The Wisdom of Jethro
Exodus 18
Jethro was a priest of Midian. The Midianites come from Abraham’s son Midian who Abraham had with Keturah in Genesis 25, after Sarah died. Now the word that is used here for “priest,” when it says that Jethro was the priest of Midian, is a word that also denotes rulership, or that he was like a prince as well. We could say that Jethro was the priest-king of Midian.
It depends on what source you ask if he was a priest of the Most High God, or his religion was a mixture of Yahweh worship with pagan worship. This would not have been uncommon. Regardless, the midrash (Jewish oral tradition) claims him as having wisdom superior to anyone at this time. In two separate accounts, he is more celebrated than Moses for his character and wisdom. He comes to Moses, hears of all the Lord has done, gives praise and an offering, and then gives governmental advice that has stood for thousands of years.
Jethro is wise, sincere, and irreproachable. He is present only when needed. He displays an awe for the most High God. He speaks wise words. His motives are pure and without guile. He never thinks of taking advantage of his position as counselor to Moses. He gives instruction to help not only Moses, but the people. Then he goes back home quietly, no appreciation needed. What a wise man.
The wisdom of Jethro. It escapes a lot of us, a lot of the time. We live in a generation who are powered by feelings and emotions, almost never on wisdom. Luckily for you, we have been studying Proverbs, the book of wisdom, in our bible study now for the last 3 years. We are in Chapter 19. More than halfway through. Wisdom has huge benefits:
Proverbs 4:5-9 Get wisdom! Get understanding! Do not forget, nor turn away from the words of my mouth. 6 Do not forsake her, and she will preserve you; Love her, and she will keep you.
7 Wisdom is the principal thing; Therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding.
8 Exalt her, and she will promote you; She will bring you honor, when you embrace her.
9 She will place on your head an ornament of grace; A crown of glory she will deliver to you.”
Wisdom is to be sought after, prayed for, loved and kept securely. Favor, blessings and life are the fruit of wisdom. Today I want to talk about the three main concepts that pop up time and again in Proverbs, more than any other: the fear of the Lord, the words of our mouth, receiving correction and instruction.
#1 The fear of the Lord.
“Then Jethro rejoiced for all the good which the Lord had done for Israel, whom He had delivered out of the hand of the Egyptians.” Verse 9
IN the Hebrew, it is “Vayihad Yithro”. “Jethro rejoiced” at all the goodness that the Lord had shown to Israel. But vayihad Yithro also means “his flesh crawled [with fear], he had goose bumps.”b
Not just be Jethro’s exclamation, but by his sacrificial offering he showed a reverence and awe for a holy and awesome God.
Proverbs 9:10-11 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. 11 For by me your days will be multiplied, And years of life will be added to you.
John Bevere visited a pastor in prison and asked him, “When did you lose your love for Jesus?” I didn’t. Many say the fear of the Lord is an OT principle only. Then stop reading psalms and proverbs
Charles Bridges, “the fear of the Lord is that affectionate reverence, by which the child of God bends himself humbly and carefully to his Father’s law.”
IN Scriptures concerning the fear of the Lord first, we see God as a father who wants his children to learn, grow, and apply these truths to every aspect of their lives. Secondly, we find conviction. When we have been going down the wrong path, we place a wedge between ourselves and God. Conviction opens our eyes to our current situation. It is a chance to turn away and begin anew on the right path. Lastly, we see repentance. Repentance is the turning away from sin. If we have a healthy dread of the consequences, then we are more likely to repent. This is the beginning of true wisdom. Believers should fear the consequences of the heavenly Father, therefore leading them to make wise decisions in day-to-day tasks as well as the “big” decisions of life. To enter onto the right path, we must forsake the wrong path. Without the fear of consequence, one cannot get to a right place with God. Wisdom can only come with a healthy fear of the Lord. Our reverence is demanded in our relationship with the Father. Here are just a few Scriptures:
Ecclesiastes 12:13 Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind.
