Let us turn to this portion of
scripture that we've just been reading in the 18th chapter of
Exodus. We read here of Jethro, the opening
verse, when Jethro the priest of Midian, Moses' father-in-law,
heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel, his
people, and that the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt.
Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took Zipporah, Moses' wife, after
he had sent her back, and her two sons. And then we're told
the name of these sons, Gershom and Eliezer. And so Jethro brings
his family back to Moses. And as we come now to consider
something of Jethro, what I want us to do this evening with the
Lord's help is to consider that confession that we find this
man making here in verses 10 and 11. And Jethro said, Blessed be the
Lord who hath delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians
and out of the hand of Pharaoh, 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. What a remarkable confession
this is. We know we at first become acquainted
with Moses we have the detail recorded previously in chapter
4 verse 24 following where we have
Moses fleeing from Pharaoh and going into the land of Midian
and there at the well he meets the seven daughters of this man
Jethro who is also called Ruah he has two names and there at
the well Moses supports these seven women when the shepherds
treat them so cruelly and subsequent to all of this we see how they
make the man Moses known to their father and he gives Zipporah,
his daughter, to Moses for a wife. That was the initial meeting
there between Jethro the priest of Midian, as he's called, and
Moses, even as he fled from the Pharaoh. And as we come to consider
the words that he speaks on this occasion, many, many years after
that initial meeting, as we shall see, as we come to consider his
confession, I want to consider it in a threefold fashion. First
of all to see what it is that lies behind these words. What was the cause of him making
such a confession as we have recorded in these two verses? What was it that made him speak
in this manner and It was surely a response to what he had heard
and then what Moses had gone on to confirm, what Moses had
been saying to him previously. In verse 8, Moses told his father-in-law
all that the Lord had done unto Pharaoh and to the Egyptians
for Israel's sake and all the travail that had come upon them
by the way and how the Lord had delivered them. This was a good
conversation then that is being had between these two men in
that Moses is speaking to his father-in-law concerning the
great works of God. As the psalmist says, sing unto
him, sing psalms unto him, talking of all his wondrous work. And
that's what they're about, talking of all that wondrous work. And
there was much certainly to speak of, because it had been some
time since they had been together. Moses in verse 7 goes out to
meet his father-in-law, does obeisance to him, and they ask
each other of their welfare, then they come into the tent.
It's a very human situation. We can imagine these two men.
They'd known much of each other. all that circumstance associated
with their first meeting but then all that had happened subsequent
to that when they first met Moses was 40 years old we told that
quite explicitly in Acts chapter 7 and verse 23 remember that
chapter great chapter where we read of
the first Christian martyr Stephen and Stephen makes a remarkable
apology for his faith in Christ and in the course of speaking
he recounts much of God's dealings with the children of Israel and
he tells us some interesting things he tells us how old Moses
was at that particular time and 40 years old and it seems he was some 40 years
there in the land of Midian associated with this man Jethro. Again in
Acts 7 verse 30 we're told when 40 years were expired there appeared
to him, that is to Moses, in the wilderness of Mount Sinai
an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush. And what was
it that Moses was engaged in at that particular time? Well,
he was there caring for the sheep of his father-in-law. He'd been
doing that those many years, 40 years. And he's now 80 years
of age when we read of him in that third chapter where God
gives him his call and his commission to deliver the children of Israel.
