No Small Parts – Jethro
May 24, 2020 Sunday Evening Study

My family has a history of somewhat rocky relationships with in-laws. On my father’s side of the family, his parents were carnies – traveling all over the country following the carnival circuits and racing circuits so that they could employ their octopus ride and my dad and grandfather could race three quarter midgets and quarter midgets on the dirt oval. Unfortunately, as is common with the carnival lifestyle, there was fairly significant alcoholism on that side of the family, which caused a bit of a rift between my mother and that side.

I get along well with my father-in-law today, though it was not always that way. There were things that needed to be worked out on both sides of the relationship – we were very much at odds for several years. I matured and showed love to his daughter, while he got through some major life changes and grew in his own relationship with God, bringing us to a good point today, even though we live nearly 2000 miles away from each other.

Our first small part in the Bible isn’t really all that small of a part, but does not get a ton of mention in the Bible. Jethro, father of Zipporah, was Moses’ father-in-law. And although he is not prominently featured, we learn a lot about him from scripture, and I was shocked to discover that Jethro’s legacy goes much farther than I ever knew.

If you have your Bibles, let’s open to Exodus 2:15-21. In the story, Moses has killed the Egyptian who had been beating the Hebrew.

¹⁵ When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian, where he sat down by a well. ¹⁶ Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father’s flock. ¹⁷ Some shepherds came along and drove them away, but Moses got up and came to their rescue and watered their flock.
¹⁸ When the girls returned to Reuel their father, he asked them, “Why have you returned so early today?”
¹⁹ They answered, “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock.”
²⁰ “And where is he?” Reuel asked his daughters. “Why did you leave him? Invite him to have something to eat.”
²¹ Moses agreed to stay with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage.

In the very next chapter, Jethro is first referred to as Jethro – he is called Reuel in the passage. He is actually referred to by several names, depending on the translation and context. We know that he is a priest of Midian, and that after giving his daughter to Moses in marriage, Moses stays with him for 40 years. 40 years – do you have a relationship with your in-laws that translates to 40 years working for them?

Once the plagues and the exodus begin, we don’t hear much from Jethro for quite some time. It isn’t until later when the Israelites are at Mt. Sinai that Jethro shows up on the scene again. Read Exodus 18.

So we see a couple of things in this scene – we know that the relationship between Moses and Jethro is at least favorable enough for Jethro to want to see him, and for Moses to accept his father-in-law without issue. Jethro rejoices with Moses in the deliverance of the people, even acknowledging the greatness of God.

We also see wisdom in Jethro – both wisdom and authority. He is dealing with the man who is effectively the most powerful among the Israelites – a man who speaks with God directly – and yet, he does not hesitate to confront Moses when something is not right. Plus, besides just poking holes in Moses’ leadership, he offers a solution – usable advice to delegate, which essentially changes the whole dynamic of the Israelite people as they are in the wilderness.

As far as the Bible is concerned, this is where the story ends for Jethro. However, in my research, I learned that to many people in the world, there is much more to this man who was father-in law to the first Israelite leader.

Scattered throughout the middle east, including Israel and Jordan, are groups of people who identify as ethnically Arab and subscribe to a religion called Druze. This was new to me, as the Druze religion forms religious minority in each country where it is found, with approximately 150K located in northern Israel. The Druze speak Arabic, and their Arabic name translates to “The People of Monotheism.” Their faith is influenced largely by two groups – historic Arabic religious leaders and the Greek philosophers, specifically Plato, Aristotle, and Pythagoras.

Their faith, although claiming monotheism, contains principles from Christianity, Hinduism, Pythagoreanism, among others. One of the principle tenets of their faith is a belief in reincarnation – soul for soul. Following the cycle of rebirth eventually the soul is reunited with the “Cosmic Mind.”

Although a relatively small religion when compared to the world’s major religions, the Druze have had and continue to hold significant political power in their regions, having contributed much to the development of the Levant – the area containing Israel, Jordan, Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon in Western Asia.

The reason this matters to us in this study is that the Druze view Jethro as their spiritual founder and chief prophet. They believe that Jethro was the one who communicated directly with God and is known as the “hidden” or “true prophet,” and then passed His words to Moses as the “recognized” or “revealed prophet.” As such, the Druze gather on April 25^th of each year at a shrine in Lower Galilee to commemorate the death of Jethro through singing, dancing, and feasting.

Jethro is also mentioned in the Qur’an as a prophet who had been sent to Midian, whose people were destroyed by the “True Believers.”

So here is a man that we have viewed as a father in law to Moses who offered him refuge, acceptance, and even sage advice at opportune moments. Jethro helped to shape the way the Israelites functioned as a nation, and his influence is still quite prominent through other world religions present today. This is another one of those characters where there is just enough intriguing information about him in the Bible that we are caused to wonder the truth of what isn’t written about him. While the Bible is very clear that Moses was the one to whom God spoke, I think it could be very possible that Jethro spoke into Moses’ life at other points that are not mentioned in the scriptures, as it is very clear that God placed him there in his time and in those places for a reason.