Question About Exodus.

[LovesBrokenDream]

Okay, this might be a dumb question, but bear with me. I was reading Exodus 18 today, and it mentioned Moses' father-in-law Jethro. It talks about the way he praised God after he found out about the way God brought the Israelites out of slavery? But, was he a Christian before this, or is this put in the Bible to show how God's work changed lives? It's just something I was wondering.

 

[1Christianwarrior316]

Okay, this might be a dumb question, but bear with me. I was reading Exodus 18 today, and it mentioned Moses' father-in-law Jethro. It talks about the way he praised God after he found out about the way God brought the Israelites out of slavery? But, was he a Christian before this, or is this put in the Bible to show how God's work changed lives? It's just something I was wondering.

Exo 3:1 Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb.

Hope this verse helped answer your question. To say he was a Christian would be highly unlikely since Christ had not come in the flesh yet.

In Christ, 1Christianwarrior316

 

[Shwagga]

Okay, this might be a dumb question, but bear with me. I was reading Exodus 18 today, and it mentioned Moses' father-in-law Jethro. It talks about the way he praised God after he found out about the way God brought the Israelites out of slavery? But, was he a Christian before this, or is this put in the Bible to show how God's work changed lives? It's just something I was wondering.

Christianity in the sense we know it today did not exist then, but the New Testament for example says that Abraham believed the Gospel. So could someone argue Abraham was a Christian? Sure, I have heard people argue it before. But, no Jethro was certainly not a Christian. He was a pagan priest who converted and believed in the true God after Moses told him about the one true God. It is an excellent example of how God does change lives.

God bless you.

 

[1Christianwarrior316]

. He was a pagan priest who converted and believed in the true God after Moses told him about the one true God.

God bless you.

Would you mind showing scripture where it says Jethro was a pagan priest.

In Christ, 1Christianwarrior316

 

[Shwagga]

Would you mind showing scripture where it says Jethro was a pagan priest.

In Christ, 1Christianwarrior316

Sure, the verse you posted in Exodus 3:1. It says that he was a priest of Midian. Also, in Exodus 18:11 Jethro says "Now I know that the LORD is greater than all the gods; indeed, it was proven when they dealt proudly against the people.".. The LORD, being the God of Moses, the one true God. So Jethro had this sudden revelation, "now I know!" type of deal that the Lord is the true God and all other gods are false. The proof for Him was the fact that this God, the Lord took the Israelites out of Egypt. There are some interesting Jewish traditions that call Jethro the chief of converts.

God bless you.

 

[1Christianwarrior316]

Sure, the verse you posted in Exodus 3:1. It says that he was a priest of Midian. Also, in Exodus 18:11 Jethro says "Now I know that the LORD is greater than all the gods; indeed, it was proven when they dealt proudly against the people.".. The LORD, being the God of Moses, the one true God. So Jethro had this sudden revelation, "now I know!" type of deal that the Lord is the true God and all other gods are false. The proof for Him was the fact that this God, the Lord took the Israelites out of Egypt. There are some interesting Jewish traditions that call Jethro the chief of converts.

From the research I’ve done, the Midianites were descended from Abraham through Keturah (Gen 25:2) and must have had traditions of Abraham’s God.
Adam Clarke writes in his commentary, “Some think that Jethro was now converted to the true God; but it is very probable that he enjoyed this blessing before he knew any thing of Moses, for it is not likely that Moses would have entered into an alliance with this family had they been heathens. Jethro no doubt had the true patriarchal religion.”

And Matthew Henry writes in his commentary, “The confirmation and improvement of his faith: Now know I; he knew it before, but now he knew it better; his faith great up to a full assurance, upon this fresh evidence. Those obstinately shut their eyes against the clearest light who do not know that the Lord is greater than all gods.”

And John Gill writes, “He knew the Lord before, and that he was the only true God, and greater than all that were so called; but now he had a fresh instance of it, a clear proof and demonstration of it, and so more plainly and fully knew it, and was assured of it, that he was greater than all the idols of the Gentiles, and particularly than the gods of the Egyptians;”

To say he was a pagan priest just doesn’t make sense to me considering the verse after Exo 18:11.
Exo 18:12 And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God: and Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law before God.

For how would he have known to make a burnt offering and sacrifices for God if he was a pagan priest? As I stated above he must have known the traditions of Abraham’s God.

In Christ, 1Christianwarrior316

 

[Shwagga]

From the research I’ve done, the Midianites were descended from Abraham through Keturah (Gen 25:2) and must have had traditions of Abraham’s God.
Adam Clarke writes in his commentary, “Some think that Jethro was now converted to the true God; but it is very probable that he enjoyed this blessing before he knew any thing of Moses, for it is not likely that Moses would have entered into an alliance with this family had they been heathens. Jethro no doubt had the true patriarchal religion.”

