The life of Moses unfolds in three great movements, and the middle movement bears the stamp of a man named Jethro. Moses’ first forty years were spent in Egypt, “educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians” and powerful in speech and action, until a fateful act sent him into exile (Acts 7:22–29). His next forty were hidden years among the tents of Midian, where the former prince learned the patience of a shepherd and found refuge in the household of Jethro, the priest of Midian, who became his father-in-law and counselor by the providence of God (Exodus 2:15–22; Exodus 3:1). Only then, at eighty, did the Lord send him back to Egypt to lead Israel out with a mighty hand, after which Jethro reappeared with a confession of the Lord’s greatness and counsel that shaped the rhythms of Israel’s leadership in the wilderness (Exodus 18:10–11; Exodus 18:17–23).
Jethro’s portrait is brief yet rich. He shelters a fugitive, receives the report of God’s deliverance, blesses the Lord who humbled Egypt, and urges a structure for judging the people that will preserve both the leader and the flock. His words, “Now I know that the Lord is greater than all other gods,” place him among the Gentiles who came to honor Israel’s God, while his caution, “If you do this and God so commands,” models counsel that bows before the will of God (Exodus 18:11; Exodus 18:23). Through Jethro, the Church learns how God uses relationships, hospitality, and wise advice to steady His servants, and how even good ideas must be submitted to the Lord who alone gives lasting wisdom (Proverbs 3:5–6; James 1:5).
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Historical and Cultural Background
Scripture traces Midian’s origin to Abraham’s later years. After Sarah’s death, “Abraham took another wife, whose name was Keturah,” and among her sons was Midian; from Midian came clans that settled east of the Gulf of Aqaba across a broad swath of northwestern Arabia (Genesis 25:1–4). The biblical writers place Midian in the orbit of Sinai and the arid regions east and south of Canaan; Moses fled “to the land of Midian,” sat by a well, and later tended flocks “to the far side of the wilderness” and came to Horeb, the mountain of God, situating Midian’s life within the desert corridors where God would soon guide Israel (Exodus 2:15; Exodus 3:1). Habakkuk later poetically evokes that geography, saying “the tents of Cushan are in distress, the dwellings of Midian tremble,” a line that ties Midian to the southern routes of the Lord’s theophany imagery (Habakkuk 3:7).
Jethro is introduced as “the priest of Midian,” and he bears multiple names in the narrative—Jethro and Reuel appear in Exodus, while Numbers mentions Hobab in connection with Moses’ father-in-law, a pattern that reflects the layered family references common in the Old Testament (Exodus 2:16; Exodus 2:18; Exodus 3:1; Numbers 10:29). Judges identifies the clan as Kenite, a group that attached itself to Israel and went up with Judah into the land, indicating that some of Moses’ in-laws cast their lot with the people of the covenant and were treated with kindness for Moses’ sake (Judges 1:16; 1 Samuel 15:6). The title “priest of Midian” does not itself define his earlier worship, but his later confession and sacrifice to the Lord signal that he came to honor Israel’s God after hearing what the Lord had done (Exodus 18:10–12). The Midian into which Moses entered was therefore a real place of wandering flocks, wells, and clan leadership, a threshold where Gentile households intersected with God’s redemptive purpose for Israel (Exodus 2:16–21; Exodus 18:1–2).
The world Moses left and the world he entered could not have been more different. Egypt’s courts were centers of power and learning, yet Moses, having “regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt,” fled to anonymity after defending a Hebrew and being rejected as a prince and judge by his own people (Hebrews 11:24–27; Acts 7:23–29). Midian’s wilderness became his school. Here the shepherd’s staff replaced the scepter, and the rhythms of desert life prepared him to lead a people through the same terrain where he had learned the paths and winds under Jethro’s oversight (Exodus 3:1; Psalm 78:52–53).
Biblical Narrative
Exodus draws us into Jethro’s story at a well. Moses, freshly arrived in Midian, defended seven daughters of the priest from aggressive shepherds and watered their flock; when they told their father, he welcomed the stranger, and soon Moses married Zipporah and named their first son Gershom, saying, “I have become a foreigner in a foreign land” (Exodus 2:16–22). Years passed. The king of Egypt died; Israel groaned under slavery; God heard their groaning, remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and looked on His people and was concerned for them (Exodus 2:23–25). One day Moses led the flock near Horeb and saw a bush ablaze yet unconsumed; the Lord called his name, declared Himself the God of his fathers, and commissioned him to return to Egypt with the promise, “I will be with you,” giving signs to authenticate his message (Exodus 3:1–12; Exodus 4:1–9).
