◄ Exodus 18:7 ►














Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
Friendship In Its Loftiest Form
Exodus 18:6-12
H.T. Robjohns
They asked each other of their welfare. Exodus 18:7. The visit of Jethro comes between the agony of Rephidim and the solemnities of "Sinai," like the insertion of a sweet pastoral poem between two tragedies. Something may be learnt from it as to what should characterise friendship in its highest form, that is, between two devout souls, as consecrated and elevated by religion.

I. CONSTANCY. Moses and Jethro met as in the earlier years; no assumption with Moses, no sycophancy with Jethro.

II. COURTESY. Ver. 7. The nearer our relations to each other, the more indispensable this grace.

III. MUTUAL SOLICITUDE. Ver. 7.

IV. INTERCHANGE OF EXPERIENCE. Vers. 8-11. Happy time, when the deeper experiences (religious) can be exchanged to mutual advantage.

V. COMMUNION IN WORSHIP. Ver. 12. It is clear that Jethro and Moses were one as to Monotheism, in their common possession of the great Divine traditions of the race. Jethro spiritually was in the descent of Abel, Enoch, Noah, and Melchisedek. For him but one God, the God of heaven and earth, and therefore the God of Israel. Contrast with Amalek! Hence the sacrifice and the sacrificial feast.

VI. FIDELITY IN GIVING COUNCIL. Vers. 14, 17-23. Great courage required.

VII. HUMILITY IN RECEIVING IT. This the moral attitude of Moses.

VIII. AN ULTIMATE REFERENCE IN ALL INTERCOURSE TO THE DIVINE FRIEND. Ver. 23. "And God commanded thee so."

IX. SYMPATHY AS TO GREAT OBJECT. Jethro knew the destiny of Israel, and was concerned for the realisation.

X. PEACEFUL PARTING AT LIFE'S DIVERGING PATHS. Ver. 27. Apply this to moral and intellectual cross-roads; and to that which is so difficult - agreeing to differ - and that with mutual respect and affection. All in view and hope of the Perfect and immortal amity that is beyond the sky. - R.

Biblical Illustrator
They asked each other of their welfare.
Exodus 18:7
Friends meeting after separation
J. Foster.
I. THIS WORLD IS NOT A SCENE ADAPTED OR INTENDED TO AFFORD THE PLEASURE AND BENEFIT OF FRIENDSHIP ENTIRE. Men cannot collect and keep around them an assemblage of congenial spirits, to constitute, as it were, a bright social fire, ever glowing, ever burning, amidst the winter of this world. They cannot surround themselves with the selectest portion of humanity, so as to keep out of sight and interference the general character of human nature. They are left to be pressed upon by an intimate perception of what a depraved and unhappy world it is. And so they feel themselves strangers and pilgrims upon earth.

II. IT IS CONTRARY TO THE DESIGN OF GOD THAT THE MORE EXCELLENT OF THIS WORLD'S INHABITANTS SHOULD FORM TOGETHER LITTLE CLOSE ASSEMBLAGES AND BANDS, WITHIN EXCLUSIVE CIRCLES, DETACHED AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE FROM THE GENERAL MULTITUDE. On the contrary, it is appointed that they should be scattered and diffused hither and thither, to be useful and exemplary in a great number of situations; that there should be no large space without some of them. Thus it is a world that dissociates friends. Nevertheless, friends do sometimes meet; and then it is quite natural to do as Moses and Jethro did — "ask each other of their welfare."

III. In the meeting of genuine friends, after considerable absence, THESE FEELINGS WILL BE PRESENT.

1. Kind affection.

2. Inquiry.

3. Reflective comparison.

4. Gratitude to God for watching over them both.

5. Faithful admonition and serious anticipation.

(J. Foster.)

Family reunions
D. G. Watt, M. A.
I. AS TO THE SALUTATIONS AT MEETING.

1. Courteousness. This excludes —

(1)Excessive familiarity;

(2)Rudeness;

(3)Pride.

2. A hearty welcome.

II. AS TO THE SUBJECTS OF CONVERSATION.

1. On public affairs.

2. On social matters.

3. With recognition of God.

4. Fit for mutual response (vers. 10, 11).

III. AS TO THE MODE OF FESTIVITY.

1. That such festivity may not be confined to the family.

2. That it may be preceded by an act of worship.

3. That it should be with consciousness of the Divine presence.To eat as before God, will make us —

(1)Happy and helpful;

(2)Temperate;

(3)Regardful of the soul s progress.

