Exodus 18:11-12

"Now I know that Jehovah is greater than all gods; yea, in the thing wherein they dealt proudly against them. And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took a burnt-offering and sacrifices for God; and Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law before God."

We should notice here a ridiculous mistranslation of Exodus 18:10,11 in the RSV, as pointed out by Fields:

"The last clause of Exodus 18:10 (who hath delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians) is removed and placed in the middle of Exodus 18:11! This is supported neither by the Hebrew text nor the LXX, and is an example of the numerous arbitrary renderings in the RSV that so impair its usefulness."[16]

These verses are the highlight of the whole chapter and the focal point of interest. The great question here is, "What kind of a priest was Jethro?" We believe that, like Melchizedek, Jethro stands a great monolithic witness of the true monotheism which continued to be known (though perhaps imperfectly) on earth during that long and rapid descent of the post-diluvian world into the debaucheries of paganism. Certainly Noah knew the one true and Almighty God, for the N.T. is witness that Jesus Christ was the Spirit that preached in Noah (1 Peter 3:20). Melchizedek (Genesis 14) was also a true priest of "the Most High God" and recognized in the N.T. as a vivid type of Christ, which no idolatrous priest could have been. Jethro appears to be just such another monotheist as were Noah and Melchizedek. Nothing could be more false, misleading, or actually ridiculous than the misguided passion of certain critics to accredit Israel with having "developed" monotheism. The very purpose of God in the election of a Chosen Race, was not to develop a new conception of God, but to preserve for all the world the true perception of the One and Only God which was already in the world and in danger of being erased by the immoralities of the post-diluvians and the resultant resurgence of paganism. Monotheism was first on earth, not paganism, and the threat against the universal acceptance of that truth has always come about from basic sensualities so dear to human flesh. However, those sensualities cannot be indulged without some kind of psychological justification, and that is exactly what paganism is.

Among the scholars there appear three distinct ideas with reference to Jethro.

1. There are those who accept the view that we believe is correct, that Jethro was indeed a priest of the true God. Davies accepted this view: "Yahwism (the worship of Jehovah) had been practiced by Jethro and his people for a long time."[17] Fields has this: "The fact that Aaron and the elders came (Exodus 18:12) stresses the validity of Jethro's priesthood. He was a legitimate priest before God, like Melchizedek."[18] It is impossible for us to believe that Moses, Aaron, and all the elders of Israel would have sat down for a sacrificial meal with anyone who was NOT a priest of the true God. "Exodus 18:12 shows that Jethro was recognized as a priest of the true God."[19]
2. Another view is that Moses converted Jethro, making him, as Keil thought, a kind of first-fruits from paganism (cited above). Esses held this view, writing, "In witnessing to his father-in-law, Moses won him to the Lord ... Jethro forsook idolatry, became a proselyte to Judaism, and accepted the living God."[20] Johnson also believed that the narrative here evidences "a conversion experience" on the part of Jethro, thus "invalidating the theory that it was from Jethro and the Midianites that the Israelites learned of Jehovah.[21] Of course, the view in (1) above also invalidates it.
3. Another very radical view is held by some. Advocates of the `Kenite hypothesis,' "(namely, that the Israelites learned to worship God as Yahweh, `Jehovah,' from the Midianites and Kenites)"[22] brashly declare that, "Jethro imparted to Israel the ritual customs and the rules of the God of Sinai."[23] Such a view contradicts the truth that Jethro was the LEARNER not the TEACHER on this occasion, and the truth that there was no "God of Sinai" in the sense of a local deity being worshipped there. It is called "the mount of God," not because of some old shrine there, but because of what Jehovah did there. Trying to find the source of the knowledge of God anywhere except in his revelation to Moses and the prophets forces men who are otherwise intelligent into some very foolish and impossible postulations!

Rawlinson summed up the view that we believe to be correct as follows:

"Moses, Aaron, and the elders partook of the sacrificial meal, regarding the whole rite as one legitimately performed by a duly qualified person, and so as one in which they could properly participate. Jethro, like Melchizedek, was recognized as a priest of the true God."[24]

Another element of the very greatest importance appears here in the bringing by Jethro of both burnt-offerings and sacrifices to God. Here is independent proof that the Jewish priesthood did NOT invent or originate the system of sacrifices associated with their religion. The principle of offering burnt-offerings and sacrifices to God existed independently of Judaism, as evidenced by Jethro's actions in this passage. Where, exactly, did the principle of sacrifice begin? "Sacrifice was known long before Sinai. In fact, it was instituted from the very fall of the race (Genesis 4:4)."[25] (See my comment on Genesis 4:4 in this series.) In the light of this, it is impossible to suppose that "Jethro was initiating the Israelites into the worship of Jehovah!"[26] Why? Because Jethro had the same information that already belonged to all mankind since the sacrifice made by Abel in the Gates of Paradise, the same information utilized by Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the patriarchs in the sacrifices that they offered. There is absolutely no cultic ceremony in the sacrifices which appear in this chapter. Thus, we must reject the allegation that, "Jethro led in a cultic ceremony."[27]

"(They came) to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law before God ..." The last two words of this are sometimes alleged to mean that this sacrificial meal took place at some ancient pagan shrine at a place called "the mount of God" (Exodus 18:6). See comment above under Exodus 18:5-7. The last two words "before God," have no reference whatever to any place, least of all a pagan shrine, but, any sacrifice, no matter where offered would by the very nature of sacrifice be "before God."