Today's Quick Word
Today’s Quick Word
Exodus 18:10-11 [Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law] said, “Praise be to the LORD, who rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and of Pharaoh, and who rescued the people from the hand […]
Exodus 18:10-11 [Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law] said, “Praise be to the LORD, who rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and of Pharaoh, and who rescued the people from the hand of the Egyptians. Now I know that the LORD is greater than all other gods, for he did this to those who had treated Israel arrogantly.”
‘Jethro’ is an enigmatic character in Ancient Near eastern literature and tradition, being mentioned in the Koran, and having connections with the Druze religion as well as Islam. All sorts of theories derive from this among ‘scholars’, but we have the infallible, inspired Word of God which we can trust fully for all God needs us to know!
So what do we know about Jethro? Like many other Biblical characters – and many of us – he was also known by another name, in his case ‘Reuel’ (Exodus 2:18); and he was a Midianite, a ‘foreigner’, who had come to know, and trust in, the Covenant God of the Israelites, the All-mighty LORD (Yahweh), because of Israel’s God’s power and mighty works.
The Exodus is the Old Testament foreshadowing of our deliverance (justification) from bondage to sin (Egypt) through the blood of the spotless scarificial lamb (Jesus), and our (sanctifying) pilgrimage through this life (the 40 years in the Wilderness) on our journey to Heaven (the Promised Land).
So it is not a big step to see a parallel between Jethro’s testimony and the task to which the Risen Lord Jesus has commissioned us (Matthew 28:18-20).
Do our friends/neighbours/family, who might be ‘foreigners’ to the things of God, see the undeniable power and mighty works of God in our lives, and thereby come to the only valid conviction: “Praise be to the LORD (Jesus Christ), who rescued you from the grip of bondage to sin (the hand of the Egyptians and of Pharaoh). Now [we] know that the LORD is greater than all other gods”? Let us pray constantly and confidently that we might see many ‘Jethros’ coming to acknowledge Jesus as the mighty Saviour he is, because of the testimony of our lives – our words and actions/attitudes that bear out the reality of his amazing grace and power effectively at work.
– Bruce Christian
