The King's Church in Ilford
The following is the text of the talk given on 12th October 2008 by Georges Kisombola
"Jethro's Visit"
EXODUS 18
YOU HAVE BEEN
CALLED TO LEAD (Exodus 18)
This chapter is
divided evenly into two portions: verses 1-12, which I summarize by the title:
“Jethro’s Arrival”; and verses 13-27, which depict “Jethro’s Advice.” The two
portions are very much related. Initially, I viewed the first 12 verses as a
kind of formality, a setting of the scene. The more I read the text, however, I
have come to see that the first half of the chapter reveals several symptoms of
a serious problem in Moses’ life, which prompted not only the “arrival” of
Jethro at the Israelites’ camp, but also his “advice.”
Jethro’s Arrival
(18:1-12)
Verses 1-12 break
evenly into two divisions. Verses 1-6 might be titled “focus on the family.” They reveal the occasion for the arrival of
Jethro. Verse 1 informs us of the basis for Jethro’s decision to visit Moses,
while verses 2-6 tell us the purpose of that visit. The second division, verses
7-12, focus on the faith of Jethro. They depict the outcome of Jethro’s
arrival:
(1) Moses’ reports
of God’s good hand on the Israelites which is a Testimony; and,
(2) Jethro’s
response to God’s goodness to
It is difficult for
me to envision how Jethro gathered information about the well-being of Moses, but
the text tells us “he heard everything God had done for Moses and for his
people …” Perhaps Jethro made a point to invite travellers, even caravans, to
share a meal with him or to spend the night in his tent, enabling him to learn
of events in Egypt.
Today, Jethro would
have read the daily newspaper, and watched every newscast with interest. He
would have tuned in to “Radio
The point of the
passage, however, is not how Jethro learned of Moses’ well-being, but of what
he learned.
We are not told
precisely when or why Moses and his family were separated. Some have concluded
that Zipporah, in anger, returned to her father at after an illness nearly cost
Moses life; but we read that Moses “sent her away.” We can at least understand that
Moses sent his family back to Jethro at a time when Moses feared for their
safety. Perhaps, too, he felt that the pressures of confronting Pharaoh and of
leading
From the
information which Jethro had gathered, he concluded that the reasons for the
separation of Moses and his family were now safely set aside. The purpose of
Jethro’s visit to Moses was quite clearly to reunite Moses with his family.
The arrival of
Jethro, accompanied by Zipporah, Gershom and Eliezer, was apparently a pleasant
surprise for Moses. While I would have expected Moses to pay much more
attention to his wife and children, Moses is reported to have gone to meet
Jethro, kissed him, and then went into Jethro’s tent with him. Where in the
world were Zipporah and the children? Probably, they were there as well, but
given the culture of that day, this is simply how things were done. Remember,
too, that Jethro was a very prominent man, deserving of a formal
reception.
In the tent Moses
brought Jethro up to date with a detailed report of how the hand of God had
delivered the Israelites and devastated the Egyptians.
Jethro’s response was
much more than just oriental courtesy. Jethro here professes a personal faith
in the God of Israel, which he had not had previously. First, Jethro rejoiced
with Moses, praising God for His grace manifested toward
I am left with a
nagging question: Why was it that Jethro had to initiate the reunion of Moses
and his family? Put differently, why didn’t Moses send for his wife and sons,
rather than to have Jethro show up with them? My question arises out of an
uneasy feeling, based upon several observations from verses 1-12:
(1) Moses sent
his wife and sons back to Jethro without warning, just as Jethro seems to
return them to Moses in the same way.
(2) Moses’
motivation in sending his children back may be questionable, especially in the
light of the names he gave his sons.
Moses named his first son Gershom, based upon the fact that Moses had become an
alien. If Moses felt “alienated,” how could he alienate his family by sending
them away from himself. If Moses could name his second son Eliezer, based upon
his own deliverance from the sword of Pharaoh, why then could he not trust God
to deliver his family from the dangers of
(3) Moses was
slow to send for his family, when one would have expected him to be eager to
have them near him. The first
verse of chapter 18, the question which seems to be paramount in the minds of
Moses’ family is: “How’s Moses?” As the passage continues, and as time went on
for Moses’ family, the question changed from “How’s Moses?” to “Where’s Moses?”
Moses was not that far from his family, but he seems almost to have forgotten
them.
The absence of his
wife and children cause us to have a deeper respect for his maturity and
spiritual insight during
Let us see how the
events of verses 1-12 serve as a clue to the failures which Jethro seeks to
remedy by his counsel.
Jethro’s Advice (18:13-27)
The next morning,
Moses and the people of
Jethro began to
inquire about Moses’ rational for judging as he was doing. It is apparent from
Jethro’s questioning that he did not agree with the way Moses was handling
things. Even from the way his questions are phrased in writing, you can imagine
the tone of voice with which he asked Verse
14
Moses was so
covered up by his work, trying to keep his head above water that he didn’t have
time to reflect on what he was doing. That
morning, Jethro began to see the piece fall into place. Moses had not sent for
his family because he did not have time to care for them—even to think of them.
The response of
Moses to Jethro reveals several misconceptions regarding his role as a leader.
Consider them with me for a moment.
(1) Moses
believed that every request for his help made the matter his responsibility. When asked why Moses handled matters as
he did, Moses responded, in effect, “I am doing this because the people have
asked me to.” I believe that Moses was a kind, caring, and compassionate man.
Moses was running himself ragged.