It's told how he kept the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law,
the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the backside
of the desert and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. This is the very place, of course,
where subsequently he will bring the children of Israel when they
come out of Egypt, the mountains of Horeb, with Sinai's heir that
God entered into covenant with Israel. But here is Moses in
chapter 3, "...at the mountain of God, even Horeb. And the angel
of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the
midst of the bush, and he looked. And behold, the bush burned with
fire, and the bush was not consumed." What a remarkable sight is he
witnessing here, and it's the Lord who appears to him, the
angel of the Lord. and declares himself I am that
I am but at the same time Moses is receiving his commission. Verse 7 of that chapter the Lord
says I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt
and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters for I know
their sorrows and I am come down to deliver them out of the hands
of the Egyptians to bring them out of that lands. And what does
God say in verse 10? Come now therefore and I will
send thee unto Pharaoh that thou mayest bring forth my people
the children of Israel out of Egypt. He receives his commission
and he's obedient. He's obedient to the command
of God as we see subsequently in the fourth chapter. Verse 20 there, Moses took his
wife and his sons and set them upon an ass and he returned to
the land of Egypt. And Moses took the rod of God
in his hand. And it's at this time that there's
some fallouts by the way. Verse 24 of that chapter, by
the way in the end the Lord met him and sought to kill him. Then Zipporah took a sharp stone
and cut up the foreskin of her son and cast it at his feet and
said, surely a bloody husband art thou to me. So we let him
go and she said, a bloody husband thou art because of the circumcision. There was that that was offensive
then surely to Zipporah. There's a separation and then
at the age of Italy, that Moses must go and Zipporah is left
with Jephthah, Zipporah and the sons. Here they are now and again
it's the mount of God. It's Horeb and Jethro comes to Moses,
his father-in-law, with Zipporah, his wife and the two sons. Surely there was much then that
they would want to be speaking of, after all those many years. But what is it that Moses speaks
of? It's principally that he tells
him all that had happened, all that had expired as he had been
obedient to God's call and God had wrought a great deliverance,
it sent the plagues upon the Egyptians ultimately destroying
all the firstborn. We're all familiar with the accounts
that follows that fourth chapter. Moses then speaks so much of
the doings of the Lord. He told his father-in-law all
that the Lord had done. And how God had delivered them.
And not only delivered them out of Egypt but watched over them
and kept them. And all of this is such a ministry
to Jethro that he utters these words here in verse 11. Blessed
be the Lord, who hath delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians
and out of the hand of Pharaoh, who hath delivered the people
from under the hand of the Egyptians. Oh how it enlightens him to speak
of God. And we see that this is very
much a theme of the Psalmists many a time. the language that
we have there in the 145th Psalm at verse 11, they shall speak
of the glory of thy kingdom and talk of thy power to make known
to the sons of men his mighty acts and the glorious majesty
of his kingdom. Oh this is the best subject to
speak of when the Lord's people meet together when they come
together Come and hear all ye that fear God, and I will declare
what the Lord hath done unto my soul, says the psalmist again
in Psalm 66. And of course we have that lovely
passage at the end of the Old Testament there in the book of
Malachi and our opening praise very much based on what we're
told there in Malachi 3.16. As they that feared the Lord
spake often one to another and the Lord hearkened and heard
and the book of remembrance was written before him for them that
feared the Lord and thought of his doings. Oh the Lord, an emphasis
there, the Lord hearkened and heard. The Lord hearkened and
heard. He takes account of the conversation
then of his people. Now we are to be mindful of that. Many times we have the exhortations
in the New Testament Scriptures when Paul comes to the practical
part of his epistles. Let no corrupt communication,
he says, proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good
to the use of edifying. Conversation is to be edifying,
not building. And how can that be? Only as
we speak to others of what God has done. And this is what Moses
is doing. He is confirming all that Jethro had heard, of all
that God had done. Moses simply repeats the tale
there in verse 8. And now it's edifying because
we see it in the confession that Jethro is making subsequently
in these two verses, verses 10 and 11. Again Paul can say right
into the Colossians, let your speech be always with grace,
seasoned with salt. Or that it might be true of us
that our conversation might be on those better things. ready
to give an answer to every man that asks a reason of the hope
that is within us. What then is the cause of the
confession that is being made? Well, it's what Moses has ministered.
It's the words that Moses himself has spoken that has moved Jethro to acknowledge
the truth of God's great deliverance granted to the children of Israel. Now, he is spoken of, interestingly
here, as the priest of Midian. Midian not only a place, the
place where Moses had fled to, but Midian was also a person.
