What Would Jethro Do?
Jethro provides a beautiful example of gentile support for the people of Israel. He was not Israelite nor Hebrew, yet he rejoiced in the miracle of the deliverance of the children of Israel. He then gave Moses wise advice on how to lead the people better. This story is followed by God’s revelation on Sinai of the high calling given to the Jewish people. Once we understand that calling, we should all want to follow Jethro’s example of praise for the God of Israel and the desire to assist His people.
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What Would Jethro Do? (Out of Zion Episode #164)
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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Well, you all heard the saying, what would Jesus do? So I've entitled this week,
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what would Jethro do? Who's Jethro? Well, Jethro provides a beautiful example of
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Gentile support for the Jewish people. His story is quickly followed by the
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revelation of the high calling on the Jewish people by the God of Sinai. Now
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once we understand that calling, we should all want to follow Jethro's
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example of praise for the God of Israel and to have a desire to assist his
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people. So welcome to this week's Shabbat Shalom devotional when I seek to share
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just a little inspiration and bring a little piece to the close of your very
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busy week. Now this week's Torah reading is from Exodus 18 through 20 verse 23
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and it's called Yitro or Jethro. Now Jethro is Moses' father-in-law. He's a
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Midianite priest. He's not Jewish or Hebrew. In the story, he models Gentile
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support for the Jewish people in a really beautiful way. So here the Israelites
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have crossed the Red Sea, they're in the wilderness, and Jethro brings his
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daughter, who is Moses' wife, and his grandsons, who are Moses' sons, to the
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wilderness to be with their father, to with Moses. And after Moses tells Jethro
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the whole story of how God judged the gods of Egypt and brought down Pharaoh
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and his army and delivered the children of Israel, this is Jethro's response. We
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read it in chapter 18 verses 10 through 11. And Jethro said,
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Blessed be the Lord who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and
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out of the hand of Pharaoh and who has delivered the people from under the hand
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of the Egyptians. Now I know that the Lord is greater than all the gods for in
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the very thing in which they behaved proudly he was above them. So Jethro
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here is rejoicing in this mighty act of God for his people. And Jethro then
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acknowledges the real lesson of the entire saga. The God of the Israelites
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was greater than all those pagan gods of Egypt. The plagues were not against the
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people of Egypt, but against their idolatry and belief in their false gods.
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Now a few verses later, Jethro helps Moses greatly. He gives him very wise
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advice how to organize the people and to raise up other leaders. Now in our day
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God has miraculously drawn the children of Israel back to their ancient
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homeland and established sovereignty and is making them a leader amongst the
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nations. Jethro models what our response should be as Gentile Christians. We
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should rejoice in this mighty act of God and be glad in it for it proves how
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mighty is our God and it proves how faithful is our God. And we should seek
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to help as much as we can. One last final point this week is found in chapter 19
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verses 5 through 6 and this is where God speaks to Moses from the mountain and
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tells him the calling on the children of Israel. Now therefore if you will indeed
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obey my voice and keep my covenant then you shall be a special treasure to me
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above all people for all the earth is mine and you shall be to me a kingdom of
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priests and a holy nation. These are the words which you shall speak to the
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children of Israel. So the calling of the Jewish people was to be his people in
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the midst of this great earth that he had created. They were to be as a kingdom of
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priests serving him and mediating for the people before him. Now they have done
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this for you and me too. They mediated all the covenants all the promises of
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God and that we find in the Old Testament the promises to Abraham to Moses to
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David confirmed through the Hebrew prophets even the new covenant all of
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this they mediated on behalf of a pagan world. They gave us the birth ministry
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and death of the Messiah through which billions of people around the world
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believe in the God of Israel and read the Torah and the writings entrusted to
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the Jewish people. Now isn't that pretty phenomenal when you stop and think about
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it? Their role as a kingdom of priests on our behalf. We owe them a great debt of
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gratitude and along with Jethro we need to rejoice in what God has and will do
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through them and with that I wish you Shabbat Shalom.