(2) Moses assumed
that because people came to him personally for help it was his responsibility
to help them personally.
In answer to Jethro’s question, Moses explained that he judged the people from
dawn to dusk because they came to him for help. Moses assumed that it was his
personal obligation to meet all the needs. He was unwilling to refuse any
appointments and unwilling to involve others in meeting the needs of the
Israelites.
(3) Moses
wrongly reasoned that because his task was to lead the entire nation, he must
do so by dealing with people one at a time. Rather than to teach a class of 100, Moses was teaching the
same thing 100 times to 100 people, one by one.
(4) Moses
assumed that no one else was able to do what he was doing. Moses told Jethro that the people came to
him “to seek God’s will” It seems like this placed the needs of the people in a
category for which only Moses was able to give an answer.
(5) Moses seems
to have lost sight of his unique gifts and calling. God had not called Moses to do
everything, but to do some things. Moses was given responsibility to lead the
nation of
I believe that we
can learn several important principles of leadership from the words of Jethro,
which were addressed to Moses.
(1) To be a
leader one must be in control.
Here, I am referring to the fact that Moses should be in control of his
ministry and his time, not so much that he should be in control of
(2) To be an
effective Christian leader, one must balance the principle of servant hood with
that of stewardship.
Moses’ primary motivation for ministering as he did was that he genuinely cared
for the Israelites and wanted to serve them. Therefore, it was a genuine
servant’s heart which motivated the ministry which caused Jethro to marvel at
its inefficiency.
Every leader is to
be a servant, but we are to be the Lord’s servant, doing His will, not the will
of men by fulfilling their every expectation and desire.
(3) Leadership
is shepherding and shepherding involves a flock. Moses was dealing with the Israelites
individually, but Jethro advocated dealing with them collectively. It is an
impossible goal to desire to know all the people you lead personally when the
group gets very large.
When shepherding is
described as a function of human leaders in the Bible, they are spoken of as
shepherds of a flock, not shepherds of an individual sheep (Psalm 77:20, 78:52; 80:1; Isaiah 63:11-14)
When our Lord is
the shepherd, however, then we find the relationship described is much more
personal and intimate because our Lord does not have the human limitations like
earthly shepherds (Psalm 23; John 10).
Another error is
that we have tended to restrict the task of shepherding to elders alone. The concept
of the church as a body implies that it is the work of the church to minister
to itself. We are all priests, not just a select few (1 Peter 2:5). Elders are
instructed to shepherd the flock of God (1Peter 5:1), but this does not mean
that they do all the shepherding. It means that they are responsible to see
that the flock of God is shepherded. The leadership of the local church
involves more than just elders.
(4) Because leadership requires a plurality of
leaders, it also requires leaders to be managers. Moses was dealing with nearly 2 million
people, but he was trying to do so all by himself; unable to make use of others
in meeting the needs of the Israelites. The New Testament speaks frequently of
the management function of church leaders. The terms “be in charge of,” and
“overseer” are frequently used with reference to church leadership. Moses had
forgotten that leadership involves management.
(5) Leadership
involves both public and private obligations, neither of which can be
sacrificed entirely for the other.
Moses had become so entangled in his public duties that he had unwillingly been
neglecting himself and his family. He was, according to Jethro, “wearing himself
out” He was burning out.
On the over hand, Concerns
with one’s family can hinder one from his commitment to follow Christ. Let us
not use our responsibilities to our family to excuse our lack of attention to
penetrating the world as “salt” and as “light.”
(6) Leadership must deal with problems, but
must guard against becoming consumed with them. Moses ended into the role as
When we become
absorbed in problem-solving, we often are so busy that we lose our sense of
direction.
Jethro’s Advice to
us Christians
Let us explore the
reasons why Jethro’s advice is as relevant to every Christian today as it was
to Moses centuries ago.
(1) The principles
and practice advocated by Jethro are those which we can find applied by the
church in the New Testament.
The parallels between Exodus chapter 18 and Acts 6 are uncanny. Both the Old and New Testament incidents
stemmed from problems which were the result of rapid growth, large numbers of
people, and too few leaders. Both events required the leadership to expand, and
for those on the highest level of leadership to devote themselves to their
primary calling which was to intercede for the people and instruct them and then
to delegate the other ministries to highly qualified men.
While our Lord was
constantly busy, He never forgot His priorities. Even though He was constantly
needed as a healer, He restricted His healing so that His principle task of proclaiming
the gospel could be fulfilled.
While our Lord
ministered to the masses, He frequently withdrew for times of privacy with His
Father. It was at these times that critical decisions were made.
(2) The
principles which Moses learned from Jethro are applicable to every Christian,
whether he is a leader or not. We all have some leadership responsibilities
in our church.
As we conclude, let
us consider several initial steps which may get us started on our way to
becoming better leaders and managers.
(a) Find a
Jethro. God gave Moses a
Jethro to point out his problems.
(b) Prayerfully
determine those things which should be under your control but are not, and ask
God to enable you to do so.
(c) Determine
the gifts of which God has made you a steward, and plan how you will best
utilize them for God’s kingdom.
(d) Establish a plan for both your private
world and for your public ministry, and determine not to neglect either.
(e) Seek to differentiate between the crises
of your life and the calling of your life, and then minimize the former and
maximize the latter.
(f) Begin
to function as a Jethro to the many Moseses around you.
(h) Desire to
grow in both faith and humility.
Faith is required to trust God to enable you to do what He has called you to
do. Faith is also required to enable you to leave what you should not do.
And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Psalm 19:1