Jethro vs. Amalek: Humility vs. arrogance before God (Exodus 18–19)

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The Torah is our instruction by HaShem of how to follow Moses’ instruction to choose life, rather than choosing death. It is our instruction manual on how to live righteously while on earth. God also clearly tells Moses that he is to make duplicates of what he was shown that was in heaven. In other words, God is not asking us to be something that He is not or asking us to do something that He will not do Himself.

‘Where I put My Name’: Worshipping in Spirit and in truth

Most of us have celebrated God’s holy festivals and we have celebrated them in many places all over the US and even at sights internationally. It is our tradition at Hallel Fellowship that (if possible) we will rent a place to meet together for all of God’s festivals but particularly during the pilgrimage festivals of Pesach (Passover), Shavuot (Pentecost) and Sukkot (Tabernacles/Booths).

We as a fellowship trust and have faith that wherever God’s people are gathered together, in His Name, He is there.

However, by the strict letter of scripture, the last place that God specifically placed His name was at the Temple in Jerusalem, which has long since been deserted and destroyed. Over the past 2,000 years, there have been some who have tried to restore the Temple in Jerusalem, but God has made sure that could not happen through various supernatural events.

For example, shortly after Titus destroyed the Temple, some tried to rebuild it but God sent an earthquake and that effort was halted. God prevented any opportunity to rebuild where he wants placed his name.

Yeshua (Jesus) told the Samaritan woman (known by tradition as St. Photini):

“Jesus *said to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. “You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

John 4:21–24 NASB

At Hallel Fellowship, we know when the appointed times are, and we have decided to meet with each other and with God at those times, because we know that as long as we’re meeting in God’s name, that He will be there, and that’s a blessing. The offerings we bring with us to the Feasts are our repentance, our actions, our words, our prayers, our praise of Him. 

I am not saying the temple will not be rebuilt, and that animal sacrifices would not resume at some time, they probably will, most likely with God’s blessing.

A father-in-law’s duty: Boss or counselor?

The function of a father in law is to give good advice. That’s your job, because you’re not the dad anymore. You were the dad but now that your child is grown, you’re not the one in charge of your son or daughter any more. Your job is to dispense wisdom. “If I were in your shoes, I’d do this….” Your job is to advise, suggest, and to counsel, as a friend would do. You should be a wise friend, a friend who has been around for a while but still a friend.

What did Yitro see? He noticed that his son in law was in great distress. Imagine how long the line was queuing up for Moses to settle their disputes, most of them very simple and petty. Moses was hearing all manner of cases, from minor property disputes to capital offenses and doing this all by himself.

The Scriptures show us how God delegated authority from the great to the small.

Yitro was a Midianite, not an Israelite. He was a descendant of Abraham but is not a direct relative of Israel. Yet, when Yitro heard about what God had done, he was amazed:

Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness where he was camped, at the mount of God. He sent word to Moses, “I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons with her.” Then Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, and he bowed down and kissed him; and they asked each other of their welfare and went into the tent. Moses told his father-in-law all that the LORD had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, all the hardship that had befallen them on the journey, and how the LORD had delivered them. Jethro rejoiced over all the goodness which the LORD had done to Israel, in delivering them from the hand of the Egyptians. So Jethro said, “Blessed be the LORD who delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of Pharaoh, and who delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. “Now I know that the LORD is greater than all the gods; indeed, it was proven when they dealt proudly against the people.” Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat a meal with Moses’ father-in-law before God.

Exodus 18:5–12 NASB

Now, take note that they Egyptian deities were considered great and mighty, not only by the Egyptians, but also by the nations surrounding Egypt. Because Egypt was powerful, it was believed that Egypt’s gods were powerful too. Midian shares a border with Egypt and when he heard what had happened in Egypt, he grabs his daughter and grandsons and sets out to find Moses.

We later learn that this story also had spread all the way to Canaan, Rahab reveals that to the 2nd generation spies 40 years later.