“Who knows the power of Your anger? For as the fear of You, so is Your wrath. So teach us to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom.” Psalms 90:11-12 NKJV
“The fear of the Lord leads to life, And he who has it will abide in satisfaction; He will not be visited with evil.” Proverbs 19:23 NKJV
“By humility and the fear of the Lord Are riches and honor and life.” Proverbs 22:4 NKJV
“Who is the man that fears the Lord? Him shall He teach in the way He chooses. He himself shall dwell in prosperity, And his descendants shall inherit the earth. The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him, And He will show them His covenant.” Psalms 25:12-14 NKJV (one of my favs)
“Oh, how great is Your goodness, Which You have laid up for those who fear You, Which You have prepared for those who trust in You In the presence of the sons of men! You shall hide them in the secret place of Your presence From the plots of man; You shall keep them secretly in a pavilion From the strife of tongues.” Psalms 31:19-20 NKJV
“Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love (mercy), that he may deliver their soul from death and keep them alive in famine.” Psalm 33:18-19 ESV
The fear of the Lord and His steadfast love go hand in hand. DO not fall into a ditch on either side.
“Surely His salvation is near to those who fear Him, That glory may dwell in our land.” Psalms 85:9 NKJV
“For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love (mercy) toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.” Psalm 103:11-12 ESV (mercy, “chesed”; love that keeps covenant)
“You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord; He is their help and their shield. He will bless those who fear the Lord, Both small and great.” Psalms 115:11, 13 NKJV
“He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He also will hear their cry and save them.” Psalms 145:19 NKJV
“The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him, In those who hope in His mercy.” Psalms 147:11 NKJV
“He who walks in his uprightness fears the Lord, But he who is perverse in his ways despises Him.” Proverbs 14:2 NKJV
“In the fear of the Lord there is strong confidence, And His children will have a place of refuge. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, to turn one away from the snares of death.” Proverbs 14:26-27 NKJV
“Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, And the Lord listened and heard them; So a book of remembrance was written before Him For those who fear the Lord And who meditate on His name.” Malachi 3:16 NKJV (the fear of the Lord is required for my name being written in His book)
Psalm 34:9-14 Oh, fear the Lord, you His saints! There is no [a]want to those who fear Him.
10 The young lions lack and suffer hunger; But those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing. 11 Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. 12 Who is the man who desires life, And loves many days, that he may see good? 13 Keep your tongue from evil,
And your lips from speaking deceit. 14 Depart from evil and do good; Seek peace and pursue it.
Jesus taught us how to pray: Our Father, who art in heaven. Hallowed be Thy Name
What does the fear of the Lord look like? HE is God, I am not. All glory, all honor is due Him. I am nothing without the blood of Jesus. Because I am not Him, HE is so far above me in all His ways, I stand in awe of who He is and what He has done for me. I come before Him in respect and honor of a wonderful and awesome God. I live with a firm understanding that there are consequences for disobedience. (this is my personal definition)
EX: Couple living together asked for prayer. You are under a time of grace, not blessings. God is giving you space to repent
Titus 2:11-12 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, 12 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age,
Grace teaches us a reverence for God’s word and ways. Grace teaches us to honor and respect the Lord in all we do. What is respect and honor? I think most people don’t know. Military understand.
9/11 who remembers where you were on that day? I visited the 9/11 memorial two times. First time, cried silent awe of what happened there. Foreigners didn’t understand. Second time, Matt, kids and I
The fear of the Lord is having an awe for all His works. Rev 5 (I don’t need any scripture here) Heaven is in awe of the Lamb of God. HE alone is worthy because of His shed blood. I am in awe of what He has done for me.
The angels are in awe of salvation
“Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things which angels desire to look into.” I Peter 1:10-12 NKJV
Peter reminds us in this verse that even the heavenly hosts…the angels themselves are not able to experience the results of the messages that the prophets spoke. The angels want to gain insight into salvation, for they stand in awe at the wonder of God’s redemptive purpose.
Pride blocks any help from God. Pride is sneaky. It comes in when you least expect it and typically when you are doing well. 2019 physical cholesterol v. 2024 cholesterol. I thought I was doing right cause I was looking good.
When you take glory for yourself for anything, you are stealing from the Lord the glory and honor due Him. You reveal a lack of fear of the Lord. You begin to think that it was your gifts and talents that got you where you are. Mike Winger- progressive preaching includes Your “personal purpose” and “my experience”. It is a sign of a self-centered gospel.
