Let us turn then to God's Word
and that portion of scripture we just read in Exodus chapter
18. And I want us to consider tonight
something of the counsel of Jethro as we have it set before us here
at verse 19 through to verse 23. I'll read then this passage,
Exodus 18 from verse 19, the counsel of Jethro, speaking to
his son-in-law Moses, Harken now unto my voice, I will give
counsel, and God shall be with thee. Be thou for the people
to Godward, that thou mayest bring the causes unto God. and
they shall teach them ordinances and laws, and shall show them
the way wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do.
Moreover they shall provide out of all the people able men, such
as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness, and place such
over them to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers
of fifties, and rulers of tens. And let them judge the people
at all seasons, And it shall be that every great matter they
shall bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge. So shall it be easier for thyself,
and they shall bear the burden with thee. If they shall do this
thing, and God command thee so, then thou shalt be able to endure.
And all these people shall also go to their place in peace. The counsel then of Jethro, we
were looking last week at the former part of the chapter and
I sought to say something then with regards to the confession
of Jethro as we have it there in verses 10 and 11. Jethro says, Blessed be the Lord
who hath delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and
out of the hand of Pharaoh and who hath delivered the people
from under the hand of the Egyptians. Now I know that the Lord is greater
than all gods for in the thing wherein they doubt proudly he
was above them. So we considered the content
of this confession made by this man the father-in-law of Moses
and also referred to here in the opening verse as the priest
of Midian Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses' father-in-law. We read there at the beginning
of the chapter. He is in many ways a mysterious
character, similar I suppose to a man like Melchizedek, although
he can't really be compared to Melchizedek, he was the priest
of the Most High God. The man who met with Abraham
as he returned from that battle of the kings and how Abraham
paid tithes to Melchizedek and then of course in Hebrews Paul
takes up the character of Melchizedek when he speaks of Christ particularly
in the seventh chapter there Christ the priest after the order
of Melchizedek he was priest of the Most High God and here
we read of this man as the priest of Midian and back in chapter
2 at verse 16 following that was where Moses went when he
fled from Pharaoh and remember how there at the well he met
with the seven daughters of this man and he stepped forward to
defend them before the shepherds at the well and then eventually
the daughters introduced him to their father and Zipporah
was given to Moses for a wife and he was there some 40 years
he was 40 years old when he fled from the Egyptian court and he's
40 years there with his father-in-law caring for his sheep and then
in chapter 3 we have him again coming to the Mount of Gods to
Mount Horeb the place where he had first met with those seven
women and he sees the bush that's burning and yet not consumed
and God speaks to him out of the book the revelation of God
the declaration of the great I am that I am and then he gets
his commission and he is to go back to Egypt and he will bring
the children of Israel Out of Egypt under the mighty hand of
God, God will do great wonders in the deliverance of his people.
And as he goes back to Egypt, so in chapter 4 we see that there's
a separation. Zipporah is offended at circumcision. And obviously she did not go
with her husband but went back to her father and that's why
as we come to this chapter The father-in-law has heard of all
that God had done for Moses and for Israel, his people, and that
the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt. And so he takes Zipporah
and the two sons and goes to meet with Moses. He is a mysterious character
but obviously a man who knew something of the fear of God. He's of Midian but he's also
a descendant of a man called Midian. In Genesis 25 we read of the
wife of Abram after the death of Sarah, Keturah, and she bears
him a son by the name of Midian. And it seems that this Manjetro
is a descendant of Midian, so he's also a descendant of Abraham. And this is all previous to the
day when the Aaronic priesthood was established, that would come
later here in the book of Exodus, that Aaron and his sons were
to serve God in the priestly office, but previous to that,
it would be heads of families who would make sacrifices and
we know how Abraham made sacrifice to the Lord in all his wanderings
and then so did Isaac so did Jacob well so also does this
man make a sacrifice there at verse 12 we are told how he took
a burnt offering and sacrifices for God and Aaron came and all
the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses father-in-law before
God so he seems to know something of the fear of God and then later
in the book of Numbers we read that he has a son he has a son
by the name of Hobab there in Numbers on the 10th chapter we
read of this particular man and the words of Moses to him would
have been brother-in-law to Moses. Numbers 10.29 Moses said unto
Obab the son of Raguel or Ruel that was the other name of Jethro
he had two names remember we said last week And here, Obab
is the son of Raguel, the Midianite, Moses' father-in-law. And Moses
says to him, We are journeying unto the place of which the Lord
said, I will give it you. Come thou with us, and we will
do thee good. For the Lord hath spoken good
concerning Israel. And he said unto him, I will
not go, but I will depart to mine own land and to my kindred.