Yitro was a priest of the Midianite people and his job was to facilitate the relationship between the Midianites and their deity. When he hears that God has overpowered all of the Egyptian gods, he points out, that God is greater than all the gods. He realizes that the God of Israel, the God his son in law Moses serves, is even more powerful than the god or gods he has served his entire life.

Yitro’s reaction to this revelation is a 180 degree different than Amalek’s response. The people of Amalek were also right next door to Egypt. They had heard the same stories the Midianites had heard about the plagues, miracles and the Red Sea Crossing and Pharoah’s army being wiped out. Yet, Amalek’s response was to destroy, kill, maim, plunder, rape, etc. That is how Amalek greeted the people of Israel when they left Egypt. Rather than fearing God, Amalek thought this was the best opportunity to wipe God’s people off the map.

Yitro responded to the same news with a fear of God, a respect for Him. Yitro was humble, Amalek was arrogant and bloodthirsty.
Yitro and Amalek followed pagan gods and worshipped in pagan ways, yet their responses to the work of the God of Israel were complete opposite of each other. God measures the actions of these people by their actions. Yitro was blessed and Amalek was cursed.

The record that is called the book of life, is a record of everyone’s actions. “Believing” in the Messiah is not enough to be written in the book of life. Your actions must reflect and reinforce your affirmation of Yeshua as Messiah.

Why Amalek was so bad

How do I know Yitro was blessed? Let’s look at 1Sam. 15:1–9.

Then Samuel said to Saul, “The LORD sent me to anoint you as king over His people, over Israel; now therefore, listen to the words of the LORD. “Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he set himself against him on the way while he was coming up from Egypt. ‘Now go and strike Amalek and utterly destroy all that he has, and do not spare him; but put to death both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’” Then Saul summoned the people and numbered them in Telaim, 200,000 foot soldiers and 10,000 men of Judah. Saul came to the city of Amalek and set an ambush in the valley. Saul said to the Kenites, “Go, depart, go down from among the Amalekites, so that I do not destroy you with them; for you showed kindness to all the sons of Israel when they came up from Egypt.” So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. So Saul defeated the Amalekites, from Havilah as you go to Shur, which is east of Egypt. He captured Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were not willing to destroy them utterly; but everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed.

1Samuel 15:1–9 NASB

The Kenites were descendants of Yitro. Because of the kindness that Yitro, their ancestor from 400 years before, had shown to the people of Israel, Saul wanted to save them from the destruction that God was commanding him to inflict on the Amalekites.

God says in Ex. 20:6 that He shows “lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.” This is only about 10 generations or so after the children of Israel had left Egypt, yet God still shows lovingkindness to Yitro’s descendants, even though some of them were living in camps alongside Amalekites, who were Israel’s sworn enemies. The blessings of Yitro’s humility and obedience are still being poured out upon and attributed to his descendants.

It was Yitro’s actions that had longstanding benefits to his descendants, not just his thoughts, beliefs or opinions. Amalek’s chickens are coming home to roost, but the Kenites were spared from the battle. The blessings of righteousness can be extended to many generations.

When Yitro observed Moses’ righteousness and the actions of the God who Moses worshipped and obeyed, he chose to attach himself to God, too. There is no record of Yitro’s getting baptized or going through a bar mitzvah services. But Yitro’s actions and his words speak for themselves on how impressed he was by God, even though he didn’t fully understand Him. Amalek responded in the opposite.

Spirit of Moshe, Spirit of Messiah (Exodus 18)

So, going back to my original point, Yitro sees that Moses is working himself to the bone, judging all these cases and he give Moses a wise piece of advice (Exodus 18:13–24).

Have you ever prayed to God needing a verbal answer? And someone else comes to you, unaware of your prayer and verbally says something that answers your prayer? God answered your prayer through another human being and you realize they gave you the answer you needed.