And Matthew Henry writes in his commentary, “The confirmation and improvement of his faith: Now know I; he knew it before, but now he knew it better; his faith great up to a full assurance, upon this fresh evidence. Those obstinately shut their eyes against the clearest light who do not know that the Lord is greater than all gods.”

And John Gill writes, “He knew the Lord before, and that he was the only true God, and greater than all that were so called; but now he had a fresh instance of it, a clear proof and demonstration of it, and so more plainly and fully knew it, and was assured of it, that he was greater than all the idols of the Gentiles, and particularly than the gods of the Egyptians;”

To say he was a pagan priest just doesn’t make sense to me considering the verse after Exo 18:11.
Exo 18:12 And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God: and Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law before God.

For how would he have known to make a burnt offering and sacrifices for God if he was a pagan priest? As I stated above he must have known the traditions of Abraham’s God.

In Christ, 1Christianwarrior316

Dear 1Christianwarrior316,

I would not assume that just because someone is a descendant of Abraham means that they worship (or in this context worshiped) the one true God, remember that the promise/seed went through Jacob. Let's take Jacob's brother Esau for example. The Edomites certainly did not worship the one true God, yet Esau was a descendant of Abraham.

Second point, Jethro was the father-in-law of Moses. I say that because it is true that Moses was a Levite, but his wife was a Kusheite woman who was not Israeli (using this term for simplicity).. So she was not a Levite, which means her father was not a Levite, meaning there is no way he could have been a Jewish priest which only leaves one alternative.

Thirdly I believe this point still stands from Exodus 18:11 (and the greater context) is the conversion story of Jethro. Since this is not only a Christian topic, we can go to older Jewish commentaries and see what they say about Jethro. Rashi, the foremost Jewish commentator living in the 11th century said that Jethro indeed did worship every idol and knew all of the deities, based on Exodus 18:11 where it says, "Now I know that the Lord is greater than all the deities..".. Once again, in some Jewish tradition Jethro is known as the chief convert. So had this priest, Jethro known the true God there would've been no need to convert.

To directly address your point about the burnt offering that he made, quite simply this was not some foreign concept to anyone living in the ancient near east. Especially someone who was a priest in a pagan society. We simply have no evidence that Midianites were worshipers of the one true God.

I say this with the most upright respect and not in an argumentative manner.. But it really doesn't matter either way. I know it's fascinating discussing the word of God and understanding what everything means, who everyone is and what we can learn from it all. But this point in particular is quite moot because in the end, we both agree that Jethro became a worshiper of the one true God and lets hope that he converted many people from his tribe as well. What do you think?

Lord bless you, peace in Christ.

 

[1Christianwarrior316]

I say this with the most upright respect and not in an argumentative manner.. But it really doesn't matter either way. I know it's fascinating discussing the word of God and understanding what everything means, who everyone is and what we can learn from it all. But this point in particular is quite moot because in the end, we both agree that Jethro became a worshiper of the one true God and lets hope that he converted many people from his tribe as well. What do you think?

Lord bless you, peace in Christ.

I agree. Amen to that!
May God Bless and enrich your life through Jesus Christ our Lord!!!

In Christ, 1Christianwarrior316

 

[Shwagga]

I agree. Amen to that!
May God Bless and enrich your life through Jesus Christ our Lord!!!

In Christ, 1Christianwarrior316

Thanks! May God bless you too.

 

[prophecyman]

Would you mind showing scripture where it says Jethro was a pagan priest.

In Christ, 1Christianwarrior316

Well there is no scripture that specifically says that Jethro was a pagan priest, but here is a clue... generally if a man was a priest of God the scripture would say so, just like Balaam was called the priest of the most high God, very specific.

It was said that he was a priest of Midian, which emphatically implies that he was a priest of the region of Midian, but not of God. I believe if he were a priest of God Almighty then Moses would have said so in his writings.

 

[RachelBibleStudent]

jethro was a midianite priest...and although the midianites were descendants of abraham...they had apparently degenerated into idolatry by that time...

so jethro was probably a pagan priest...though it is possible that he was part of a remnant that still followed God...

either way it seems evident to me that he was a follower of God after the exodus...

 

[RachelBibleStudent]

Well there is no scripture that specifically says that Jethro was a pagan priest, but here is a clue... generally if a man was a priest of God the scripture would say so, just like Balaam was called the priest of the most high God, very specific.

not to be off topic...but balaam was actually a prophet...not a priest...and the only person in the bible who actually called balaam a follower of God was balaam himself...and there is a lot of evidence that he was really a hypocrite...

 

[LovesBrokenDream]

Thanks so much for the responses! You guys are right . . I definitely should have written "believer" instead of Christian. Silly me for not catching that. Anyways, it was just something I was curious about. So, thanks again for helping me out with that.
God Bless all of you.

 

[Shwagga]

Praise God, glad you were helped! Lord bless you too.