Before leaving, Moses asked permission from Jethro to return to his brothers in Egypt, an act of honor in the house where he had found refuge; Jethro said, “Go, and I wish you well,” a simple sentence that released the shepherd to the call of God (Exodus 4:18). The journey that followed was marked by both mercy and mystery. On the way, the Lord confronted Moses at a lodging place, and Zipporah circumcised their son and touched Moses’ feet with the foreskin, saying, “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me,” and the Lord let him alone, an incident that underscored the covenant sign’s necessity for the leader of the covenant people (Exodus 4:24–26). In time, after the plagues and the Passover and the Red Sea crossing, Israel camped in the wilderness at the mountain of God, and there Jethro reentered the narrative (Exodus 12:29–36; Exodus 14:21–31; Exodus 19:1–2).
Exodus 18 opens with news of victory reaching Midian. Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, heard “of everything God had done for Moses and for his people Israel,” how the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt; he came to Moses with Zipporah and the boys, sending word ahead, “I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons” (Exodus 18:1–6). Moses went out to meet him, bowed down, kissed him, and they entered the tent; Moses told him “about everything the Lord had done” and “about all the hardships… and how the Lord had saved them,” rehearsing deliverance and trial together under the banner of God’s hand (Exodus 18:7–8). Jethro rejoiced, blessed the Lord, and confessed, “Now I know that the Lord is greater than all other gods, for he did this to those who had treated Israel arrogantly,” then offered a burnt offering and sacrifices to God; Aaron and the elders of Israel came to eat with Jethro in the presence of God, a table of fellowship that sealed his praise (Exodus 18:9–12).
The next day Jethro watched Moses judge the people “from morning till evening,” and he raised a question born of love and realism: “What you are doing is not good. You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out” (Exodus 18:13–18). He urged Moses to continue representing the people before God and teaching them the statutes and instructions, but to appoint capable men—those who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens, to judge the simple cases and bring the hard cases to Moses, “that will make your load lighter,” he said, adding the crucial condition, “If you do this and God so commands” (Exodus 18:19–23). Moses listened and implemented the structure, setting leaders over the people who served as judges; then Jethro returned to his own country, leaving a lighter burden and a remembered confession in his wake (Exodus 18:24–27).
Later in the journey, another thread ties the families. Moses invited Hobab son of Reuel the Midianite, his father-in-law, to accompany Israel through the wilderness, saying, “You know where we should camp… you can be our eyes,” promising, “Whatever good the Lord does to us, we will do to you,” and though Hobab initially declined, the narrative hints at Kenite presence among Israel in the land, suggesting that Jethro’s line found a home near Judah (Numbers 10:29–32; Judges 1:16). The kindness shown to that clan because of Moses echoes centuries later when Saul spares the Kenites, “for you showed kindness to all the Israelites when they came up out of Egypt” (1 Samuel 15:6).
The burden of leadership surfaces again in Numbers 11. Exhausted by complaints, Moses lamented, “I cannot carry all these people by myself; the burden is too heavy for me,” and the Lord commanded him to gather seventy elders, promising, “I will take some of the power of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them. They will share the burden of the people with you so that you will not have to carry it alone” (Numbers 11:14–17). The Spirit came upon the elders, and they prophesied, a divine sharing that highlighted the difference between merely administrative relief and Spirit-given help in the Lord’s timing (Numbers 11:24–25). The earlier counsel was wise; the later outpouring was necessary. Together they show how God cares for leaders and people through structures and through the Spirit as He directs (Exodus 18:23; Numbers 11:16–17).
Theological Significance
Jethro’s confession belongs to the melody of Gentile acknowledgment that runs through the Old Testament. After hearing how the Lord shattered Egypt’s pride, he said, “Now I know that the Lord is greater than all other gods,” and he sacrificed to God, joining Israel’s elders at table “in the presence of God” (Exodus 18:11–12). Long before Sinai’s laws were publicly delivered, a Gentile priest blessed the Lord who redeemed Israel, foreshadowing promises that nations would come to the light of Israel’s God and that all peoples would be blessed through Abraham’s seed (Isaiah 60:3; Genesis 12:3). This does not collapse Israel’s distinct calling; rather, it reveals God’s heart to make His name known among the nations through what He does for His covenant people (Exodus 9:16; Psalm 67:1–2).