God could have directly told Moses to break up the work, but He doesn’t always speak directly to Moses and He doesn’t alway speak directly to us. God is sovereign and He chooses how He will speak to us.

Spirit of discernment

Yitro’s proposal had a spiritual application and God approved of his proposal to Moses and Moses implemented it. We read later how God took a portion of the spirit that He had placed on Moses and placed on different men to act as judges to the people. This is the same spirit He has given us.

When the Messiah ascended into Heaven, God gave His Apostles the Holy Spirit so they could understand His ways and His judgements.

Does any one of you, when he has a case against his neighbor, dare to go to law before the unrighteous and not before the saints? Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? If the world is judged by you, are you not competent to constitute the smallest law courts? Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more matters of this life?

1Corinthians 6:1–3 NASB

God has given us His spirit so we can reach out and reach to and give God’s wisdom and judgement 10, 50, 100 or more. Don’t confuse discernment with judgement. Discernment is knowing what is right and wrong. Judgement includes the right to punish wrong doing and to bless righteousness. Judgement is what happens after discernment.

Too often in our culture if you speak up against an injustice, you will be told “don’t judge me” but you aren’t judging, you are simply discerning what is right and what is wrong. Judgement is what happens in a court of law.

The Torah was given as instruction. When we reiterate the Torah’s instructions, we are simply acting with discernment, you can decide what you want to do from that point forward. You can either put the Torah’s instructions into action or disregard them, that is up to you.

Discernment vs. judgment

When it comes to judgment — what your punishment ultimately is — that’s beyond me. I’m not going to punish you. God does the punishment.

In 1Samuel 12:1-13, when the prophet Nathan brought the case of the man who stole another man’s lamb to feed himself, David judged that man very harshly, only to find out that he was judging himself harshly, because he was the one who had stolen another man’s wife for his own pleasure and then killed that man. David was a very harsh judge. Overall, David was a righteous man, but he was still a very harsh judge.

Remember the judgment that David’s son, King Solomon, rendered later in 1 Kings 3:16-28? There were two harlots who had come to Solomon regarding the death of one of their children and the kidnapping of the other. Neither woman is righteous at all. Both of them are paid prostitutes, that is what they do for a living. But Solomon doesn’t condemn them for that or bring any judgement on that matter, even though he knew that prostitution was a sin. It was against the law. His only concern was to judge between the two of them regarding custody of the child. He made a determination of which mother received custody of the child. He settled the dispute.

However, their crime of prostitution was not the only crime he ignored. He also didn’t make a judgement on the fact that the one harlot had kidnapped the other harlot’s child and then also accused that mother of killing their child. There was a lot of swindling, lying, stealing, kidnapping, all thrown in there. Solomon addresses none of this at all. Once he settles the chid custody dispute, he sets them free to go.

Solomon’s judgment was very lenient — crazy lenient — by modern day standards. No judge would ever be as lenient as Solomon. He was very kind and forgiving in a way that no judge would be today.

In today’s jurisprudence, kidnapping is a very serious crime. People go to prison for kidnapping, and in the Torah, kidnapping is a death penalty offense, yet Solomon ignores that crime completely, narrowing the scope of his judgement on sorting out and resolving the child custody dispute.

What is the pearl of great price?

“Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? “Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.
“Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.”

Matthew 7:1–6 NASB

The last verse seems oddly out of place but let me assure you it is not. In Jewish tradition, pearls are symbolic of both wisdom and wealth. It’s something of value that you give to someone who needs it.

In the book of Revelation, it mentions that the gate was made of one large pearl (Rev. 21:21). This is not because God wanted something off-white colored rather than gold or that he was bored with gold as a building material. To a Jew, a “pearl” is a solution to one’s problems or a way to get one’s disputes settled or a way to get oneself out of a difficult situation.

To a Jew, a “pearl” is a solution to one’s problems or a way to get one’s disputes settled or a way to get oneself out of a difficult situation.

