how the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt. Now Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, had taken Zephora, Moses' wife.

After he had sent her home, along with her two sons, the name of the one was Gershom. For he said, I have been a sojourner in a foreign land, and the name of the other, Eliezer. For he said, The God of my father was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh. Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness, where he was encamped at the mountain of God. And when he sent word to Moses, I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons with her, Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and bowed down and kissed him.

And they asked each other of their welfare and went into the tents. Then Moses told his father-in-law all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake, all the hardship that had come upon them in the way and how the Lord had delivered them. And Jethro rejoiced for all the good that the Lord had done to Israel, in that he had hand of the Egyptians. Jethro said, Blessed be the Lord who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh, and has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods, because in this affair they dealt arrogantly with the people.

And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and sacrifices to God. And Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law before God. The next day Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from morning till evening. When Moses' father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, what is this that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone and all the people stand around you from morning till evening?

And Moses said to his father-in-law, because the people come to me to inquire of God. When they have a dispute, they come to me and I decide between one person and the other. And I make them know the statutes of God and his laws. Moses' father-in-law said to him, what you are doing is not good. You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out for the thing is too heavy for you.

You are not able to do it alone. Now obey my voice. I will give you advice and God be with you. You shall represent the people before God and bring the cases to God and you shall warn them about the statutes and the laws and make them know the way in which they must walk and what they must do. Moreover, look for able men from among the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe, and place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.

And let them judge the people at all times. every great matter that shall bring to you, they shall bring to you, but anything small or any small matter, they shall decide themselves. So it would be easier for you and they will bear the burden with you. If you do this, God will direct you. You will be able to enjoy and all these people also place in peace.

So Moses listened to the voice of his father-in-law and did as he had said. Moses chose able men out of all Israel and made them heads over the people And they judged the people at all times, and any hard case they brought to Moses. But any small matter they decided among themselves. Then Moses let his father-in-law depart, and he went away to his own country. Amen.

This is the word of the Lord. up until now in our study and our journey in the book of Exodus, we have never seen anything short of God's total and complete faithfulness to his people. He's been nothing but faithful and good to these people who he brought out of Egypt, his covenant people, these people of Israel. to be their protector. He's the one who freed them from the bondage under the Egyptians and provided for their every need along the way.

His presence in the pillar of fire by night and the pillar of cloud by day. He's provided food and manna from heaven for their bellies. And in the last chapter, chapter 17, we even saw that he's provided for his people the water in miraculous ways. with our need. He's provided for their every physical need, but it is something that we need to pay attention to and realize that Yahweh, the Lord, is more concerned with the spiritual needs of His people than the physical needs of His people, although He neglects neither.

And throughout history, as we read through the text of Scripture, in particular the book of Exodus, we will see that at times there are physical situations where we see that have physical direct application for the people before us, the people of Israel, that are actually a foreshadowing of something yet to come. And a clear example of this was what we read and examined and meditated upon as a church last Last week, if you remember in chapter 17, when Moses struck the rock and water gushed out of that rock. So we see that the people of Israel were enjoying the physical benefits of quenching their thirst in that moment. But that very thing was foreshadowing something that would happen some 1500 years later. It was foreshadowing the cross of Jesus Christ, as we explained last week.

that it's Christ, that it is our Lord, that it is the second member of the Trinity, the Son of God, who came and became a man like you and I, and was willing to live that perfect life and suffer that horrific death upon that cross, that He would be struck under the wrath of God on behalf of His own people. so that as a result of him bearing the punishment, him bearing the judgment on behalf of those who trust in him, he would then give the blessing, which is the flowing water, not in the physical sense like the people of Israel enjoyed in Exodus chapter 17, but more so in a spiritual sense. It is the living water that his people enjoy. that living water we know of in in john chapter 4 when our lord was speaking to the samaritan woman and he says i will give you water a well that will well up in you a spring that will well up in you into eternal life for those who trust in christ so we have the the physical that he's pointing of Israel may not have seen the clarity of that. Of course, we're looking back and we have the interpretation because it is Paul, the Apostle Paul, who's told us in 1 Corinthians 10 that it is Jesus Christ who is that rock.

But we can see that the Lord is working with his people, and he is providing for them physically, as we've seen in the book of Exodus. But he's also providing for them spiritually. His goodness is made known to his people. And they would surely agree with the words of the psalmist in Psalm 119, 68, that the Lord is good, and all he does is good. Now, of course, the testimony of God was meant to go beyond Israel.

