Letter to Jethro - Exodus 18

Dear Jethro

I have been introduced to you today and I find you and your story interesting.

Firstly, the fact that Zipporah and the boys had been living with you indicates that it might have been culturally normal for wives and children to live apart from their husbands, staying with the parents for a time. I guess this worked because there was the family support there.

I wonder if the reason you decided that Zipporah and the boys could go back is not only because you had heard talk of the way in which God had been keeping them safe in the desert with the victory over the Amalekites but also because you knew you were aging and thought they would get more support from Moses and his people now.

Then there were the boys. You obviously lived in a polytheistic culture and so it was not problematic having the god of Moses as one of your gods. Is this one of the reasons that you were happy for Zipporah to marry Moses, because you were able to just add in another god to your community. I guess that makes cross cultural marriages much easier if you can adapt your worship to some extent.

I think your tribes approach is similar to the spirituality that many people now have of taking aspects from different gods and religions and mixing and matching them together.

I also wonder if you have something to tell us about what is happening in our world too though where fundamentalism seems to be on the rise. You see how the Lord is with Moses, through his defeat of the Amalekites presumably, and become attracted to his monotheistic god. I wonder if there is an extent to which some young people particularly are becoming attracted by extremism because they do see violent groups committing atrocities but then gaining land and increasing fear and so view this apparent success and as a sign God is with them.

The story indicates that whilst you came to view Moses god as a significant one you did not come to view him as God in the way monotheistic religions did. What did you teach your grandsons about this? Did you talk to them about religion and encourage them to follow your ways or did you leave this to Zipporah. I wonder this because I wonder if you prepared them for the cross cultural challenges they were going to face. Was that why you went with them to help them through the transition?

Then there is the advice you give Moses. You were obviously giving this as one leader to another. You clearly saw the shape Moses was in when you arrived. I am taking it that you identified a man who was suffering from trying to do it all himself and a shadow of the man who had married your daughter. I wonder if you were able to give this advice because Moses was willing to open up to you in a way he couldn’t to others or was it that he opened up to Zipporah and she conveyed her worries to you.

The advice you give is good and important. That people need to identify how much they can and should do themselves and how much responsibility they can give to others. You indicate that there are people who can be trusted and given responsibility and trusted with some lesser responsibilities. You also give a wellbeing lesson for leaders that they need to consider what they are putting on themselves and the impact on their health. You indicate that mental and physical health are both important. This is something people are still needing to be reminded of today.

I like you Jethro and think you were a good man. Obviously I don’t know much else about you and so I may have misjudged you. In the mist of a lot of darkness in this book I am learning more about ,you are one of the rays of light. Interestingly, as I read through and write these letters such rays of light are tending to come from the outsiders who recognise God rather than the insiders who are “chosen”.