“But “he who glories, let him glory in the Lord.” For not he who commends himself is approved, but whom the Lord commends.” II Corinthians 10:17-18 NKJV
How do you anything is how you do everything. Whether or not we have a fear of the Lord is revealed in how we approach Him in prayer, how we go into the house of the Lord, how we treat the people of God, how we take communion, how we operate in our homes with our spouses and children; it is all encompassing.
#2 Guard your mouth.
All wise men choose their words wisely. Godly words are for the benefit of others. Jethro’s instruction benefitted all of Israel, not just Moses.
In the KJV, there are 396 verses from 48 different books of the Bible that reference the words of our mouth. Solomon wrote a great deal about the tongue in the book of Proverbs. He actually mentions the word “tongue” 21 times and the word “words” 33 times, so in one book he writes about it in 54 different places. It’s obviously something we need to pay attention to.
Wisdom is knowing when to speak and when not to speak. What to say and what not to say and how to say something.
Proverbs 21:23 Whoever guards his mouth and tongue Keeps his soul from troubles.
Proverbs 18:20-21 A man’s stomach shall be satisfied from the fruit of his mouth;
From the produce of his lips he shall be filled. 21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue,
And those who love it will eat its fruit.
Let me explain to you what the above means. You will eat the fruit of your words, for good or for evil.
Matthew 12:36-37 But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. 37 For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
What are “idle” words? In the Greek, “argos” it refers to something that is inactive, unemployed, lazy, useless, barren. It is the opposite of “ergos” which is something that is working and active. Funny story: serving in the toddler room building a tower. I am building something that that kid is destroying. Idle words only destroy
“Idle” words are all wicked and injurious expressions; such as gossip and slander. It’s purpose is to destroy and cause division. All useless and unprofitable conversation, and anything spoken without seriousness and caution, words which are not conducive to the glory of God and the good of another. Your words matter. They have the power to build up or to destroy. Speak with caution.
“Men’s language discovers what country they are of, likewise what manner of spirit they are of.” Matthew Henry
1 Peter 3:10 For he who would love life And see good days, Let him [a]refrain his tongue from evil,
And his lips from speaking deceit.
James 1:26 If anyone [a]among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless.
A.W. Tozer wrote this, “OF ALL FORMS OF DECEPTION, self-deception is the most deadly, and of all deceived persons the self-deceived are the least likely to discover the fraud. The reason for this is simple. When a man is deceived by another he is deceived against his will. He is contending against an adversary and is temporarily the victim of the other’s guile. Since he expects his foe to take advantage of him he is watchful and quick to suspect trickery. Under such circumstances it is possible to be deceived sometimes and for a short while, but because the victim is resisting he may break out of the trap and escape before too long. With the self-deceived it is quite different. He is his own enemy and is working a fraud upon himself. He wants to believe the lie and is psychologically conditioned to do so. He does not resist the deceit but collaborates with it against himself. There is no struggle, because the victim surrenders before the fight begins. He enjoys being deceived. It is altogether possible to practice fraud upon our own souls and go deceived to judgment. “If a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing,” said Paul, “he deceiveth himself.” With this agrees the inspired James: “If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.”
This includes all email, text, etc.
#3 Receive instruction and correction.
Moses, the greatest leader in Israel’s history and writer of the first five books of the bible, receiver the ten commandments from God Himself; received Jethro’s wisdom that has formed the governmental structure of all successful governments and church government throughout history.
What if he would have told his father in law, “I don’t need your instruction. I hear from God for myself.” Or this one, “I’ll pray on that”, knowing the whole time he didn’t want to receive instruction, but wanted to do his own thing. Or “You can’t tell me what to do. You are not the boss of me”. Or “who do you think you are? I have the Spirit for myself.” Need I go on?
If Moses received wise instruction, what’s wrong with you?
Proverbs 12:1 Whoever loves instruction loves knowledge, But he who hates correction is stupid.