A dispensational reading helps place Jethro in the unfolding program of God. Israel was being redeemed as a nation, soon to be constituted at Sinai under the Mosaic covenant with its statutes, priesthood, and sacrificial system (Exodus 19:3–6; Exodus 24:3–8). The Church of the present age is not that nation and does not stand under Sinai; it is “one new humanity” in Christ, composed of Jews and Gentiles baptized by the Spirit into one body and governed by apostolic teaching, while God’s promises to ethnic Israel remain irrevocable and await future fulfillment (Ephesians 2:14–16; 1 Corinthians 12:13; Romans 11:25–29). Jethro’s inclusion at Israel’s table anticipates the wider mercy of God without erasing the distinct economies of His plan. It is a preview of nations blessed through Israel’s God, not the erasure of Israel’s role.
Jethro’s counsel raises enduring questions about leadership under God’s word. He observed a true problem: one man adjudicating every case would exhaust the leader and frustrate the people (Exodus 18:14–18). He affirmed Moses’ primary calling to stand before God for the people and to teach them the way they must walk, and then he proposed distributed responsibility held by men marked by the fear of God and integrity, so that justice would be prompt and righteous (Exodus 18:19–22). His caveat—“If you do this and God so commands”—is not a formality; it is theology. Wisdom is a gift of God, but wisdom must still be submitted to God’s command (Exodus 18:23; James 1:5). Moses acted, and later the Lord addressed the same burden by placing His Spirit upon seventy elders, underscoring that structures are servants, not saviors, and that the Spirit’s enabling is indispensable to holy order among God’s people (Numbers 11:16–17; Numbers 11:24–25).
The narrative also illustrates how Scripture interprets Scripture. Deuteronomy, recounting the early days, notes that Moses told the people, “Choose some wise, understanding and respected men from each of your tribes,” and he appointed them as heads and judges, hearing the difficult cases himself, a summary that aligns with Exodus 18 and emphasizes community participation in recognizing qualified leaders (Deuteronomy 1:9–18). In the New Testament Church, the pattern persists in congregational recognition of qualified overseers and deacons whose character and ability are tested, though the office and covenantal setting differ from Israel’s wilderness judges (1 Timothy 3:1–13; Acts 14:23). The throughline is that God’s people flourish when leadership is shared by those who fear God, when the word is taught clearly, and when appeals rise to God for the hardest matters (Exodus 18:20; James 3:17).
Jethro’s presence in Israel’s camp also reminds the Church how the Lord uses households and hospitality to advance His work. Moses found refuge in Jethro’s tent; later, Jethro brought Moses’ wife and sons, and the elders ate before God in the priest’s company (Exodus 2:21; Exodus 18:6–12). Scripture consistently portrays tables and homes as sites where God’s purposes are served—Abraham’s tent hosted angels unawares, Rahab’s house sheltered spies, and Lydia’s household became a base for the gospel—as if to say that acts of welcome often stand near the great moments of redemptive history (Genesis 18:1–8; Joshua 2:1–13; Acts 16:14–15). In this way, Jethro’s story highlights how ordinary faithfulness in family and hospitality becomes part of God’s extraordinary plan.
Spiritual Lessons and Application
Jethro teaches that wise counsel is a mercy, and tested counsel is a necessity. Moses was willing to be observed; Jethro was willing to speak. The combination produced relief and order, but only because the counsel aimed to uphold Moses’ God-given role and because it was framed by the phrase, “If God so commands” (Exodus 18:19–23). Believers today likewise receive advice from mentors, elders, and friends, and the pattern is to weigh such counsel in prayer and Scripture, refusing to be either stubborn or credulous, and seeking the Spirit’s guidance promised by the Lord who leads into all truth (Proverbs 15:22; John 16:13). The lesson is not to distrust wisdom but to submit it to the One who gives it.
Jethro’s description of qualified judges probes the heart. He urged Moses to look for capable men who fear God, men of truth who hate dishonest gain, because justice depends not only on procedures but on character that trembles at God’s word (Exodus 18:21; Isaiah 66:2). Churches and families can imitate this by valuing godliness over charisma, substance over show, and integrity over ease, trusting that the Lord delights to honor those who walk uprightly and rely on Him (Psalm 84:11; 1 Timothy 4:12). Where such people serve, burdens are shared, disputes are resolved, and peace is guarded.
Jethro’s confession models the right response to testimony. He did not witness the plagues or the sea; he listened to Moses’ report of “everything the Lord had done” and responded with praise, sacrifice, and table fellowship in God’s presence (Exodus 18:8–12). Faith still comes by hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ; those who hear of God’s mighty acts in the gospel are invited to the same posture of humble acknowledgment and worship (Romans 10:17; Psalm 66:5). The Church can cultivate this by rehearsing the Lord’s deeds publicly and privately, so that households and congregations become places where stories of grace lead naturally to confession and shared praise (Psalm 145:4–7).
