Exodus 4:26

4:26 So the Lord ¹  let him alone. (At that time ²  she said, “A bridegroom of blood,” referring to ³  the circumcision.)

Exodus 18:2

18:2 Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took Moses’ wife Zipporah after he had sent her back,

Exodus 18:17

18:17 Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “What ⁴  you are doing is not good!

Exodus 18:12

18:12 Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, brought ⁵  a burnt offering and sacrifices for God, ⁶  and Aaron and all the elders of Israel came to eat food ⁷  with the father-in-law of Moses before God.

Exodus 4:25

4:25 But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off the foreskin of her son and touched it to Moses’ feet, ⁸  and said, “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood ⁹  to me.”

Exodus 18:5

18:5 Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, together with Moses’ ¹⁰  sons and his wife, came to Moses in the desert where he was camping by ¹¹  the mountain of God. ¹² 

Exodus 18:1

The Advice of Jethro

18:1 ¹³ Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses’ father-in-law, heard about all that God had done for Moses and for his people Israel, that ¹⁴  the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt. ¹⁵ 

Exodus 18:14

18:14 When Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, “What is this ¹⁶  that you are doing for the people? ¹⁷  Why are you sitting by yourself, and all the people stand around you from morning until evening?”

[4:26]  ¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[4:26]  ² tn Or “Therefore.” The particle אָז (’az) here is not introducing the next item in a series of events. It points back to the past (“at that time,” see Gen 4:26) or to a logical connection (“therefore, consequently”).

[4:26]  ³ tn The Hebrew simply has לַמּוּלֹת (lammulot, “to the circumcision[s]”). The phrase explains that the saying was in reference to the act of circumcision. Some scholars speculate that there was a ritual prior to marriage from which this event and its meaning derived. But it appears rather that if there was some ancient ritual, it would have had to come from this event. The difficulty is that the son is circumcised, not Moses, making the comparative mythological view untenable. Moses had apparently not circumcised Eliezer. Since Moses was taking his family with him, God had to make sure the sign of the covenant was kept. It may be that here Moses sent them all back to Jethro (18:2) because of the difficulties that lay ahead.

[18:17]  ⁴ tn Heb “the thing.”

[18:12]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ 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.

[4:25]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “to his feet.” The referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity. The LXX has “and she fell at his feet” and then “the blood of the circumcision of my son stood.” But it is clear that she caused the foreskin to touch Moses’ feet, as if the one were a substitution for the other, taking the place of the other (see U. Cassuto, Exodus, 60).

[4:25]  ¹¹ sn U. Cassuto explains that she was saying, “I have delivered you from death, and your return to life makes you my bridegroom a second time, this time my blood bridegroom, a bridegroom acquired through blood” (Exodus, 60-61).

[18:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:5]  ¹⁴ tn This is an adverbial accusative that defines the place (see GKC 373-74 §118.g).

[18:5]  ¹⁵ 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).

[18:1]  ¹⁶ sn This chapter forms the transition to the Law. There has been the deliverance, the testing passages, the provision in the wilderness, and the warfare. Any God who can do all this for his people deserves their allegiance. In chap. 18 the Lawgiver is giving advice, using laws and rulings, but then he is given advice to organize the elders to assist. Thus, when the Law is fully revealed, a system will be in place to administer it. The point of the passage is that a great leader humbly accepts advice from other godly believers to delegate responsibility. He does not try to do it all himself; God does not want one individual to do it all. The chapter has three parts: vv. 1-12 tell how Jethro heard and came and worshiped and blessed; vv. 13-23 have the advice of Jethro, and then vv. 24-27 tell how Moses implemented the plan and Jethro went home. See further E. J. Runions, “Exodus Motifs in 1 Samuel 7 and 8,” EvQ 52 (1980): 130-31; and also see for another idea T. C. Butler, “An Anti-Moses Tradition,” JSOT 12 (1979): 9-15.

[18:1]  ¹⁷ tn This clause beginning with כִּי (ki) answers the question of what Jethro had heard; it provides a second, explanatory noun clause that is the object of the verb – “he heard (1) all that God had done… (2) that he had brought….” See R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 81, §490.

[18:1]  ¹⁸ sn This is an important report that Jethro has heard, for the claim of God that he brought Israel out of bondage in Egypt will be the foundation of the covenant stipulations (Exod 20).

[18:14]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “what is this thing.”

[18:14]  ²⁰ sn This question, “what are you doing for the people,” is qualified by the next question. Sitting alone all day and the people standing around all day showed that Moses was exhibiting too much care for the people – he could not do this.