So when Yeshua tells us, through Matthew, “do not throw your pearls before swine” this means don’t give you solutions to those who are going to destroy you. You have to take care of your own problems. Once you have worked out your own struggles and found the solutions to your issues in life, which would be your plank. Once you’ve addressed your own plank, and your own weaknesses, then you are ready to reveal the words of God, the pearls, the Torah to others and because you have taken the plank out of your eye, you will be seen as someone who is worthy to be confided in to take the speck out of someone else’s eye.

That is where your pearls have value and that can lead others to the great gate of salvation, which is in the Messiah Yeshua, the righteous judge.

Discernment and judgment are gifts from God

When Moses was listening to the disputes the children of Israel brought to him, he didn’t only instruct them about the law, he also had to mete out rewards and punishments. Moses was exercising both discernment and judgement. He was, in a sense, both blessing and condemning.

Moses was a Messianic figure, but David and Solomon were as well. All three of them give us insight into how our Messiah Yeshua will judge what is right and wrong, who will be punished and who will be granted mercy.

What does it mean to judge impartially?

What purpose do we serve in this world? We are called to learn the Torah and then teach it to others, in groups of 10, 50, 100 or more, depending on our sphere of influence. God calls those who despise money, who will not give in to bribery or either gain of money or power. These are the kind of people who should settle disputes. Now, there’s more than one way to take a bribe. A bribe can be a literal payment of cash to render a decision in favor of the one making payment, but there are indirect bribes as well, in which someone who has a case before their court to give money or a job to a family member as payment for a decision. Both of these are equally evil.

When Yitro tells Moses to be sure to choose judges who “despise money” or “hate dishonest gain.” Yitro is telling Moses that he needs to find men who do not crave money. They are men of means who have what is sufficient for life and do not covet more than what God has already given to them. They will not desire what is not theirs. They will not covet what a wealthier man has and will not use the fact that someone is poorer than them against them in court either. They will be impartial as to the income status of any and all who come before them to have their cases heard.

It is not easy to find judges or people in general who are content in what they have, who are content and satisfied with having enough for their own needs and the needs of their family and not coveting excess.

But it would also be evil if a judge made a decision that would favor a poor person over a rich person just because the rich person could handle the financial loss of an unfavorable decision. You can’t perform tikkun olam by corruption. A righteous judge does not consider the personal financial situation of either party when rendering a judgement.

The love of money is the root of all evil and it’s written that way for a reason. Money is not evil in and of itself, it’s merely a tool. It’s the tool we use to exchange labor for goods such as food, clothing, housing, etc. When we manipulate what is right and wrong to gain money or to gain power that is evil.

The Torah: God’s owner’s manual

Have you ever bought an item that said “assembly required” and then ignored the instruction pamphlet that came with it? Sometimes, the item is intuitive enough that reading the instruction manual carefully is not required to get the item built but sometimes the item is more intricate and the assembly is less obvious.

If you fumble along and use a screwdriver when you should use a hammer and refuse to read and follow the instructions, you might get a good result anyway but it will take you longer to get that good result than it would have if you had just read the instructions. Or you end up with a bad result and you end up having to throw it away.

Yitro was like the person who didn’t read the instruction manual but he had enough intuition that he got to the right place alway, while Amalek was like the person who ignored the instruction manual and builds the item backwards and upside down.

Fortunately, we have the TaNaKh¹Hebrew acronym for Torah, Neviim (Prophets) and Ketuvim (Writings). We have Messiah Yeshua’s instructions.

Shopping for a good judge

The Torah gives us judgements, and these judgments are the maximum penalty for different things but they are not the minimum. You can’t go above the maximum penalty but there’s no instruction in Torah that states you can’t give a lesser penalty. There’s no law against mercy, forgiveness and kindness in Torah. In the example of the two harlot women, Solomon didn’t follow the letter of the Torah at all. Solomon exercised discernment and figured out who was right and who was wrong, tricking the kidnapper into giving up the child she stole and returning him back to his mother, but other than that, Solomon exercised great restraint and mercy.

