Exodus 18:13-16

"And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses sat to judge the people: and the people stood about Moses from the morning unto the evening. And when Moses' father-in-law saw all that he did to the people, he said, What is this thing that thou doest to the people? why sittest thou thyself alone, and all the people stand about thee from morning unto even? And Moses said unto his father-in-law, Because the people come unto me to inquire of God: When they have a matter, they come unto me; and I judge between a man and his neighbor, and I make them know the statutes of God and his laws."

"I make them know the statutes of God and his laws ..." This has no reference to the Decalogue, which was not yet given, but is a reference to that vast body of rules and regulations that Moses had already communicated to the people upon the commandment of the Lord, for example, the matter of gathering the manna, when, how much, how to use it, etc. There had also, in all probability, been many other things of a similar nature. Also, perhaps all of those great principles laid down in the Decalogue were already known by Moses prior to their formal announcement from Sinai. In his work, such as that witnessed by Jethro, Moses would often have conferred with God to receive the correct basis for his judgments. That was the very thing taking up so much time. We do not believe that Moses was merely formulating rules "on his own" during those days. The point of these remarks is the refutation of the following claim: "The statutes here are those given on the mount (Sinai), this passage being out of place."[28] We find no fault whatever with this narrative.

The situation in view in this passage is that of a faithful well-meaning individual trying to take care of all the details himself. Moses appears here as a perfect example of a poor administrator, a preacher, or elder, who tries to do it all by himself. Through this fortunate visit of Jethro, he learned the secret of DELEGATING authority.