Exodus 18:5

18:5 Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, together with Moses’ ¹  sons and his wife, came to Moses in the desert where he was camping by ²  the mountain of God. ³ 

Exodus 18:16

18:16 When they have a dispute, ⁴  it comes to me and I decide ⁵  between a man and his neighbor, and I make known the decrees of God and his laws.” ⁶ 

Exodus 18:20

18:20 warn ⁷  them of the statutes and the laws, and make known to them the way in which they must walk ⁸  and the work they must do. ⁹ 

[18:5]  ¹ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:5]  ² tn This is an adverbial accusative that defines the place (see GKC 373-74 §118.g).

[18:5]  ³ 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).

[18:16]  ⁴ tn Or “thing,” “matter,” “issue.”

[18:16]  ⁵ tn The verb שָׁפַט (shafat) means “to judge”; more specifically, it means to make a decision as an arbiter or umpire. When people brought issues to him, Moses decided between them. In the section of laws in Exodus after the Ten Commandments come the decisions, the מִשְׁפָּטִים (mishppatim).

[18:16]  ⁶ tn The “decrees” or “statutes” were definite rules, stereotyped and permanent; the “laws” were directives or pronouncements given when situations arose. S. R. Driver suggests this is another reason why this event might have taken place after Yahweh had given laws on the mountain (Exodus, 165).

[18:20]  ⁷ tn The perfect tense with the vav (ו) continues the sequence of instruction for Moses. He alone was to be the mediator, to guide them in the religious and moral instruction.

[18:20]  ⁸ tn The verb and its following prepositional phrase form a relative clause, modifying “the way.” The imperfect tense should be given the nuance of obligatory imperfect – it is the way they must walk.

[18:20]  ⁹ tn This last part is parallel to the preceding: “work” is also a direct object of the verb “make known,” and the relative clause that qualifies it also uses an obligatory imperfect.