Exodus 18:12

18:12 Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, brought ¹  a burnt offering and sacrifices for God, ²  and Aaron and all the elders of Israel came to eat food ³  with the father-in-law of Moses before God.

Exodus 18:5

18:5 Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, together with Moses’ ⁴  sons and his wife, came to Moses in the desert where he was camping by ⁵  the mountain of God. ⁶ 

Exodus 18:7

18:7 Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and bowed down and kissed him; ⁷  they each asked about the other’s welfare, and then they went into the tent.

[18:12]  ¹ tn The verb is “and he took” (cf. KJV, ASV, NASB). It must have the sense of getting the animals for the sacrifice. The Syriac, Targum, and Vulgate have “offered.” But Cody argues because of the precise wording in the text Jethro did not offer the sacrifices but received them (A. Cody, “Exodus 18,12: Jethro Accepts a Covenant with the Israelites,” Bib 49 [1968]: 159-61).

[18:12]  ² sn Jethro brought offerings as if he were the one who had been delivered. The “burnt offering” is singular, to honor God first. The other sacrifices were intended for the invited guests to eat (a forerunner of the peace offering). See B. Jacob, Exodus, 498.

[18:12]  ³ tn The word לֶחֶם (lekhem) here means the sacrifice and all the foods that were offered with it. The eating before God was part of covenantal ritual, for it signified that they were in communion with the Deity, and with one another.

[18:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:5]  ⁵ tn This is an adverbial accusative that defines the place (see GKC 373-74 §118.g).

[18:5]  ⁶ sn The mountain of God is Horeb, and so the desert here must be the Sinai desert by it. But chap. 19 suggests that they left Rephidim to go the 24 miles to Sinai. It may be that this chapter fits in chronologically after the move to Sinai, but was placed here thematically. W. C. Kaiser defends the present location of the story by responding to other reasons for the change given by Lightfoot, but does not deal with the travel locations (W. C. Kaiser, Jr., “Exodus,” EBC 2:411).

[18:7]  ⁷ sn This is more than polite oriental custom. Jethro was Moses’ benefactor, father-in-law, and a priest. He paid much respect to him. Now he could invite Jethro into his home (see B. Jacob, Exodus, 496).