Exodus 18

The Lord's provision for His people comes in many different ways. He not only gives them sustenance in the wilderness and grants them victory over enemies that would try to destroy the weak. He also provides them with a system of internal governance.

God cares about good order and justice among His followers. The way that Moses was watching over the Lord's flock was not good. He needed to be corrected, and that redirection came from a surprising source. Moses' father-in-law, Jethro, was a priest of Midian. He heard about God's great acts of deliverance for his son-in-law and the people of Israel, and he came to see Moses in the wilderness.

He brought with him Moses' wife and their two sons. Moses had sent his family back to Midian. Moses was a very busy man, more busy than a man can really be. He had limits, and he was trying to operate beyond what he could reasonably do.

We should not imagine that there was some tension between Moses and Jethro. That would take us beyond what the Scriptures reveal. We cannot really appreciate the culture in which these two men lived, nor can we know what it would have been like for Moses to carry the daily burden that he bore as one who sought to lead all of Israel in obedience to God's commandments. In this reunion we see every indication of love and respect for each other.

In the context of their mutual inquiries, Moses told his father-in-law about all that the Lord had done. They had faced hardships in Egypt and in the wilderness, but God had been their great Help. He had come to their aid and had delivered them from the hands of their enemies. This was a good report, and Jethro was glad to hear it. He was very willing to extol the Lord as the author of all the good that had come upon Israel. He said, “Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods, because in this affair they dealt arrogantly with the people.” Jethro knew what is still true today, that God opposes the proud. The Egyptian leaders had oppressed Israel in their arrogance, but they could not handle the opposition that came against them from the Lord.

These men enjoyed cordial table fellowship with God and with all the elders of Israel. But it was on the next day, when Moses was back in action, that Jethro saw the problem that needed to be corrected. From morning through evening Moses sat to judge the people. They brought all their problems to him, but it was far more than any one man could handle.

Jethro was blunt in his assessment: “What you are doing is not good.” Moses would exhaust himself and the people in this unrealistic dependance on one man. Jethro said, “You are not able to do it alone.”

His solution was a good one, and his words set a pattern for the governance of God's people, not only in the Old Testament era, but even in the New Testament age. Imagine the power of God, that He can supply a wise solution through a sympathetic voice of experience, the voice of one who was not even a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob!

Jethro spoke as one who had the oracles of God. “Now obey my voice; I will give you advice, and God be with you!” Moses would represent the people before the Lord, but others would help Him to rule according to the teaching that He gave them from God. He would place elders over the people, and the crisis of Moses' limitations as a man would be solved. Not only that, others would be able to serve in accord with their gifting from God.

It was good news that there were some able men who could do their part for justice and order in the Lord's covenant community. God was able to raise up leaders, “men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe.” These men could serve as leaders. Some would provide wise determinations over groups of ten families. Others would lead five other leaders, each of which had ten families in their charge, making the one leader a chief of fifty families. Above such a man would be another who had two of those leaders of fifty, making him a chief of one hundred, and ten such leaders of hundreds would be led by a gifted man who could be a chief of a thousand. These leaders of thousands would be the ones that would come to Moses with cases that they could not solve.

This was a system of what are called “graded” courts, where common matters are dealt with first at the lowest level, and only more difficult issues are brought to higher levels of justice. Jethro was certain that this was the right solution. “If you do this, God will direct you, you will be able to endure, and all this people also will go to their place in peace.” Moses followed Jethro's instruction.

Moses is not our mediator today. We have another Man who represents us before the Father. He does not grow weary in well-doing. He does not need a system of graded courts in order to execute perfect justice. He could just do it all by Himself. But the Lord Jesus, who ascended to His eternal throne through the pathway of sacrificial love, has determined to use His people as part of His system of order and justice in His church. He has given us His Word. We should use that authoritative directive as we seek to serve Him among His people.

The Lord who died to satisfy divine justice still cares about righteousness and order in his church. It is our pleasure to serve in churches and among larger bodies of leaders in the Lord's kingdom. Our Leader is pleased to employ our humble services. He has given some to serve in specific positions of responsibility in the church, and He has given gifts of service to all who are part of His kingdom. But above them all, He is King. He never lets His job get in the way of His love for His bride and His children. He is the Son of God.