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EXODUS 16–18

Week 5, Day 2

God provided food (16:35), water (17:6), and victory in battle (17:13). The people provided the grumbling. Each day seemed to require a new miracle if the people were to carry on, and always they seemed ready to return to Egypt where they “ate [their] fill” (16:3) and had plenty to drink (17:3). When I was seventeen a man named Herman Pencovic told me, “The Jews remembered the leeks and garlic of Egypt after they had forgotten the taskmasters and the making of bricks without straw.” Most of us have just such a selective memory when we recall the good old days.

The visit by Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, is a special kind of bright spot in the midst of Israel’s struggles. Wise as Moses may have been, he was using his time and energy poorly; leaders are often inclined that way because they see themselves as indispensable. Jethro gave Moses advice that was ingenious good sense: Share the burden. From a religious point of view, Jethro might have been seen as a pagan; he was not one of the people of Israel.

If Moses had been more narrow in his sympathies, he would have refused this counsel; after all, God had been speaking to him directly, so why should he listen to an outsider? But Moses was both wise enough and humble enough to learn even from an in-law! Here’s a lesson in common grace: God speaks to all his creation, to the degree we are willing to listen.

PRAYER: Dear Lord, help me to be ready to learn, no matter what channel or instrument you use to teach me; in our Savior’s name. Amen.

Make a list of the varieties of ways, in these chapters, that God met Israel’s needs.