Sermon Tone Analysis

Exodus 18:1-20:23

In our last Torah Portion

Beshalach - When Set forth

Send

8938 שָׁלַח (šā·lǎḥ): v.; ≡ Str 7971; TWOT 2394—1.

LN 15.34–15.74

(qal) send out,

The Torah is the manual how to serve God- gives a sense of direction, like a compass

W/o direction you do not know where you are going or what you are doing.

All of us are born without direction.

We need to learn it.

God gives us the compass and we chose not to take it- we want to do it on our own.

If we do not have direction we will be confused.

Torah is not law (to be under the law), but instruction, teaching, guidance.

Example - operation manual - follow instructions

Gave a different insight of the splitting and crossing of the Red Sea and explain why this is not a one time event and Beshelach

At the end- we spoke about the eschatological implications of the Exodus

We talked about the need for the Torah because there were 4 types of people who left Egypt

1- the ones who believed God

2- the ones who wanted to fight

3- the ones who wanted to return

4- the ones who wanted to confuse Israel

There was a separation of those who are His and who are not

Therefore those who are set apart need to learn how to be different

In today’s Torah portion we will discuss three major points

We will talk about Yitro

Pentacost

And the 10 Commandments

And how relevant this is in the NT

Introduction

Yitro-

It is in Shemot / Exodus 18:1-20:26

It contains 17 new commandments - all in CH 20

Yitro- Jethro

This is the name of Moses’ father in law

Known for his organizational counsel to Moses

God’s revelation at Sinai of the 10 commandments and the Torah given to the Israelites

There is a Talmudic dispute regarding the time Jethro’s arrival in the Israelite camp.

Some - before the Torah - given the news of Splitting of the Red Sea and the Amalekite attack influenced him to join Israel.

Others- after the giving of Torah - came because he heard the news the 10 commandments had been given

In plain meaning of the verses, it seems he came after the giving of the Torah.

Why then is he mentioned here and not later?

Ezra explains that the Torah wished to draw attention to contrast between Jethro and Amalek- Jethro gave good counsel.

Amalek attacked Israel.

This is how when King Saul attacks Amalek in 1 Sam 15:6, he allows the descendants of Jethro evacuate before the war.

Presentation

Gershom:

I have been a stranger in a foreign land

Eliezer:

For the God of my Father was my help and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh

The mountain of God:

Sinai

Jabal Allahs in Arabic

Jabal Moshe - the Mountain of Moses

This is the same place where Moses heard the voice of God in the burning bush

יהוה (Yud-Heh-Vav-Heh)/ YaHava/ YHWH

What else about Yitro?

Midian was a son of Abraham by his wife Keturah

Jethro was not Jew

He was at some point an Advisor to Pharaoh

A priest of the Land of Midian

He must have been a descendant of Priests

He was recognized as Kohen- priest

Targum says about Yitro, when he comes to meet Moses:

“I thy father in law Yitro have come to thee to be a proselyte”

This would seem to suggest that Yitro, the name of the Torah Portion, represents the first proselyte of the Torah, a sincere covert to Israel.

His name makes the tablets of the Lord

A great example for any one who wants to be grafted into Israel and wants to leave false religion and idol worship behind

The Targum explains he is converted in the “house of instruction” the tabernacle.

The mighty power of

יהוה (Yud-Heh-Vav-Heh)/ YaHava/ YHWH

had convinced Yitro the God of Israel is Yud Heh vav Heh - and caused to say:

Blessed be the name of Yud Heh Vav Heh

The book of Yaser also tells us Jethro knew Yud Heh Vav Heh from that day on, and that he stay with them for a good number of days

Jethro was a believer of the Lord, but not a partaker of the Land of Israel.

priest of Midian (Exod 2:16; 3:1; 18:1) a Midianite (Num 10:29)

Yitro:

Is a title

he is called “Reuel” (רעואל = “God is his friend”1

1 Isidore Singer, ed., The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day, 12 Volumes (New York; London: Funk & Wagnalls, 1901–1906), 173.

He had seven names:

the view of some modern scholars, who hold that his name was “Reuel,” and that “Jethro” was a title, “his Excellency”).

According to Simeon b: Yoḥai, he had two names, “Hobab” and “Jethro” (Sifre, Num.

78).

It is, however, generally accepted that he had seven names: “Reuel,” “Jether,” “Jethro,” “Hobab,” “Heber,” “Keni” (comp.

Judges 1:16, 4:11), and “Putiel” Eleazar’s father-in-law (Ex.

6:25) being identified with Jethro by interpreting his name either as “he who abandoned idolatry “or as” who fattened calves for the sake of sacrifices to the idol”

(Ex.

R. xxvii.

7; Mek., Yitro, ‘Amaleḳ, 1; Tan., Shemot, 11; comp.

Targ.

pseudo-Jonathan to Ex. vi. 25 and Soṭah 44a).11

Isidore Singer, ed., The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day, 12 Volumes (New York; London: Funk & Wagnalls, 1901–1906), 173–174.

• Jethro (Exod 3:1; 4:18; 18:1–2, 5–6, 9–10, 12)he who conquers and reigns with YHWH as a prince• Jether (Exod 4:18)-Abundance; excellence; pre-eminent

• Reuel (“God’s friend”; Exod 2:18; Num 10:29) Friend of God; (root = to feed; to shepherd; to use as a friend).

Associate ye with God1

• Hobab (Num 10:29; Judg 4:11) - beloved

• the Heber, Keni (Judg 1:16; 4:11) Heber: fellowship, companion, production

Keni: a fabricator

Putiel - Eleazar’s father in law (Exodus 6:25) = afflicted of God- God enlightens

1 Stelman Smith and Judson Cornwall, The Exhaustive Dictionary of Bible Names (North Brunswick, NJ: Bridge-Logos, 1998), 205.