Exodus 17:8-18:27
I have a confession to make. I must confess that I have struggled with this passage for the past two weeks. I started preparation already last week, together with chapter 17, because I was pretty unsure about this one. It seems so random. Jethro suddenly appears again, out of the blue. He brings Moses’ family. He seems to be a priest of God offering sacrifices, but isn’t part of Israel. And then he sits Moses down and tells him how to lead the people and Moses listens to him. Huh?
This is not a passage I wanted to preach. Not at all! But we are convinced that 2 Timothy 16-17 is correct: All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
So chapter 18 is breathed out by God and profitable, useful to us, for teaching and correcting us. There’s another reason why we can’t just jump over chapter 18: God wrote Bible books as Bible books. They have a beginning, middle and end. They progress. And we need to respect the way God has written it. So we preach passages like this, trusting the Spirit to lead us and teach us. And knowing that we as men of God (and women of God) will be equipped for every good work, and we will not be lead astray by those who seek to twist Scripture to say what they want it to say – because we know the context of the verses they use, and know the themes of the books, and know that the focus of Scripture is Christ, Jesus, the Son of God, not you or me or politics or Israel or Jehovah or health and wealth or anything else people try to make it about! The man of God, complete, equipped for every good work.
So let’s dive in and see what we can learn from this passage. And we’ll start by putting it in context.
Last week’s lesson was for the Israelites: stop pretending to be God. Let God be God. Only God can be God. It’s the same lesson we struggle with. That’s why Paul writes in 1 Cor 10:11 These things happened to them (the Israelites during the Exodus and desert wanderings) as examples for us. They were written down to warn us who live at the end of the age. 12 If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall.
Because as we read these stories we see ourselves reflected there. We are quick to complain when things don’t go our way – just like them. We forget what God has done for us. We long to go back to our sinful lives – our pre-Christian lives, forgetting what it was actually like to be ruled by our desires, forgetting what a blessing it is to KNOW the Father, and to have His Spirit with us, in us, at all times.
So last week we looked at the attack of the Amalekites. It was a cowardly attack, attacking those lagging behind at the back of the camp. They attacked without warning, and for no reason. It was a new challenge for the Israelites, a new lesson to learn how to trust the Lord. Who fights for Israel? The Lord fights for Israel. Moses’ hands are raised to the Lord – they win. Moses’ hands are lowered, they lose. Your strength comes from Him. Trust the Lord.
But there is a second thing we learn from the Amalekites, and that is to contrast them with Jethro. Here we have two foreigners, non-Israelites, with two very different responses to God’s people and God’s blessing of his people. The Amalekites fight, they rebel, they seek to destroy the Lord’s people before they can become a threat. Jethro, however, praises the Lord, sacrifices to him, and blesses and helps the people of God.
1. Two responses
17:8 While the people of Israel were still at Rephidim, the warriors of Amalek attacked them.
18:10 “Praise the LORD,” Jethro said, “for he has rescued you from the Egyptians and from Pharaoh. Yes, he has rescued Israel from the powerful hand of Egypt! 11 I know now that the LORD is greater than all other gods, because he rescued his people from the oppression of the proud Egyptians.” 12 Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and sacrifices to God. Aaron and all the elders of Israel came out and joined him in a sacrificial meal in God’s presence.
Two responses to God’s people that couldn’t be more different. Both the Amalekites and Jethro were also descended from Abraham. Amalek was the son of Esau, brother of Jacob who God renamed Israel. But Amalek and his descendants had turned long ago from the Lord. They would have known the promise to Abraham. They would have known that Esau, their ancestor, gave up that promise. They would be afraid that Israel was coming to claim their birthright, their promised land – because guess where the Amalekites lived? That’s right, in Canaan, the promised land.
You know, I wonder what would have happened if they had responded like Jethro did? If they had come to offer sacrifices and praise to the Lord. To rejoice for the rescue of their relatives? Could they not have lived side-by-side with the Israelites? Perhaps they could have been grafted back in? For we know the Lord’s name is “the gracious and compassionate God” (Ex34:6). We certainly see that in the way he treats his people!