(D. G. Watt, M. A.)

Lessons
G. Hughes, B. D.
1. It is not unbeseeming the highest places or persons in kingdom or Church of Christ to give due respect to relations.

2. Grace doth not unteach men manners and civil carriage respectively unto men.

3. Natural affection and expressions of it to friends beseemeth God's servants.

4. It is a natural duty for relations to inquire of and wish each other's peace.

5. Conduct to a tent for rest is suitable for travellers that visit their relations (ver. 7).

(G. Hughes, B. D.)

Religious intercourse between parents and children
One Sunday night I said, "Ah! you mothers will say that your children are all in bed; never mind, go upstairs and wake them, and talk to them about their souls." A mother (this I know to be true) went home, and her little girl was in bed and asleep. She woke her and said, "Jane, I have not spoken to you, dear child, about your soul. The pastor has been exhorting us to-night, and saying that even if you were asleep you should be wakened." Then said Jane, "Mother, I have often wondered that you did not speak to me about Christ, but I have known Him these two years." The mother stood convicted. She brought her daughter round on Monday and said, "Let this dear girl be baptized and lore the church." I said to her, "Why did you not tell your mother?" "Well," said she, "you know, mother never seemed to come up to the subject; she never gave me a chance." Then the mother said, "Quite right; I have not been to my children what I ought to have been; but, please God, there shall never be another child of mine that shall steal a march on her mother, and find Christ without her mother knowing it." God graciously rebuked that mother.

( C. H. Spurgeon.)

Religious conversation
Among the means to be used in times of religious interest we may mention conversation. Many neglect it, but none can deny its power for good. Says Dr. Archibald Alexander, in his book on "Religious Experience": "Religious conversation, in which Christians freely tell of the dealings of God with their souls, has been often a powerful means of quickening the sluggish soul and communicating comfort." It is, in many cases, a great consolation to the desponding believer to know that his case is not entirely singular; and if a traveller can meet with one who has been over the difficult parts of the road before him, he may surely derive from his experience some salutary counsel and warning. The Scriptures are favourable to such communications. "Come and hear," says David, "all ye that fear God, and I will declare what He hath done for my soul." Dr. Watts thought so much of the "talent for parlour teaching," that he declared that the man who had it could do more good than the minister by his public discourses. Said one who was under sentence of death: "When the minister spoke to me he seemed like one who was standing far above me; but when Alexander, that good man that everybody knows is the holiest man in the place, came in, he stood like one at my side, and when he classed himself with me, and said, 'Sinners like me and you,' I could stand it no longer." Saurin, the great French preacher, said, in his sermon on Christian conversation: "Are we returning from a sermon? Why not entertain one another with the subjects we have been hearing? Why not endeavour to imprint on one another's memories the truths that have been proved, and to impress upon one another's hearts such precepts as have been enforced? Have we been visiting a dying person? Why not make such reflections as naturally occur on such occasions the matter of our conversations? Why not embrace such a fair opportunity of speaking on the vanity of life, the uncertainty of worldly enjoyments, and the happiness of a pious departure to rest? Have you been reading a good book? Why not converse with our companions on the information we have derived from it?"

People
Aaron, Egyptians, Eliezer, Gershom, Jethro, Moses, Pharaoh, Zipporah
Places
Egypt, Midian, Rephidim
Topics
Bowed, Boweth, Face, Father-in-law, Greeted, Kiss, Kissed, Kisseth, Law, Meet, Obeisance, Tent, Welfare
Outline
1. Jethro brings his wife and two sons to Moses
7. Moses entertains him, and relates the goodness of the Lord
9. Jethro rejoices, blesses God, and offers sacrifice
13. He gives good counsel, which is accepted
27. Jethro departs

