Exodus 18:22-27

18:22 They will judge ¹  the people under normal circumstances, ²  and every difficult case ³  they will bring to you, but every small case ⁴  they themselves will judge, so that ⁵  you may make it easier for yourself, ⁶  and they will bear the burden ⁷  with you. 18:23 If you do this thing, and God so commands you, ⁸  then you will be able ⁹  to endure, ¹⁰  and all these people ¹¹  will be able to go ¹²  home ¹³  satisfied.” ¹⁴ 

18:24 Moses listened to ¹⁵  his father-in-law and did everything he had said. 18:25 Moses chose capable men from all Israel, and he made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. 18:26 They judged the people under normal circumstances; the difficult cases they would bring ¹⁶  to Moses, but every small case they would judge themselves.

18:27 Then Moses sent his father-in-law on his way, ¹⁷  and so Jethro ¹⁸  went ¹⁹  to his own land. ²⁰ 

[18:22]  ¹ tn The form is the perfect tense with the vav (ו) consecutive, making it equivalent to the imperfect of instruction in the preceding verse.

[18:22]  ² tn Heb “in every time,” meaning “in all normal cases” or “under normal circumstances.” The same phrase occurs in v. 26.

[18:22]  ³ tn Heb “great thing.”

[18:22]  ⁴ tn Heb “thing.”

[18:22]  ⁵ tn The vav here shows the result or the purpose of the instructions given.

[18:22]  ⁶ tn The expression וְהָקֵל מֵעָלֶיךָ (vÿhaqel me’aleykha) means literally “and make it light off yourself.” The word plays against the word for “heavy” used earlier – since it was a heavy or burdensome task, Moses must lighten the load.

[18:22]  ⁷ tn Here “the burden” has been supplied.

[18:23]  ⁸ tn The form is a Piel perfect with vav (ו) consecutive; it carries the same nuance as the preceding imperfect in the conditional clause.

[18:23]  ⁹ tn The perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive now appears in the apodosis of the conditional sentence – “if you do this…then you will be able.”

[18:23]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “to stand.” B. Jacob (Exodus, 501) suggests that there might be a humorous side to this: “you could even do this standing up.”

[18:23]  ¹¹ tn Literally “this people.”

[18:23]  ¹² tn The verb is the simple imperfect, “will go,” but given the sense of the passage a potential nuance seems in order.

[18:23]  ¹³ tn Heb “his place.”

[18:23]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “in peace.”

[18:24]  ¹⁵ tn The idiom “listen to the voice of” means “obey, comply with, heed.”

[18:26]  ¹⁶ tn This verb and the verb in the next clause are imperfect tenses. In the past tense narrative of the verse they must be customary, describing continuous action in past time.

[18:27]  ¹⁷ tn The verb וַיְשַׁלַּח (vayshallakh) has the same root and same stem used in the passages calling for Pharaoh to “release” Israel. Here, in a peaceful and righteous relationship, Moses sent Jethro to his home.

[18:27]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jethro) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:27]  ¹⁹ tn The prepositional phrase included here Gesenius classifies as a pleonastic dativus ethicus to give special emphasis to the significance of the occurrence in question for a particular subject (GKC 381 §119.s).

[18:27]  ²⁰ sn This chapter makes an excellent message on spiritual leadership of the people of God. Spiritually responsible people are to be selected to help in the work of the ministry (teaching, deciding cases, meeting needs), so that there will be peace, and so that leaders will not be exhausted. Probably capable people are more ready to do that than leaders are ready to relinquish control. But leaders have to be willing to take the risk, to entrust the task to others. Here Moses is the model of humility, receiving correction and counsel from Jethro. And Jethro is the ideal adviser, for he has no intention of remaining there to run the operation.