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Yitro, the Hebrew name for Jethro, is our parasha for this Shabbat. Parashat Yitro covers Exodus 18:1-20:23. Besides practical management advice, this parasha contains the Ten Commandments, and a lesson for those who would approach Adonai on their terms.
Chapter 18 begins with Jethro, Moses’ Father-In-Law, going out to meet Moses at the base of Mount Sinai along with Moses’ wife and children. Moses then tells them everything that had happened in Egypt. After hearing how Adonai delivered our people from Egypt, Jethro praised Adonai, acknowledging His superiority to any false gods. Jethro then offered burnt offerings to Adonai with Moses, Aaron, and the elders.
The chapter continues with some very practical advice on how to manage people. Jethro saw how Moses tried to single handily manage every problem our people had and advised him to delegate these duties. He told Moses to elect honest men, who feared God and could not be bribed, to deal with the minor disputes. If there was a situation they could not handle, they could bring it to Moses who would then bring it before God. Jethro’s advice is as good for us as it us for Moses, to not try to micro-manage and that any good judicial system should be filled with honest and God fearing individuals.
In Chapter 19 we read how the 12 Tribes reached the base of Mount Sinai. Moses then went up Mount Sinai to receive Adonai’s message for His people, that if we agreed to keep His commandments we would become His people. Moses journeyed back down Sinai and told the people all the Lord had commanded. Our people immediately responded: “We will do everything the Lord has said”. With the covenant ratified, Moses journeyed up Mount Sinai again to deliver the response. Of course Adonai, who knows the end from the beginning, already knew their response. He told Moses to inform our people that two days from now He was going to descend onto Mount Sinai. The Shekhinah, the divine presence of God, would appear before the people in the form of a dense cloud.
Anyone, human or animal, who approached the mountain on that day before the trumpet blast, or tried to climb it would be killed from a distance. Only Moses and the priests were allowed to climb the mountain, and even then only after first consecrating themselves as well. After hearing the instructions of God from Moses our people immediately did as they were told.
Verses 16-18 record the awesome magnitude of even a veiled manifestation of Adonai’s presence: On the morning of the third day, thunder roared and lightning flashed, and a dense cloud came down on the mountain. There was a long, loud blast from a ram’s horn, and all the people trembled. Moses led them out from the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. All of Mount Sinai was covered with smoke because the Lord had descended on it in the form of fire. The smoke billowed into the sky like smoke from a brick kiln, and the whole mountain shook violently. The entire mountain quaked beneath the Creator of The Universe! This was no casual meeting, and our people trembled like the very Earth did to be brought before the infinite magnitude of Adonai!
As we continue with Chapter 20 the very voice of God spoke His Ten Commandments to His people. The first four commandments form the foundation of our relationship with our God and the final six commandments our relationships with each other.
After seeing the thunder and lightning and hearing the voice of God, our people were struck with awe and fear. They told Moses to speak to them himself, because if the Lord spoke to them again they were afraid they would die. Moses told them not to be afraid, because Adonai wanted to test them, so they would dimly understand the infinite strength of who their God is, and keep from sinning. After these events we come to the end of the parasha.
In this parasha we read of our ancestors’ promising to do all that the Lord had commanded. But we know from our history that our words did not match our actions. Before we broke camp from Mount Sinai we had already broken the covenant we had made with the Lord and throughout our people’s history we would break it over and over again.
While today we may like to believe that we can approach God on our own terms, parasha Yitro makes it clear that the King of Kings is the one who sets the standard and not His creation. To approach God on our terms is to invite death and destruction like what was promised to those who would dare try to climb Mount Sinai without permission.
But the Lord knows of our brokenness and has made a way possible to approach His infinite glory, to bring us back into proper relationship with Him. This was done through the death, burial, and resurrection of Messiah Yeshua. So we cannot afford to ignore the revelation and salvation that comes through Messiah! The writer of the letter to the Messianic Jews, Hebrews, tells us this important truth as well and in Hebrews 12 pleads with us to not refuse the Word of God and if we have accepted Messiah Yeshua to keep pressing forward.
We just heard about the fear and trembling the 12 tribes experienced, when God manifested Himself in such a powerful way on Mount Sinai. The Lord came with fire, smoke, and caused our people great fear. The very mountain shook under His presence!
However, we read in Hebrews 12 that those who are joined to Messiah Yeshua do not approach God in this way: But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the community of the firstborn, whose names are written in Heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, to Yeshua the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
In Messiah Yeshua we can approach God and not be destroyed, not because of how good we are, but because of what Yeshua has done for us. We have the promise of eternal life and peace with our Creator thanks to our great Mediator. This leads to Hebrews 12:28’s conclusion: Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe.
Unlike every earthly kingdom, including in our country today, the Lord’s kingdom and His promises will never be moved and can always be relied on. If we have put our faith in Him through His Son then let us give Him the praise, thanks, and honor that He is so rightly due. If you have not yet put your trust in Him then make it this day to join the joyful assembly of angels and God’s holy community.
I pray that the Lord would enable each one of us to give Him the respect that He is due and the power to not grow weary. May each one of us experience the peace and joy that can only be found in Adonai as we look forward to eternal life in His eternal kingdom.