The Bible in 50 Words

God made
Adam bit
Noah arked
Abraham split
Joseph ruled
Jacob fooled
Bush talked
Moses balked
Pharaoh plagued
People walked
Sea divided
Tablets guided
Promise landed
Saul freaked
David peeked
Prophets warned
Jesus born
God walked
Love talked
Anger crucified
Hope died
Love rose
Spirit flamed
Word spread
God remained.

Exodus 18: Jethro Comes For a Visit

The eighteenth chapter of Exodus relates a visit Moses has from his father-in-law. Jethro, a priest of Midian, after hearing of Moses’ success goes to visit him. Jethro brings along Moses’ wife, Zipporah, and their two sons Gershom and Eliezer.

Moses is told Jethro has arrived and hurries to greet him. Strangely the text gives no mention of a reunion between Moses and his family. Many feel that the opening verses of this chapter serve as a literary foreshadowing of Christ’s future glory. Moses represents Christ. The Jews are represented by his sons while Jethro represents the Gentiles. Since Zipporah is a Gentile and is the bride of Moses she represents the coming church. In the Millenial Kingdom all will share in the blessings.

Jethro gives praise to the Lord when Aaron and other leaders come to visit him. He has either become a convert to the one true God or was already a believer.

Jethro watches Moses and sees he is overburdened with the many complaints the people bring to him. They were lined up in front of him from morning until evening. (Exodus 18:13)

Jethro tells Moses to find some capable honest men who fear God and hate bribes. Appoint them as judges…. (Exodus 18: 21-22)

Jethro continues…If you follow this advice, and if God directs you to do so then you will endure the pressures, and these people will go home in peace. (Exodus 18: 23)

Later Jethro returns to his own land.

At first glance this seems like good advice. Go to any self-help bookshelf and you’ll find the same advice in any book regarding time management and organization. Delegate, delegate, and delegate.

While I don’t think this is bad advice for many of our jobs, many scholars contend it was bad advice for Moses.

Why?

Moses had been given a specific task by God. Those tasks when assigned are never given without the grace needed to complete them. God had been speaking to Moses directly without the involvement of another person. Moses should have carried on until God intervened.

Like most opinions you can usually find a few favoring each side of an issue, and this is no different. Some think Jethro’s advice was divinely given and because it was sensible it was the correct thing for Moses to follow it.

In Exodus 2 Jethro is referred to as Reuel. “in time Reuel gave Moses one of his daughters, Zipporah, to be wife.” Some scholars suggest that Reuel was his given name while Jethro was a title of honor such as “excellency”.

There is also a chronological problem with this Exodus 18 as verse 5 mentions Jethro coming to Mount Sinai, however, the Israelites did not arrive there until chapter 19:2. One account states that the text appears out of order so that there is no interruption within the account of the meeting with Jehovah and the giving of the law.

Wordless Wednesday Verse 11

Link to other Wordless images HERE

See comments for explantion.

Palm Sunday

The next day, when the large crowd that had come to the festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, they took palm branches and went out to meet Him. They kept shouting: “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord---the King of Israel!”

Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written: Fear no more, Daughter Zion; look! your King is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt.

His disciples did not understand these things at first. However, when Jesus was glorified then they remembered that these things had been written about Him and that they had done these things to Him.

John 12:12-18

My Third Sunday Seven

Not only am I thankful for the Sabbath, our day of rest, I am also thankful for this coming week. It will be Spring Break for my children and their teachers. They need this break before testing begins.

I’m thankful that our entire family will be heading off Wednesday for a much needed vacation.

I’m thankful for my husband. Today is the anniversary of our engagement. It doesn’t seem like 23 years. In fact, it seems our friendship grows deeper with each passing year.

I’m thankful for my children. Not only do they provide my connection to future generations, they also ground me in my past. Thankfully they both understand the importance of God in their lives and are turning out to be decent human beings.

IT RAINED TODAY…Thank you Lord! As the door opened at church you the smell of rain wafted into the building. It was a nice smell and feel. The air was crisp and the trees and grass had such a wonderful green hue. Finally, some relief from the pollen.

I’m thankful for the Bible. I was thinking about it in church today (when I was supposed to be listening to the preacher). It can be the most complex book with metaphors and don’t even get me started on some of the parables of Jesus. Yet---- it can be so simple as well just as the whole salvation plan is simple if you just don’t analyze the whole thing. I believe that’s why so many academics have such a problem with Christianity. There are too many coincidences for it not to be based in truth, yet they overanalyze everything and then deny the exisitence of the divinity of Christ. Silly!

Finally, I’m thankful that I live in a country where I can read the Bible without fear, write about it without fear, and that others can deny it without fear if they so choose.

You can find out more about Sunday Seven here.