Exodus 18:15

_AND IT CAME TO PASS ON THE MORROW, THAT MOSES SAT TO JUDGE THE PEOPLE: AND THE PEOPLE STOOD BY MOSES FROM THE MORNING UNTO THE EVENING._ On the morrow ... Moses ... We are here presented with a specimen of his daily morning occupations; and among the multifarious duties his divine legation imposed, it must be considered only a small portion of his official employments He appears in this attitude as a type of Christ in his legislative and judicial characters. PEOPLE STOOD ... - governors in the East seat themselves at the most public gate of their palace or the city, and there, amid a crowd of applicants, hear causes, receive petitions, redress grievances, and adjust the claims of contending parties. In Egypt the Hebrews had been governed by the patriarchal rule of their elders. But the divine legation of Moses having invested him with the character and authority of a sovereign, the ju...

15._And Moses said unto his father-in-law. _Moses replies ingenuously, as if on a very praiseworthy matter, like one unconscious of any fault; for he declared himself to be the minister of God, and the organ of His Spirit. Nor, indeed, could his faithfulness and integrity be called in question. He only erred in overwhelming himself with too much labor, and not considering himself privately, nor all the rest publicly. Yet a useful lesson may be gathered from his words. He says that disputants come “to inquire of God,” and that he makes them to know the statutes of God and His laws. Hence it follows that this is the object of political government, that God’s tribunal should be erected on earth, wherein He may exercise the judge’s office, to the end that judges and magistrates should not arrogate to themselves a power uncontrolled by any laws, nor allow themselves to decide anything arbitra...

13-27 Here is the great zeal and the toil of Moses as a magistrate. Having been employed to redeem Israel out of the house of bondage, he is a further type of Christ, that he is employed as a lawgiver and a judge among them. If the people were as quarrelsome one with another as they were with God, no doubt Moses had many causes brought before him. This business Moses was called to; it appears that he did it with great care and kindness. The meanest Israelite was welcome to bring his cause before him. Moses kept to his business from morning to night. Jethro thought it was too much for him to undertake alone; also it would make the administration of justice tiresome to the people. There may be over-doing even in well-doing. Wisdom is profitable to direct, that we may neither content ourselves with less than our duty, nor task ourselves beyond our strength. Jethro advised Moses to a better...

Verse Exodus 18:15. _THE PEOPLE COME UNTO ME TO INQUIRE OF GOD_] To know the mind and will of God on the subject of their inquiries. Moses was the _mediator_ between God and the people; and as they believed that all justice and judgment must come from him, therefore they came to Moses to know what God had spoken....

TO ENQUIRE OF GOD - The decisions of Moses were doubtless accepted by the people as oracles. The internal prompting of the Spirit was a sufficient guidance for him, and a sufficient authority for the people....

EXPOSITION JETHRO'S ADVICE TO MOSES, AND ITS ADOPTION. The office of ruler in ancient times, whether exercised by a king, a prince, or a mere chieftain, was always understood to include within it the office of judge. In the Greek ideal of the origin of kingly government (Herod. 1.96), the able discharge of judicial functions marks the individual out for sovereignty. The successors of Moses, like the chief rulers of Carthage, bore the title of "Judges" (_shophetim, suffetes_). Moses, it appears, had from the time when he was accepted as leader by the people (Exodus 4:29-2), regarded himself as bound to hear and decide all the causes and complaints which arose among the entire Israelite people. He had net delegated his authority to any o

AND MOSES SAID UNTO HIS FATHER IN LAW,.... In answer to his question; and there were two things, as Aben Ezra observes, he did to the people, and for which they came to him; the one is observed in this verse, and the other in the next: BECAUSE THE PEOPLE COME UNTO ME TO INQUIRE OF GOD; of his mind and will in certain cases, and of his statutes and laws, as the following verse shows; what they should observe, and according to which they should conduct themselves: they came to inquire what God would have them to do; and, in doubtful cases, what was his will and pleasure, and to desire Moses to inform them; and if the things were of such a nature that he could not easily and readily do it, then to inquire of God for them, which in later times was done by Urim and Thummim....

CHAPTER 18 MOSES AND JETHRO _ 1. The coming of Jethro (Exodus 18:1)_ 2. Moses' and Jethro's communion (Exodus 18:6) 3. Jethro's advice (Exodus 18:13) 4. Moses' action (Exodus 18:24) This chapter concludes the first section of the second part of Exodus. We have in it a beautiful dispensational foreshadowing of things to come. God had redeemed Israel, delivered them from Pharaoh's host, manifested His power and had given them victory. The priest of Midian, a Gentile, now comes, having heard all that Jehovah had done for Moses and for Israel, his people. Zipporah, Moses' wife, and his two sons are with

MOSES AS JUDGES EXODUS 18:13 (should begin a new paragraph) J, Exodus 18:14 a E, Exodus 18:14 b J, Exodus 18:15 E, Exodus 18:16 a (neighbour) J, Exodus 18:16 bf. E, Exodus 18:18 a J, Exodus 18:18 b - Exodus 18:19 a (voice) E,

MOSES SAT TO JUDGE THE PEOPLE— Rather, which the context clearly proves to be the meaning, _to administer justice to the people._ The word שׁפט _shapat,_ says Cocceius, denotes, at large, all _regulation_ and _disposal._ Moses informs Jethro, that this was the case: he tells him first, Exodus 18:15 that _the people come to him to enquire of GOD._ GOD, it is to be remembered, had been pleased to constitute himself the King and Lawgiver of the Jews, whose government is therefore called a _Theocracy;_ and he had appointed Moses to be his great vicegerent to the people _instead of God._ See ch. Exodus 4:16. The people, therefore, came to _Moses_ as to GOD himself, their supreme Judge and Lawgiver, to know his will, and receive his decisions in all cases of property and controv