There was a post the other day that I thought was really good-
Six signs you are making a bad decision: #1 You avoid input from people you respect. (I didn’t feel the need to write the rest because this one was so good)
Why is that? Moses obviously respected Jethro, he did not even question his instruction. Jethro even gave him a rebuke- “Moses, what you are doing is not good”
There’s a list of people in Scripture that you are to honor: parents, (children obey your parents, so it may go well with you) for us this includes spiritual parents in the Lord, elders (in the church and those who are older than you), your leadership, the government (as it keeps the law)
Hebrews 13:17 Obey those who [a]rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.
The title of pastor- title of honor. It reminds you that he is your pastor that watches over your soul, reminds him that he is your pastor and must give an account for your soul.
How many of you can take such a rebuke? “What you are doing is not good!”
Psalm 141:5 Let the righteous strike me; It shall be a kindness. And let him rebuke me; It shall be as excellent oil; Let my head not refuse it. For still my prayer is against the deeds of the wicked.
How do you respond to a rebuke? How do you respond to correction? Ex: lady at the gym who did every exercise wrong, “I know what I am doing! I have been working out longer than you have been alive!” Well, according to your physique, it does not appear that way.
Do you know how many people ask me for advice and do the opposite of what I tell them? Or they go to Faith tell her they want their kids to be like her and Gabe; she tells them, “Ask my mom. She raised me.” But hardly anyone ever asks.
I met with lady for a few months and I gave her a list of things to accomplish. Each week, she did something on the list. We met less and less and eventually she got to a place where she was doing good showing herself to be wise and not a fool
Proverbs 15:32 He who disdains instruction despises his own soul, But he who heeds rebuke gets understanding.
A wise man will gladly hear instruction and submissively take reproof, but a foolish and wicked man will resist them both. The wise man will gain understanding by receiving correction, but the wicked man who refuses admonition hates his own soul, for he is guaranteeing his eventual ruin
Part of receiving instruction and correction is hanging out with the right people
Proverbs 13:20 He who walks with wise men will be wise, But the companion of fools will be destroyed.
1 Corinthians 15:33 Do not be deceived: “Evil company corrupts good habits.”
If they do not lead you into the wisdom of the Lord, they are not for you. If they lead you away from the body of Christ instead of to the Body of Christ, they are not for you. If you find yourself pursuing them instead of pursuing the Lord, they are not for you.
I walk through life with people and I have seen it time and time again. A committed person, who has been at church everytime the doors are open, are here for worship, bible study and fellowship; they practically knock the doors of the church down to be at the altar and then they get into a relationship (whether it’s a friendship or courtship), then they begin to fade away. You will ask, “where have you been?” and they get defensive and state their case of how they have not left off serving the Lord. BUT YOUR LIFE HAS CHANGED. You are not doing the same things you used to do. Something has changed and it happened when a person entered your life.
Please do not lie to me, I can see the difference. You are deceiving yourself.
Walk with wise men and you will be wise!
Lastly, Go back and teach others.
Jethro heard of all the Lord had done and had to go see for himself. The news he heard about all God had done changed his life and the trajectory of his people.
It is not recorded here in Scripture, but the Jewish tradition of Jethro is that he went back to his land and taught them the ways of the Lord. Even when he refuses Moses’ invitation to stay with him, he has the perfect excuse It says the midrash: “I will return to my own people and convert them all to the study of the Torah.”
The history of the Midianites is that they were always enemies of Israel. However, there is a line a people that ascended from Jethro, called the Kenites, a nomadic people who attached themselves to the Israelites and throughout history were their allies. Eventually, King David brought them into the tribe of Judah. The most famous Kenite is found in the book of Judges, the woman Jael, who killed the Canaanite general Sisera by lulling him into her tent, giving him hot milk to drink and ramming a tent peg through his forehead.
This is generational thinking. Jethro’s wisdom and fear of the Lord led a whole group of people to serve Yahweh throughout history. Think about this, the Kenites were adopted into the tribe of Judah from which our Lord came from. Wisdom changes your family tree. Come and see a man who told me my whole life. Matt and I have changed our family tree.
Proverbs 11:30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, And he who [a]wins souls is wise.
Wisdom will turn the wandering souls back to the Lord. Restore relationships.
James 5:19-20 Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, 20 let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save [a]a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.
If you have been converted, run and tell others about our awesome and mighty God!
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