Giving Helpful Advice
When Moses flees Egypt for his life, he ends up in the desert. There he encounters the seven daughters of Reuel, a Midianite priest. The girls are shepherdesses.
When they try to draw water from the well for their sheep, however, other shepherds drive them away. Moses intervenes for them and waters their flock.
Reuel (later called Jethro) is grateful, and he invites Moses to stay with them. He gives his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage.
The next time we encounter Reuel in the Bible is several years later. This is after Moses leads his people out of Egypt. The Bible now calls him Jethro. We don’t know why Reuel changed his name, but he did.
Jethro goes to the desert to meet Moses, returning Moses’s wife and sons to him. Moses tells Jethro all that God has done, and Jethro praises the Almighty.
The next day he watches as Moses takes a seat to judge the people as they gather to receive his ruling on their cases. This takes all day. Jethro realizes this is too much for Moses to handle on his own.
Jethro advises his son-in-law to train capable men to hear the easier cases. Only the most complicated ones will need Moses’s attention. This will lighten Moses’s load of leading the people.
Moses follows his father-in-law’s wise advice.
Questions:
How open are we to follow the recommendations of others?
Should we give advice to people who haven’t asked for it?
[Read about Reuel in Exodus 2:16–21. Read about Jethro in Exodus 18. Discover more in Exodus 4:18.]
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Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo Christianity and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
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