Exodus 18:25

_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...

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...

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 CHOSE ABLE MEN OUT OF ALL ISRAEL,.... He looked among them, and selected the best of them, such as most answered to the qualifications it was requisite they should have; and though only one of them is here mentioned, which is the first Jethro gave, yet no doubt they were all attended to, though not expressed: AND MADE THEM HEADS OVER THE PEOPLE; rulers, governors, judges, and officers; this is a general word, comprehending their several particular offices they sustained; which seem to be chiefly distinguished by the different numbers of people, or families, under them, otherwise their work and office were much the same: RULERS OF THOUSANDS, RULERS OF HUNDREDS, RULERS OF FIFTIES, AND RULERS OF TENS; just as Jethro advised, Exodus 18:21. According to the Targum of Jonathan, the rulers of thousands were six hundred, rulers of hundreds 6000, ruler

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,

AND MOSES CHOSE ABLE MEN— It is thought by some, that this constitution continued only during their peregrination in the wilderness; and so is different from the institution of those _seventy elders_ (Numbers 11:16.) who were of God's own nomination, and continued to have their name, title, and authority through all the changes of the Jewish state: but, this tribunal of the seventy being a peculiar jurisdiction, I do not see why the subordinate rule here established might not have continued, in a great measure, the same when the people were settled in Canaan. It is certain that the Hebrew was a kind of military government. (See Lowman on the Civil Government of the Hebrews, p. 78, &c.) What we render _rulers of thousands,_ is, properly, _princes_ or _commanders._ Possibly our old Saxon constitution of sheriffs in counties, hundredors or centgraves in hundreds, and de

THE TEXT OF EXODUS TRANSLATION 18 Now Je-thro, the priest of Mid-i-an, Mo-ses-' father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Mo-ses, and for Is-ra-el his people, how that Je-ho-vah had brought Is-ra-el out of E-gypt. (2) And Je-thro, Mo-ses-' father-in-law, took Zip-po-rah, Mo-ses-' wife, after he had sent her away, (3) and her two sons; of whom the name of the one was Ger-shom; for he said, I have been a sojourner in a foreign land: (4) and the name of the other was E-Ii-e-zer; for _he said,_ The God of my father was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pha-raoh. (5) And Je-thro, Moses-' father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife unto Mo-ses into the wilderness where he was encamped, at the mount of God: (6) and he said unto Mo-ses, I, thy father-in-law Je-thro, am come unto thee, and thy wife, and her two sons with her. (7) And Mo-ses went out to meet his father-in-law,...

THE VISIT OF JETHRO 1. On the name JETHRO, see Exodus 2:16, and on MIDIAN, Exodus 2:15....

EXODUS: ISRAEL BECOMES A NATION THE *ISRAELITES LEAVE EGYPT EXODUS CHAPTER S 1 TO 18 _HILDA BRIGHT AND KITTY PRIDE_ CHAPTER 18 JETHRO’S VISIT – VERSES 1-12 V1 Jethro was the father of Moses’ wife, and he was the priest in the country called Midian. He heard about everything that God had done for Moses and for his people. Jethro heard how the *LORD had brought the *Israelites away from Egypt. V2 Moses had sent his wife, Zipporah, and her two sons to stay with her father. And Jethro was very glad to receive her V3 and her two sons. ‘I have become a stranger in a foreign country’, Moses had said. So he had named his first son Gershom. V4 ‘My father’s God hel