And he said, this is Moses again speaking, leave us not, I pray
thee, for as much as thou knowest how we are to encamp in the wilderness,
and thou mayest be to us instead of us. And it shall be if thou
go with us, yea, it shall be that what goodness the Lord shall
do unto us, the same will he do unto us. We don't know what
the consequence was of that conversation. Dr. Gill interestingly said it
is probable that this young man changed his mind and did actually
go with them. Certainly his father was a man
that feared God and we sought to say something of that fear
of the Lord as we have it there in his his confession in verses
10 and 11. But now turning to what we have
later in the chapter, this counsel that's given by him here in verses
19 through to 23. And there are three parts to
the counsel, at least I wanted to consider some three points.
First of all, we recognize it's the preeminence of Moses but
there's also the urging of him to find some provision of help
in the task that is befalling him to appoint others to assist
him in the work and then last of all to see how he's concerned
for the peace of Israel, the people of God. Those are the
three divisions in that I want to take up for a little while
as we look at this portion. First of all, the preeminence
of Moses. And we see how he recognizes
that Moses does have this superior position. In verse 19 and 20,
I will give thee counsel. He says, God shall be with thee.
Be thou for the people to God, that thou mayest bring the causes
unto God. And thou shalt teach them ordinances
and laws, and shalt show them the way wherein they must go,
and the work that they must do. He clearly has this most preeminent
position of all. And we learn some basic truth
here. Surely we recognize that the
Marxist utopia in which all wealth is shared and all people are
equally something that cannot be attained, let alone maintained,
because it is not the divine order. It is not the divine order. There are inequalities in all
human society and in many ways of course that's the consequence
of the fall of our first parents. Even the Lord Jesus himself says,
the poor always you have with you. The poor always will be
there. That's the word of Christ. We
do what we can to make provision for those in great need. but
there will always be those inequalities in human society in many ways
because of sin and our scripture tells us that the powers that
be are all ordained of God and Peter speaks of the necessity
of honoring the king and he couples that with the fear of God, fear
God, honor the king says Peter there in 1 Peter 2.17. But what this man Jethro is doing
is that so far as the children of Israel are concerned it's
Moses who must have that preeminent place amongst them. He must very much take the leading
role. And I suppose he's recognizing
that he has a prophetic office prophetic in the sense that he
is the one who will teach and instruct them in all the ways
of God's. Be thou for the people to Godward
that thou mayest bring the causes unto God. I suppose you could
say that's a priestly work. He's representing their cause
before God, but then he goes on to speak more particularly
of his prophetic ministry to them. They shall teach them ordinances
and laws and shall show them the way wherein they must walk
and the work that they must do. Because we know that this man
is in reality a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. Doesn't God give
that word? back in Deuteronomy chapter 18
and verse 18, I will raise him up a prophet from among their
brethren like unto them. You know the passage there in
the 18th verse and it's a repeat of what I said previously in
the 15th verse of that particular chapter. But God promises He's
going to raise up one like unto Moses. So, is a type of Christ. But Christ of course is far greater
than Moses. The law was given by Moses. Grace
and truth came by Jesus Christ. But in the Old Testament he is
that one that is continually appealed to. The prophets would would seek to
apply the Lord of Moses to the people of Israel as they spoke
God's word. Isaiah says to the law and to
the testimony if they speak not according to this word it is
because there is no light in them. And again interestingly
here in Numbers which is one of the books of Moses, the first
five books, the books of Moses and in Numbers Numbers chapter 12 and verse 6 we have these words here,
Now my word, if there be a prophet among you, I, the Lord, will
make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto
him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so, who
is faithful in all mine house. With him will I speak mouth to
mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches. and the similitude
of the Lord shall he behold. Wherefore then were ye not afraid
to speak against my servant Moses?" We see this man clearly has a
most preeminent position here amongst the Hebrews. And what is being said is that
Moses alone must deal with all these weightier matters. And yet, Time and again we find
the children of Israel rejecting his authority even when he first
appears amongst them back in the second chapter. Who made
thee a prince and a judge over us, they say? Or they were ever
always such a stiff-necked and such a rebellious people. But
we see that Moses has his preeminent place in their society. and we see also we're told something
of the patience and the meekness of this man the sort of man that
Moses was again Numbers 12 and verse 3
the man Moses we're told was very meek above all the men which
were upon the face of the earth he was a meek man a meekness
not to be confused with weakness there was nothing weak about
this man but there was that mark of humility He was very much
the servant of the Lord. And yet, as I said, the children
of Israel are so quarrelsome, wanting to challenge Him. Remember,
we referred last week to the words that we have in the previous
17th chapter where they're chiding. Verse 2 of chapter 17, the people
did chide with Moses and said, Give us water that we may drink.