In fact, he's one of the sons of Abraham, as we discover there
in Genesis 25. he was one of the sons that his
wife Keturah bear for him and so this man Jethro was a descendant
of Abraham he is a mysterious character in many ways is a priest
and we see him exercising a priestly office in what he does at verse
12 he takes a burnt offering and sacrifices for God and there
are Moses and Aaron and the elders and it's all before God we are
aware of course that there's another spoken of in the Old
Testament, Melchizedek who was the priest of the Most High God. Again, another remarkable character. And the Lord Jesus is that one
who becomes a priest after the order of Melchizedek. as we have there in the prophecy
of Psalm 110 and of course the apostle takes up that matter
in his epistle to the Hebrews particularly in chapter 7. There are these characters and
I'm not saying that Jethro is altogether to be compared to
Melchizedek but Melchizedek was a real person as Jethro is also
a very real person and quite a remarkable man. Why was it
that he comes to Moses in the first place? Not so much for
the sake of Moses but because of the fame of the God of Moses. He had 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 this is why, after all these
many years, he comes to the place where Moses is. There's the reason. And there's some significance,
of course, in the name that this man bears. As I said, he's also
referred to as Ru'al. when we're initially introduced
to him in that second chapter of verse 18 and Rual simply means
God is friend God is friend the name Jethro simply means preeminent
he's a preeminent man but he's a man who is very much the friend
of God and so in a sense it's not surprising that he should
make such a confession as we have in these two verses but
turning to the verses and the content of what he says here
in verses 10 and 11 he rejoices over God's goodness to Israel
blessed be the Lord he says Blessed be the Lord who hath delivered
you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh,
and hath delivered the people from under the hand of Pharaoh."
And what a contrast in many respects we see when we remember something
of the behavior of the children of Israel themselves, and what
we read in the previous chapters, in chapter 17. and verse 2 how the people did
chide little with Moses and said give us water that we may drink
and Moses said unto them why chide you with me wherefore do
you tempt the Lord and the people thirsted therefore 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're always wanting to challenge Moses
to complain they're always murmuring because again in the previous
16th chapter again there at verse 2 the whole congregation it says
of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the
wilderness and the children of Israel said unto them would to
God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt
when we sat by the flesh pots and when we did eat bread to
the full for you brought us forth into this wilderness to kill
this whole assembly with hunger." Or they're wanting food, they're
wanting drink and they're complaining and they're chiding with Moses. It's Moses' fault. How different
is this man Jethro? In a sense we might say he is
simply a bystander but he acknowledges the wonder of what God had done. How God had made provision for
them, how God had brought them out, and God had never failed
them. That wasn't his experience, that was their experience. We
think when we come to the New Testament, how we see the unbelief
of God's ancient covenant people, the children of Israel. Remember
when the Lord performs that miracle for the centurion whose servant
was sick. And the man has such faith that
he recognizes that Christ doesn't need to go to his house. All
the Lord need do is to speak the word. wherever he is, and
that will heal his sick servants. And there the Lord rebukes the
Jews. Verily I say unto you, I have
not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. All the Romans
ensured him he had greater faith than anything the Lord had seen
in Israel. And again at the crucifixion
of Christ, when the Jewish leaders did nothing but taught him and
the people had cried out for his crucifixion. It was a Roman
centurion who uttered those remarkable words truly. This man was the
son of God. The manner of the Lord's death
obviously had an effect upon that Roman soldier, that centurion. How striking these things are
ignorance and the sin of God's ancient people and yet these
who testify to God and His goodness are we those who really do value
the blessings and the privileges that God has granted to us or
are we those who are so often prone to murmur and to complain
like the children of Israel this man rejoices in the God of Israel,
and rejoices in all the goods that the Lord ever does to His
people. That's the theme that runs through
that 10th verse. He says, Blessed be the Lord
who hath delivered you. Oh, it was the Lord's doing.