But, no. They stay on the path laid down by their ancestors. Their brutality and ferocity towards the Israelites tells you a great deal of how they feel towards the Lord. They hate Him, they do not want to bow the knee, they want to wipe Israel out. And so they march out of their own land, into the desert, and attack the defenceless Israelites.
But they forgot that they are not fighting the Israelites. They are fighting the Lord.
Jethro, however, praises the Lord. He rejoices at the rescue of his people. Jethro, too, is a descendent of Abraham. Jethro, too, is a son of Esau. But he and his descendants after him chose to obey the Lord instead of reject him. Later we find Jethro’s son, Hobab, has joined the Israelites. And the descendants of Jethro, known as the Kenites, we later find as part of the nation of Israel, living alongside Judah and sharing in all their blessings!
What a contrast! The Amalekites reject the Lord, and fight against his people. And their judgement is destruction.
The Kenites, Jethro’s people, embrace the Lord, rejoice at his blessing his people. And their reward is to join with his people in the Promised Land. Remarkable.
Be like Jethro, seems to be the obvious application. And it is. But there’s one more thing we need to notice before moving on. And it’s to do with the names of God. Have a look at v8. Moses tells of what the LORD has done – that small capital letters stands for YHWH (Yahweh) God’s personal name in the Old Testament. Jethro, too, in v9, 10 and 11 praises the LORD “YHWH”. But in v12, when he offers sacrifices as worship to God, he offers them to God – the Hebrew word Elohim, not the LORD, Yahweh. Why? Because Jethro is not part of the people of God. He is still an outsider. He can be part of the blessing of God, but he is still outside – and Moses cannot bring him in. Moses, for all his greatness, is a limited saviour.
2. A limited saviour
17:12 Moses’ arms soon became so tired he could no longer hold them up. So Aaron and Hur found a stone for him to sit on. Then they stood on each side of Moses, holding up his hands. So his hands held steady until sunset.
18:17 “This is not good!” Moses’ father-in-law exclaimed. 18 “You’re going to wear yourself out—and the people, too. This job is too heavy a burden for you to handle all by yourself.
What do we make of this story? Well, I think there’s some truth in the application that leaders need help. We need to carry each other’s burdens, says Ephesians. I need you to keep my arms upraised towards God, as you pray for me and the other leaders in this church that we would remain God-focussed and God-dependent. In your prayers you are like Aaron and Hur, supporting my arms. It’s a bit like that famous picture of the soldiers together raising the flag on Iwo Jima. Working together. Or the rugby scrum. Working together as a team. Honouring the Lord. I think that’s a fair application. As Jethro says “You cannot do it alone”
I think another is certainly that wisdom comes from many areas, even outside the camp! And the wise man accepts good counsel, no matter where it comes from (Prov 19:20).
Those are probably good secondary applications - but I don’t think those are the main applications.
Because we need to let context drive our application – what has come before, AND what comes after. What has come before is Moses leading the people, rescuing them from slavery and taking them through the sea. Raising his arms and giving them victory in battle. Moses has been the voice of God.
And what comes after is the first church – the gathering of God’s people before God Almighty, hearing God’s word. The mountain shakes, there is smoke and fire and thunder and lightning. It is GOD who has rescued the people. It is God’s power, God’s word.
And in between a couple of stories which reminds us that Moses is weak. That Moses is not the saviour. That God is the saviour. 8 Moses told his father-in-law everything the LORD had done to Pharaoh and Egypt on behalf of Israel. He also told about all the hardships they had experienced along the way and how the LORD had rescued his people from all their troubles. 9 Jethro was delighted when he heard about all the good things the LORD had done for Israel as he rescued them from the hand of the Egyptians.
I think that the point the text is making must be that Moses is great, yes, but he is not the Messiah. His family’s sudden return – the last time they were mentioned was in chapter 4, before he approached Pharaoh - reminds us of his past. Moses who was Gershom, the foreigner, the outcast, is no longer. He is now Eliezer, the one rescued by God.