And Moses said unto them, Why chide you with me? Wherefore
do ye tempt the Lord? And the people thirsted there
for water, and the people murmured against Moses and said, Wherefore
is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt to kill us
and our children and our cattle with thirst? They blame him.
They chide with him all the time. And yet, he is so ready and so
available to serve them. Here in verse 13 he sits there
to judge the people. And they stand before him from
morning until the evening. He'll take on all this burden.
And yet, what lack of respect is shown by the people. Moses then has this preeminent
position. But then Jethro is saying that
there is a sense in which this man stands in need of some help,
some assistance. And that's what he goes on to
say in his counsel in verses 21 and 22. Whereover thou shalt
provide out of all the people, he says, able men, such as fear
God, men of truth, hating covetousness, and place such over them to be
rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties,
and rulers of tens. and let them judge the people
at all seasons and it shall be that every great matter they
shall bring unto thee but every small matter they shall
judge so shall it be easier for thyself and they shall bear the
burden with thee it was a vast congregation it
was a great company of people that had come out of Egypt we know how there must have been
a great company because we have rulers over thousands as well
as rulers over tens a great number of people in fact
back in in chapter 1 and verse 7 we read these words and the
children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly and
multiplied so there's a great company of
people now the land was filled with them it says and there in
that verse we see how the words are really piled as it were one
on top of the other they are fruitful they increase abundantly
and they are filling the land that's when they were in servitude
in Egypt and then when they come out they almost come out like
a great army in chapter 13 And there at verse 18 we're told
that they went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt. And the
expression harnessed we're told is a military expression that
they're coming out in ranks as it were. It's like an army on the move.
They're coming out triumphantly of course as they depart from
all that cruel bondage that they had to endure in Egypt. And so how can one man do this
work that Moses is undertaking to be the sole judge amongst
all controversies that might arise amongst the people? There
was certainly a need of one to help. Helps. And isn't that one of
the gifts of the Holy Spirit that we read of in the New Testament? There in 1 Corinthians chapter
12 and verse 28 where the Apostle mentions the various gifts that
that church was so favored with and amongst all those remarkable
gifts he mentions those who were helps and that's what these men
were to be Paul certainly knew those who
were a great help to him in all of his ministry again writing
at the end of that first letter of the Corinthians he refers
to everyone that helpeth with us and laboureth we know the
names of some of those who were assistants with him of course
we read of Barnabas and Silas Timothy and Titus there are many
that he mentions normally when he comes to the end of his epistles
he'll send greetings to the churches and make mention of these various
men and women who were such a help to him there is a ministry of
helps and that's what Jethro is counselling here in verses 21 and 22 And he speaks of the sort of
characters that Moses should look for amongst these helpers. He says there in verse 21, they
must be able men. They shall provide out of all
the people, able men. Able men. And what did Moses
do? Well, we're told at the beginning
of Deuteronomy There in that opening chapter he says, So I
took the chief of your tribes, wise men. They were able in that
they were men of some wisdom, some discernment, some understanding.
And that was the counsel that Jethro had given to him. That they're not only to be able
men, they are to be such as fear God, he says. Able men such as fear God, or
they have a fear of God in their hearts, are pious men. They're
godly men, God-fearing men. Those are the sort of characters
that he's speaking of. And on another occasion a man
like Nehemiah was evidently a man that was very much motivated
by the fear of the lords. he says as much himself there
in Nehemiah 5 verse 15 he says the former governors that had
been before me were chargeable unto the people and had taken
of them bread and wine beside forty shekels of silver so did
not I because of the fear of God oh he was different to those
who had gone before him they may have been ready to take bribes
and take advantage of their position, prefer their own nest as it were
but Nehemiah would not do such a thing because he says of the
fear of God and so too with these men who were to be helpers to
Moses they were to be such as fear God, men of truth men of
truth true men, guileless men, honest men. When counsel is given concerning
the judges, again there in the opening chapter of Deuteronomy,
ye shall not respect persons in judgment, it says, but ye
shall hear the small as well as the great. All they were to
be true men who would judge righteous judgment. and they were to be
men also hating covetousness. Able men such as fear God, men
of truth, hating covetousness. Isaiah speaks of such he that
walketh righteously, he says, and speaketh uprightly, he that
despiseth the gain of oppression, that shaketh his hands from holding
bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth
his eyes from seeing evil. All these are the men who are
to be the judges with Moses then. They are to be those who are
upright men, righteous men, hating covetousness. This is the Council
and we can see something of the wisdom of what Jethro is saying.
