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Acknowledging One's Dependence: the Jethro story of Exodus 18

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2024

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The two narratives in Exodus 18, in which Jethro joins the Israelites in a sacrifice (w. 1—12) and counsels Moses on how to organize the Israelites (w. 13—27), appear to some highly esteemed commentators to have ‘no substantive relation to each other’ (Noth, 1972:136) except for the prominent role played in both by Moses’ Midianite father-in-law. I hope to show, however, that the two episodes go well together. I hope too that the reader will agree that, as so often is the case with OT material, Ex 18 has light to shed, if only obliquely, on an issue that preoccupies us still; in this case, that of authority.

The two accounts are doubtless very ancient; are, indeed, in substance probably historical, for the nation would scarcely without historical warrant have credited a foreigner with the important role given to Jethro in Ex 18 (Welch, 1932:192). It looks, however, as though a redactor has made a conscious choice to insert the story at a different point from that at which it was found in the tradition as it came down to him.

The picture of Moses declaring God’s ‘statutes and laws’ (18.16) and using them to resolve judicial disputes implies that the Sinai-revelation has already taken place (cf. Dt 1.9—18), and indeed at 18.5 the location for the episode is specifically stated to be ‘the mountain of God’; yet the redactor has elected to tell the story before the arrival at Sinai (19.2).

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © 1988 Provincial Council of the English Province of the Order of Preachers

References

Cassuto, U., 1967. A Commentary on the Book of Exodus.Google Scholar
Childs, B.S., 1974. Exodus, a Commentary.Google Scholar
De Vaux, R., 1961. Ancient Israel, its Life and Institutions.Google Scholar
Noth, M., 1972. A History of Pentateuchal Traditions.Google Scholar
Robinson, B.P., 1985. ‘Israel and Amalek: The Context of Exodus 17. 8–16’, Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Welch, A.C., 1932. Deuteronomy: the Framework to the Code.Google Scholar