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Exodus 18:7

     5138   bowing
     5328   greeting
     5898   kissing

Library
The Ideal Statesman [Footnote: Preached on Occasion of Mr. Gladstone's Death. ]
'Thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them.'--EXODUS xviii. 21. You will have anticipated my purpose in selecting this text. I should be doing violence to your feelings and mine if I made no reference to the event which has united the Empire and the world in one sentiment. The great tree has fallen, and the crash has for the moment silenced all the sounds of the forest. Wars abroad and controversies at home are …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Gershom and Eliezer
'The name of the one [of Moses' sons] was Gershom ... and the name of the other was Eliezer....'--EXODUS xviii. 3, 4. In old times parents often used to give expression to their hopes or their emotions in the names of their children. Very clearly that was the case in Moses' naming of his two sons, who seem to have been the whole of his family. The significance of each name is appended to it in the text. The explanation of the first is, 'For he said, I have been an alien in a strange land'; and that …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Origin and Growth of Law.
MOSES' WORK AS JUDGE AND PROPHET.--Ex. 18; 1-27; 33:5-11. Parallel References. Hist. Bible I, 198-203. Prin. of Politics, Ch. VI. Maine, Ancient Law. Jehovah spake to Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend--Ex. 33: 11. 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. And they judged the people at all seasons: the hard cases they brought unto Moses, but every small …
Charles Foster Kent—The Making of a Nation

The Development of the Earlier Old Testament Laws
[Sidenote: First the principle, and then the detailed laws] If the canon of the New Testament had remained open as long as did that of the Old, there is little doubt that it also would have contained many laws, legal precedents, and ecclesiastical histories. From the writings of the Church Fathers and the records of the Catholic Church it is possible to conjecture what these in general would have been. The early history of Christianity illustrates the universal fact that the broad principles are …
Charles Foster Kent—The Origin & Permanent Value of the Old Testament

That the Ruler Relax not his Care for the Things that are Within in his Occupation among the Things that are Without, nor Neglect to Provide
The ruler should not relax his care for the things that are within in his occupation among the things that are without, nor neglect to provide for the things that are without in his solicitude for the things that are within; lest either, given up to the things that are without, he fall away from his inmost concerns, or, occupied only with the things that are within bestow not on his neighbours outside himself what he owes them. For it is often the case that some, as if forgetting that they have …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

Opposition to Messiah Ruinous
Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel T here is a species of the sublime in writing, which seems peculiar to the Scripture, and of which, properly, no subjects but those of divine revelation are capable, With us, things inconsiderable in themselves are elevated by splendid images, which give them an apparent importance beyond what they can justly claim. Thus the poet, when describing a battle among bees, by a judicious selection of epithets …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 2

Easter Tuesday
Second Sermon. Same Text. Acts 13, 26-39. THE WORD AND THE RESURRECTION.[1] [Footnote 1: This sermon appeared first in the Church Postil, the Explanation of the Epistle and Gospel Texts from Easter to Advent. Printed by Hans Lufft, Wittenberg, 1559.] 1. This sermon was preached by Paul in the synagogue at Antioch of Pisidia, where were gathered with the Jews some Greek converts. Wherever in a city Jews were to be found, there also were their synagogues in which they taught and preached; and many …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. II

After the Scripture.
"In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God created He him."--Gen. v. 1. In the preceding pages we have shown that the translation, "in Our image," actually means, "after Our image." To make anything in an image is no language; it is unthinkable, logically untrue. We now proceed to show how it should be translated, and give our reason for it. We begin with citing some passages from the Old Testament in which occurs the preposition "B" which, in Gen. i. 27, stands before image, where …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

Appendix xii. The Baptism of Proselytes
ONLY those who have made study of it can have any idea how large, and sometimes bewildering, is the literature on the subject of Jewish Proselytes and their Baptism. Our present remarks will be confined to the Baptism of Proselytes. 1. Generally, as regards proselytes (Gerim) we have to distinguish between the Ger ha-Shaar (proselyte of the gate) and Ger Toshabh (sojourner,' settled among Israel), and again the Ger hatstsedeq (proselyte of righteousness) and Ger habberith (proselyte of the covenant). …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

Exodus
The book of Exodus--so named in the Greek version from the march of Israel out of Egypt--opens upon a scene of oppression very different from the prosperity and triumph in which Genesis had closed. Israel is being cruelly crushed by the new dynasty which has arisen in Egypt (i.) and the story of the book is the story of her redemption. Ultimately it is Israel's God that is her redeemer, but He operates largely by human means; and the first step is the preparation of a deliverer, Moses, whose parentage, …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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