Jethro’s timing teaches patience under the weight of leadership. Not every solution comes at once, and not every structure endures unchanged. Moses adopted a layered system of judges; later the Lord apportioned His Spirit upon seventy elders; still later, Moses recounted and re-emphasized the pattern as Israel prepared to enter the land (Exodus 18:24–26; Numbers 11:16–17; Deuteronomy 1:13–17). Leaders who feel overwhelmed can take comfort that God knows their frame and provides both immediate helps and deeper graces in His time, calling them to cast their cares on Him because He cares for them (Psalm 103:13–14; 1 Peter 5:6–7). The answer is not frantic independence but prayerful dependence joined to practical steps that align with Scripture.
Jethro’s household reminds believers that family ties and mission intertwine. Moses honored his father-in-law, sought his leave, and welcomed his visit; Jethro honored Moses’ God and encouraged his calling (Exodus 4:18; Exodus 18:7–12). The later invitation to Hobab to journey with Israel shows how kinship can be drawn into the stream of God’s purposes, with the promise, “Whatever good the Lord does to us, we will do to you” (Numbers 10:29–32). Christians can live this way by inviting relatives into the orbit of their worship and work, opening their homes, and saying with confidence that those who walk with the Lord’s people share in the blessing He bestows (3 John 5–8; Galatians 6:10).
Jethro’s setting in Midian encourages attentiveness to place. God met Moses at a bush in a desert, called him from a mountain, and gathered Israel to the same mountain to covenant with them, and in the midst of that geography a Gentile priest blessed the Lord and counseled God’s servant (Exodus 3:1–12; Exodus 18:1–12; Exodus 19:1–6). Our discipleship likewise unfolds in particular neighborhoods and workplaces, with their own wells and paths. The Lord orders our steps and uses the seemingly ordinary locations of our lives as stages for His faithfulness, teaching us to trust Him in the places He appoints and to serve the people He sets before us (Proverbs 16:9; Psalm 37:23).
Above all, Jethro’s story directs eyes to the Lord who leads and sustains. Moses’ lament, “I cannot carry all these people by myself,” meets God’s answer, “I will take some of the power of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them,” a promise that the burden will be shared so that the work may go on (Numbers 11:14–17). In the Church Age, Christ has poured out the Spirit on all who believe, gifting the body for mutual upbuilding so that no single member bears what belongs to the whole, and so that the ministry of the word flourishes amid shared service (Acts 2:17–18; Ephesians 4:11–16). The pattern is not celebrity but community, not exhaustion but cooperation under the yoke of the One who gives rest (Matthew 11:28–30).
Conclusion
Jethro steps into the story as a priest, a father-in-law, a host, a worshiper, and a counselor. He shelters a fugitive, returns a family, rejoices in the Lord’s salvation, sacrifices to the God of Israel, and speaks wisdom that preserves a weary leader and serves a restless people (Exodus 2:20–21; Exodus 18:6–12; Exodus 18:17–23). His confession lifts our eyes to a God greater than all rivals; his counsel bends our wills to “if God so commands”; his presence at table with Israel’s elders previews nations joining the song of the redeemed (Exodus 18:11–12; Revelation 5:9–10). Read within God’s unfolding plan, Jethro stands as a signpost that the Lord uses households and helpmates, structures and the Spirit, deserts and mountains, to accomplish His good purposes for Israel—and, in this present age, to build up the Church until the day when Christ completes His work (Philippians 1:6; Romans 11:29).
For those who lead and those who follow, his story presses gentle questions. Are we quick to bless the Lord when we hear of His mighty acts, or slow to believe? Do we welcome counsel and then submit it to the Lord’s command? Are we seeking leaders who fear God and hate dishonest gain, and are we bearing one another’s burdens so that none collapses under the weight? The God who met Moses in the wilderness still guides by His word and His Spirit, still honors the humble, and still sets solitary figures in families so that His people may flourish under His hand (Psalm 68:6; James 4:6). In that confidence, we can walk the desert paths with courage, knowing that the One who called Moses from the bush and carried Israel on eagles’ wings will sustain His servants to the end (Exodus 19:4; 1 Corinthians 1:8–9).
“Praise be to the Lord, who rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and of Pharaoh, and who rescued the people from the hand of the Egyptians. Now I know that the Lord is greater than all other gods.” (Exodus 18:10–11)
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