And in this passage, we see that he's the testimony of the goodness and the faithfulness of our Lord of Yahweh goes to the ear of Jethro. And Jethro is a Midian Gentile priest. And this word comes to him. And we don't know how it comes to him. But the text tells us that he had heard all of what God has done to the people the people of Israel.

And so upon receiving this testimony, he decides to make the journey to Moses, taking Zephora, Moses' wife, and Moses' two sons, Gershom as well as Eliezer. Moses gives us a bit of an interpretation why he called his sons what he called them. Gershom, is called Gershon because it means sojourner, a stranger, to remind Moses that when he was in Midian here, he was a stranger, not so far as going back to his home in Egypt. That wasn't his home, I believe. He knew the promise given to his forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and that home was the promised land of God.

And also his son Eliezer, who is God's, God is my help. He is my deliverer. And Moses explains that explicitly saying that the Lord protected him or delivered him from the hands of Pharaoh when he struck a man, didn't he? And he was worthy of death. The Lord spared him not only then, but we see the Lord our historical information or the text description that we have moving forward.

So God is the deliverer, and Moses called his son Eliezer for that reason. Now, it may be a surprise to us that Zephora and the sons aren't here, because back in Exodus chapter 4, we're told that they made the journey to Egypt with Moses, but nowhere did we say or did we read that Moses had sent in verse 2, that Moses, in fact, had sent them back to Jethro. We don't know why much speculation has been made on that point. It could be because of the fierce opposition Moses had in Egypt. After all, it wasn't only that Pharaoh and his people, the Egyptians, were opposing Moses on the one hand, but also the Israelites were opposing Moses on the other.

He was being threatened from all points. That's a possibility, but that's speculation at best. But either way, for whatever reason, Jethro, with Moses at this point. And this is a lovely thing. This is a beautiful thing.

I'm sure Moses would have been delighted to see them back. We don't have his reaction recorded for us, but I'm sure that would be the case. Although in my mind, I'm thinking, why is it that Jethro initiated and not Moses? However, I'm sure he would have been delighted to see his family. But beloved, as we read emotional reunion, I'm sure.

Let's not overlook some of the details in the text. I want us to see, as verse 5 tells us, where these people are. Where are the people of Israel camped? It says here that they camped at the mountain of God, in the wilderness where he was in camp, at the mountain of God. This is significant.

was way back in Exodus chapter three before Moses had even gone back to Egypt. He met with the Lord and the Lord had promised him that when he goes, he will, he will see some opposition. Pharaoh's heart will be hardened, but eventually the Lord will free his people. The people of Israel will be freed from the bondage of Egypt, and they will come out of Egypt, and He will bring them where? He will bring them to the mountain of God to worship God and to serve God.

See, all the while Moses and the people of God had that promise. filled in the text that is before us. The anxieties and the stress, the trials and the tribulations that they suffered, that they were witness to. All the while, they could hold to the promises of God. And beloved, for us today, we must remember that.

We must remember that the Word of God never fails. He keeps it. He keeps His to know that no matter what he's going through, God said he'll come to the Mount of the Lord with this people, a free people, and they will worship Yahweh at this Mount. And right here, right now, this is what we have. Now, although in chapter 17, he does mention Horeb, and Horeb is Sinai, and Sinai is the Mount of God, but in case we missed it, I think he's got it there so that we can see this in Exodus 3.

It should come to our mind. And it's called the mountain of God for a reason. Beloved, it's called the mountain of God because God's special presence is there. The manifest presence of God is there at that mountain in a special way. And we ought to be thinking about that because for the true child of God, this is the climactic moment.

This is where the true presence of God. And this is why God has chosen a people, that this people will be redeemed by Him, and that He would be their God. Jesus Christ, because those who are trusting in Jesus, that by faith we know that the unique, the special presence of God in Christ dwells in us by His Holy Spirit. And this is why our Lord is able to say in Matthew 28, that, Behold, I will be with you always, even until the end of the age. This is the heart of God's with him.

So Jethro looks at this and he's, as I said earlier, a Midian priest and he sees the goodness tells him in verses 1 through 7, he tells him about the goodness of God. He tells him about what they went through and the hardships that they went through. And I want you to see what Jethro's response was. Verse 11, he says, Now I know that Yahweh is greater than all gods. Beloved, we don't know much about Jethro.