We are reminded, after all of Moses’ triumphs, of Moses’ failure before God met him at the burning bush, and like Israel, rescued him. Moses is not the rescuer, but the rescued.
Moses is one of the greatest leaders ever, because he was humble before the Lord. But he is just a man. In case we were putting our faith in Moses – perhaps thinking that “Here’s the serpent-crusher promised in Genesis 3:16, the one who will overturn evil - after all, he overturned the evil Pharaoh.” Here we are reminded that He is just a man. We’re still waiting for the Messiah, the serpent-crusher. We’re still waiting for Jesus. And I think that’s the main point of this whole chapter. Jethro’s arrival, Moses’ family suddenly back in the picture, Moses’ folly, Jethro’s wisdom – all points us towards the perfect leader, the perfect Messiah, the one who does need to be rescued.
3. Jesus is greater than Moses
You see, Jethro had to remind Moses of what his job was: 19 Now listen to me, and let me give you a word of advice, and may God be with you. You should continue to be the people’s representative before God, bringing their disputes to him. 20 Teach them God’s decrees, and give them his instructions. Show them how to conduct their lives.
Moses was to be the people’s representative – the mediator between man and God. But Moses was limited. He couldn’t handle the pressure of a couple of million or so people.
But Jesus! Jesus is our mediator, our representative before the throne of God. The Son of Man is before the throne – we have a human representative in the court of Heaven. But because he is also fully GOD – he is the God-man, born of the Virgin Mary, by the Holy Spirit (as we’ve been reading in Luke’s gospel in the Bible study) – because he is fully man and fully GOD, he can be our perfect representative, and mere numbers are no problem for him. He does not need to divide us up into manageable groups and have a massive bureaucracy to handle our prayers!
Moses was the mediator between man and God – he stood between the people and God. Jesus brings us into the very throne room of heaven. Heb 9:24 For Christ did not enter into a holy place made with human hands, which was only a copy of the true one in heaven. He entered into heaven itself to appear now before God on our behalf.
Jesus is the greater mediator (representative).
In the same way, Moses brought the word of God (v20 Teach them God’s decrees): but Jesus is the word of God. John 1:1 In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Jesus is the very Word of God.
Moses needed the wisdom of men. Jethro says in v19 Now listen to me, and let me give you a word of advice, and may God be with you. But Jesus is the very wisdom of God. 1 Co 1:24 But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.
Jesus is the very wisdom of God.
And Jesus does what Moses could not. Jesus brings the nations in, so that people like Jethro can know God not just as God (Elohim) but in person (Yahweh). We who are Gentiles have been grafted in to Israel (made part of Israel), and so we can know Israel’s God personally. In fact, he comes to live in us by His Spirit. Praise God. That is what Jesus has accomplished.
Jesus is greater than Moses. He is the greater mediator. He is the very word of God. He is the very wisdom of God.
Heb 3:3 ... Jesus deserves far more glory than Moses, just as a person who builds a house deserves more praise than the house itself. 4 For every house has a builder, but the one who built everything is God. 5 Moses was certainly faithful in God’s house as a servant. His work was an illustration of the truths God would reveal later. 6 But Christ, as the Son, is in charge of God’s entire house. And we are God’s house, if we keep our courage and remain confident in our hope in Christ.
So, if Jesus is greater than Moses, how are we to respond? Not like Amalek, but like Jethro.
Heb 3 continues 7 That is why the Holy Spirit says, “Today when you hear his voice, 8 don’t harden your hearts as Israel did when they rebelled, when they tested me in the wilderness..... 12 Be careful... , dear brothers. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God. 13 You must warn each other every day, while it is still “today,” so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God. 14 For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ.
There are only two responses to the Lord and to his work. Amalek, or Jethro. Praise God that Jesus is the better Moses, so that if we like Jethro call out to him, he can save us, bring us in, make us one of his people. And if we belong to him, then we belong to him. Brothers and sisters, by His grace we are the people of God! Praise God. Amen.
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