And it's not surprising when we consider what we were thinking
of last time from his confession, how he had a regard for the Lord
God of Israel. He was, as I said last time,
he was of the seed of Abraham himself. And so he recognizes the chief
place that Moses must occupy, but there would be others who
could help him. But ultimately his concern is for the good of
all Israel, the peace of Israel. Verse 23, If thou shalt do this
thing, and God command thee so, then thou shalt be able to endure.
And all these people shall go to their place in peace. What is their place? Well, their
place, of course, is that land of promise. That land that they were to enter
into, the land that God had spoken of to Abraham, and Isaac, and
Jacob. That land in which they would
rest. Their place in peace. This is His great concern. And
yet, time and again we see them as the people always so complaining,
murmuring, chiding not only there at the beginning of chapter 17
but we have it also in the beginning of chapter 16 in chapter 17 they're
complaining because they have no water in the early part of
chapter 16 they're complaining because they don't have food
and they remember all those wonderful things that they imagined they
had once been able to eat when they were there in the land of
Egypt or they were a complaining people. And are we not to learn
of them? These things all happen unto
them for examples. They are written for our admonition,
if on whom the ends of the world are come. Jethro is concerned that they
attain their destination in peace. All these people shall also go
to their place in peace. And Paul, Paul when he writes
to the church, he's writing to the Thessalonians, what does
he desire? That they be at peace. As we come to the concluding
chapter there in that first epistle to the Thessalonians, be at peace
among yourselves. Isn't this the great legacy that
Christ has left to his church? Peace I leave with you. My peace
I give unto you. not as the world give I unto
you let not your heart be troubled neither be afraid all that legacy
of peace and it's amazing isn't it when we when we read of the
risen Christ appearing to his disciples that first day of the
week there in John 20 there in the upper room and the Lord suddenly
is there in their midst and he shows them his hands and his
feet and he says how he will leave peace with them. As he stands there in their midst,
peace be with you, he says. Shalom. And then when Thomas
isn't there, the following first half of the week, eight days
later they are together and the guy in the Lord appears and what
is his greeting? Peace. Oh this is the legacy
this is a legacy and see here in this man Gethro something
of his gracious submission to the Lord and the word of the
Lord he says in verse 23 if they shalt do this thing and God command
this so he himself is so submissive to what the Lord commands Again in verse 19, hearken now
unto my voice, I will give thee counsel, and God shall be with
thee. There's that willingness to show
resignation to what the Lord wills, and isn't that in so many
ways the secrets of peace, where we have that resigned spirit,
where we desire that the will of the Lord should be done, that
we might walk in accordance with all His holy precepts and all
His commandments. Now Moses, you see, is to do
that very thing, they shall teach them ordinances and laws, and
shall show them the way wherein they must walk, and the work
that they must do. The man gives wise counsel then
as he speaks these words. And we observed last time at
the end of his confession, verse 12, he makes that sacrifice,
burnt offering, presented to the Lord and all the significance
of that. It's a wonderful type of course,
the sacrifices, all types, of that great sacrifice that Christ
would make in the fullness of the time. But all that he does
is before the Lord. Verse 12, Jethro, Moses' father-in-law,
took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God. And Aaron came and all
the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law before
God. Oh, it's for God. And it's before
God. and so too with his counsel.
He is concerned that they should be observing all those right
ways of the Lord and they are the ways of peace and the ways
of safety. Well the Lord bless his truth
to us. Now we're going to turn to prayer
of course that's the purpose of our coming together on these
Thursday evenings but we sing God's praise before we pray We're
going to sing the hymn 396. The tune is Geneva 641. Could the creatures help or ease
us? Seldom should we think of prayer.
Few, if any, come to Jesus, till reduced to self-despair, long
we either slight or doubt him. But, when all the means we try,
prove we cannot do without him. Then at last to him we cry. 396, June 641.