Exodus 18:21  Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens:
22  And let them judge the people at all seasons: and it shall be, that every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge: so shall it be easier for thyself, and they shall bear the burden with thee.
23  If thou shalt do this thing, and God command thee so, then thou shalt be able to endure, and all this people shall also go to their place in peace.
24  So Moses hearkened to the voice of his father in law, and did all that he had said.
25  And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.
26  And they judged the people at all seasons: the hard causes they brought unto Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves.
27  And Moses let his father in law depart; and he went his way into his own land.

We see here that Jethro understood the importance of men who walk in the fear of God. A man that does not fear the LORD is willing to manipulate the Word of God for his own purposes. We will observe yet how Moses tried to manipulate God’s Word in striking the rock when God told him to speak to the rock. Moses failed to walk in the fear of the LORD on that occasion. He suffered great loss due to this failure.
In our text Jethro gave wise counsel. These men that should help Moses needed to be men of truth. If a man walks in the fear of God he will be a man of truth. Truth is more than just the words we speak. It is also the way we live. In the New Testament, Jesus exposed the lies of the Pharisees. He called them hypocrites. They pretended to be something they were not.
He will also hate covetousness. You cannot be a good leader if you are desiring what others have. If you are chasing after what other people have you will not be an effective leader. A good leader speaks the truth regardless of whether people like it or not. There are too many preachers today who are too scared of their people. They hesitate to speak the truth for fear of offending someone. When covetousness rules, you withhold truth and you allow evil to grow.
These men needed to be willing to judge the people in all seasons. Those who are going to serve the Lord need to be available in all seasons of life. Yes, there are limitations to our time, but that is the reason for many rulers. The nation of Israel was well over one million people at that time. It would be impossible for one man to look after the needs of that many people.
These rulers needed to be capable of dealing with the general needs of the people. The weightier matters needed to be brought to Moses. With this in place, Moses would be able to deal with the harder issues without becoming “burned out” himself.
In verse 23 Jethro continued to display his respect for the true God. He gave counsel to Moses, but he understood that Moses would need to be sure that this counsel was acceptable to the LORD. The LORD would give Moses counsel on this matter in the book of Numbers. His counsel would be somewhat similar to Jethro’s but better. God allowed Moses to work with Jethro’s counsel for a time.
Man can have ideas and sometimes they can be good ideas, but no human counsel should supersede the counsel of the Lord.
In verse 24 we read that Moses appreciated the counsel of his father in law. Moses showed respect for this man. Respect for elders is important. We do not need to play politics and try to flatter people, but we certainly are wise to respect men who prove their wisdom.
Moses chose men whom he could have to help him to take care of the needs of the people. Sometimes even a leader can be too focused on his work that he does not see the bigger picture. The LORD was obviously there to guide Moses, but Moses was too involved to ask the LORD on this matter. The LORD would intervene in this matter later on.
Today, those who are saved have the Holy Spirit in them. The Holy Spirit will guide us if we study the Word of God as we should. He will help us to make wise decisions. It is important to seek the Lord’s wisdom in our lives.
We see that Jethro had no intention of remaining with the children of Israel. He was not a Jew and he had his own home. He was not interested in joining the nation of Israel. He had some good advice, but he was not willing to stay with the children of Israel. Jethro did not see any benefit to joining up with the children of Israel.
The children of Israel are a distinct people. Strangers could join them, and some did. They needed to obey some specific instructions in order to join the people. We will see that some of those strangers never truly submitted to God’s law and they were trouble for the nation of Israel.
Of greater importance is to know the Lord in our hearts. The apostle Paul was directed by God to remind us that not all Israel are of the spiritual seed of Abraham. In the same sense, not all professing Christians are born again Christians. True Christianity is not attractive to most people. Some outsiders see some things they like, but they want to change other things. The majority of people who claim to be Christians today have their own brand of Christianity. Jesus warned of that in Matthew 7. Those who are truly born again will be growing in the Lord and submissive to His Word. Be sure you are taking God’s Word as your authority and testing all human counsel in the light of His Word.
Pastor Bartel