And what does He do then? He is very much giving the glory
to God. He gives God all the glory. Now
I know, He says, that the Lord is greater than all gods, for
in the thing wherein they doubt proudly He was above them. We
must have known something of the great sin of Pharaoh himself,
who is the Lord that I should obey. And how, of course, these
people would look to men even with idolatrous eyes, that the
Lord is greater than all the enemies of the children of Israel. And so, how He blesses the Lord
God, the Gods of Israel. that one who is the only living
and true God. Hero Israel, the Lord our Lord
is one Lord as we read in Deuteronomy chapter 6. Ought to be those then who would
be blessing the Lord. We have that lovely passage at
the beginning of the 105th Psalm where the Psalmist addresses
his own soul how he would come and he would
worship this great God Psalm 103 David's Psalm Bless the Lord
O my soul and all that is with him he bless his holy name bless
the Lord O my soul and forget not all his benefits who forgiveth
all thine iniquities who healeth all thy diseases who redeemeth
thy life from destruction who crowneth thee with loving kindness
and tender mercies who satisfied thy mouth with good things, so
that thy youth is renewed like the eagles. The Lord execute
as righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed. He
made known his ways unto Moses and his acts unto the children
of Israel. Wouldn't a man like Jethro utter
his amen then to those words of King David? this is the content
then of his confession he rejoices in God's goodness he gives all
the glory to God because it was the Lord God himself and God
alone who had delivered Israel from all that bondage that had
been theirs in Egypt and then thirdly here there's a confirmation
surely there's a confirmation of his faith Those words at the beginning
of verse 11, now I know. Now I know. Calvin observes that this is
to be understood of experimental knowledge. As he heard what Moses said there
in verse 8, Moses told his father-in-law all that the Lord had done As
he heard that word, that conversation from his son-in-law, so God granted
that gracious application, revealed His truth to the heart of this
man. Oh how the Lord does that with us.
At times when we come to His word, He opens it to us and we
feel something of the gracious authority of the word. and we
need to pray over God's Word as we read God's Word we might
not just be favoured with an understanding mind but to be
blessed with a believing heart and an obedient will now at the end of all these bitter
experiences Job is brought to make that remarkable confession
at the end I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear Now
mine eyes seeth, wherefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and
ashes." Many a time he'd heard, but then he sees something. He
sees something. John speaks of that which was
from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen
with our eyes, which we have looked upon and our hands have
handled of the Word of Life. how these things are made so
real where it is that confirmation that comes with true faith it
is the promise of the new covenant they shall all know me says God
there in Jeremiah 31-34 they shall all know me not just to
know about God oh we can know much about God But do we really
know God? That experimental knowledge that
the reformer says was the experience of Jethro. Life eternal says
the Lord Jesus. It's life eternal to know the
only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. What sort
of a knowledge is that then? And this is what this man has.
It's quite remarkable because we're not to overlook the significance
of what follows here in verse 12 where he takes a burnt offering
and sacrifices for God. Now, all of this of course is
previous to the establishment of the Old Testament priesthood. It's not until we come to chapter
28 of this book that Aaron and his sons are separated to the
office of the priesthood. So previous to that we see the
patriarchs such as Abraham offering sacrifices in the opening chapter
of the book of Job. which pregates the Aaronic priesthood
also. There we're told how Job would
sacrifice burnt offerings on behalf of his children. And so this man, this man also
makes an offering, a burnt offering. And what is the significance
of that? Surely he's a man of faith, is this man, and he's
looking beyond the sacrifice, beyond what he set forth in the
type, to him who is the great anti-type, even the Lord Jesus
Christ himself. Lord Jethro is a man of faith. This is why he makes such a confession. This is why he can rejoice in
God's goodness. This is why he is ready to give
all the glory to God and we see how subsequently the Lord willing
I want us to consider what said at the end of the chapter next
week where he gives such wise counsel to his son-in-law how
obviously this is a man who is a true child of God and confesses
the God of Israel and worships the God of Israel. May the Lord
bless what we've said concerning the character of this father-in-law
of Moses. Before we turn to the Lord in
prayer, I want us to sing that paraphrase of what we just read
from the 103rd Psalm, Isaac Watts' paraphrase of those opening verses
of the psalm, O bless the Lord my soul, let all within me join
and bid my tongue to bless his name whose favours are divine. O bless the Lord my soul, nor
let his mercies lie forgotten in unthankfulness and without
praise he's died. His wondrous works and ways He
made by Moses known, but sent the world his truth and grace
by his beloved Son." 420, the tune is Dido Mater, 77.