We don't know much or Ruel, his name is mentioned in chapter 2. They can have different names. And we don't know what his religious practices were, but we do know this, that when he's seen and heard of what Yahweh has done amongst his people, when he's heard of that testimony, right here, right now, he declares something beautiful. He declares that Yahweh, that this God of Israel is the only true God. And he's worthy of all worship, of all praise, of all glory.

And so what does he do? sacrifices to Yahweh. This is beautiful. That is, that all other gods, the gods of Egypt, are nothing. They're false.

before Yahweh, the only, the only true God. And then we have the passage from, or passage from 13 through 27. So from one through 12 was very much a reunion of a family and Jethro's acknowledgement of who God is and Gentile believing in God. And from verse 13 through 27, we see the advice of Jethro towards Moses. Because he wakes up one morning, he comes out of his tent, and he sees Moses sitting down and a swarm of people.

Now we have to remember that the text tells us, the Bible tells us there's 600,000 walking men. So we're talking well over 2 million people. That's a lot of cases. There would be a lot of disputes to settle. And Moses had put it upon himself to settle all those disputes.

And when Jethro comes out, he's probably stunned at that. You know, it is a noble thing. Moses does acknowledge himself to be a mediator by God between the people and God. He acknowledges that. He's been faithful and we commend his faithfulness.

However, this is way beyond what one man can do. He has his limitations. And I think he learned of his limitations, at least somewhat. Joshua and his men were doing the battle, were fighting the battle, and Moses had raised his arms, and as long as his arms were raised, they were winning the battle, Israel was. But then he grew tired.

He needed an arrow, and he needed a herb to hold his arms up. This is the work of the Lord. It is the Lord. This is nothing magical about the arms of Moses. It's the work of the Lord.

But one man couldn't do it on his own. The Lord uses his people. And I think that's what we're seeing in this passage. him in this ministry. That the people of God will be looked after by God.

He's provided for them all through the journey. Will he free them from Egypt and protect them supernaturally with miracles and wonders and at this point now neglect to look after them as a people in their need? No. No, of course not. He won't neglect them.

He will take care of them. He will provide for them. And he does it in a way which is maybe somewhat unique to us because he uses someone like Jethro to come and speak to Moses. evening, he was resolving disputes among the people. But Jethro does say something wise.

In verse 20 he says that Moses should continue to teach the people God's statutes and laws. Moses ought to continue to teach God's people God's Word, that which God has spoken. That is a primary responsibility for Moses. He needs to free himself up for that duty. And he needs to appoint helpers, judges, those who can assist him in that ministry, those who can carry the burden with him.

And beloved, if we look at the characteristic of those that his father-in-law said, you ought to be looking for these type of people. He says, you ought to be looking for don't take a bribe. Now, for the sake of time, we're not going to look at those individually, although it would be a wonderful exercise. But it would suffice to say that what he's saying to Moses is, Moses, find Godly men. Find men who have had the hand of God upon their lives.

Find men like you, Moses, in your spiritual outlook to see who Yahweh is. Find men who have had that work in their heart also. Men who love the Lord. Men who are prepared to work for Him, for His glory. for His glory alone.

And you ought to believe that the Lord has appointed these men, that He has raised these men, and you'll be able to identify them among you. And this is so similar to how we have in the New Testament church, is it not? Is this not similar? Does this not bring us to and the fact that there was a need amongst the Grecian or the Hellenistic widows. And they found a need to have some helpers because their time was consumed.

These are not menial things. These are very important things and duties that every church ought to be very considerate of. But however, there are some duties for some and some duties for others. And they, too, sought people among them, men among them. And what were the criteria?

He said the men of good repute. This is Acts chapter 6. Men of good repute, full of the Spirit and wisdom. Find God there, men, so that the apostles could free themselves up for what? For the ministry of the word and prayer.

Jethro had already said, Moses, your duty is should be a priority. It is the centrality of the church. This is how Jesus builds His church. This is how He sanctifies His church. He cleanses His church through the washing of His Word.

And we know that the cases that are, as verse 26 tells us, they're hard cases, as we're told here in Genesis or Exodus chapter 18. We know that when Moses ever received a hard case, when he was in hardship, what did he do? He always comes and pleads for It is the ministry of the Word and prayer which are the primary responsibilities of those who lead God's church, God's people, whether it's Old or New Testament. And we will do well to know that our Lord and our Savior has provided for His people. He's provided for His church.

her and make her beautiful to one day present her with our spot or blemish.