WHO IS JETHRO?

“This is not good!” Moses’ father-in-law exclaimed. “You’re going to wear yourself out—and the people, too. This job is too heavy a burden for you to handle all by yourself. Now listen to me, and let me give you a word of advice, and may God be with you. You should continue to be the people’s representative before God, bringing their disputes to him. Teach them God’s decrees, and give them his instructions. Show them how to conduct their lives.” — Exodus 18:17-20.  

Over the last few weeks on Friday, we have been looking at little-known characters in the Bible that we might, wrongly perhaps, skip over as not being particularly important. But some of these often-overlooked characters can be significant in other ways, showing us and teaching us something important through their lives, what happened to them, and how other people engaged with them. They were ordinary people who had cast long shadows of godly influence. One was Jethro.

Sometimes, we become irritated when people offer unsolicited advice. It often feels intrusive and even insulting. But in many cases, you can get the best advice from the unlikeliest of sources. In Exodus 17 and 18, we find Moses dealing with the problems of leadership for the entire nation. He deals with and tries to resolve every squabble, question, dispute, and disagreement 24 hours a day. He is basically a one-man court and litigation department.

When he is at his breaking point, exhausted and stressed,  Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro, approaches Moses and offers some counsel. He sees how hard Moses works to serve and lead the people, and he doesn’t criticize. Instead, he says, “You’re going to wear yourself out—and the people, too” if you continue like this. So Jethro proposes a plan – select several trustworthy, godly men and appoint them as judges to handle the lesser disputes and questions on Moses’ behalf so that Moses will be free to handle the significant disputes and lead instead of being bogged down in the details. One of the key lines of the text is, Moses listened to his father-in-law’s advice and followed his suggestions” (Exodus 18:24).  Although what Moses was doing was working, he still listened to his father-in-law because there was room for improvement.

Sometimes, we become irritated when people offer unsolicited advice. “Who are they to tell me what to do?” But God calls us to care about the people around us. Sometimes, caring means shar­ing our wisdom, and other times, it means being willing to be taught. We can benefit from the wisdom of others, even when it comes from the most unlikely source.

Discussion Questions:

1. What’s the best advice you’ve ever received from someone? How did it impact you?
2. How sustainable is the pace you’re living? Would a wise, loving advisor say, “This is not good” to you? Speaking of advisors, who is yours? Do you have someone in your life that plays the role of a Jethro?