The Messiah also exercised discernment but was merciful in judgement regarding the woman caught in adultery. Did he find her guilty? In a way He did. He called for the one without sin to cast the first stone and all of them walked away because they did not qualify to execute judgement. After all the accusers had left, He told the woman to sin no more and sent her away.

So what kind of judge do you want? Do you want to have your case heard from a judge like King David or a judge like King Solomon? I think of the golden rule. I also believe that mercy is fundamental in the process of discernment and judgement. It is a natural human instinct to want to find the judge who is the most tenderhearted and merciful, isn’t it? My children know that I am more lenient about some things and more strict about other things while their mother is the opposite and they will “court shop” knowing full well which parent to go to for which issue. That’s self-preservation.

When Yeshua showed mercy, He said He was only acting in the way the Father showed Him. It’s our duty as His disciples to be the same way.

God’s patience is bountiful but not limitless

God has been very patient and kind with each of us as he was with the children of Israel during the 40 years in the wilderness. He has been patient with humanity for millennia. However, we know there were times when God could no longer exercise patience, and He had to step in with punishment, but even in that He was merciful because He didn’t kill them all immediately. It took 40 years for that generation to pass on.

Later in history, when the children of Israel repeatedly and willingly did evil in His name, He had to put a stop to that. He could not forgive the abuse of His name and reputation. He could not allow them to speak His name in vain and using it to commit crimes against each other. Taking God’s name in vain is bringing His name down low but performing evil acts against others in His name is even worse. The bigger the crimes, the higher up the judicial ladder they have to go for judgement.

In history, unfortunately, there have been many cases of people doing things that are evil and corrupt in God’s name. I don’t know how God is going to handle them. I’m not in charge of thousands, I am not even in charge of hundreds. I have my own family, and my wife and I, were in charge of our five children, and that is it. I have not been given the big things to judge.

Better to be punished sooner rather than later

I will say that being punished in this life for a severe sin, is preferable to being punished in the world to come. That is a sign of God’s mercy.

For example, we have talked about King David and the problem he had with his uncle Joab before. Joab had been commanded in chief of his army, yet he had multiple counts of murder on his hands, and David points out to his son, Solomon, that it was his duty to make sure Joab doesn’t die of old age that he needs to die a violent death for what he had done. David was not being bloodthirsty. It was important for Joab’s salvation, for him to receive punishment in this life for what he had done, rather than let God having to punish him in the next life. This request by David to Solomon was a call for mercy for the sake of Joab’s soul.

Yeshua said in Matthew 18:6, as recorded in the New American Standard Bible that “whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” God does show mercy but He also has to exact punishment. It’s better to take the time we have now in this life to repent and to show the fruits of repentance, but if God gives us many years to repent and we never take advantage of that time and repent, there will be no option for repentance in the next life.

God’s holiness (Exodus 19; Revelation 21)

The LORD also said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments; and let them be ready for the third day, for on the third day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. “You shall set bounds for the people all around, saying, ‘Beware that you do not go up on the mountain or touch the border of it; whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death. ‘No hand shall touch him, but he shall surely be stoned or shot through; whether beast or man, he shall not live.’ When the ram’s horn sounds a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain.” So Moses went down from the mountain to the people and consecrated the people, and they washed their garments. He said to the people, “Be ready for the third day; do not go near a woman.”

Exodus 19:10–15 NASB

Why was God so adamant that no man or animal should cross the boundary up to the holy mountain? Revelation 21:22-27 sheds some light on this edict.

I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. In the daytime (for there will be no night there) its gates will never be closed; and they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it; and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

Revelation 21:22–27 NASB

God’s boundary around the mountain was an act of mercy to the children of Israel. The fact that He gave them three days to prepare themselves before meeting Him at the mountain was an act of mercy and kindness to them. What would happen to those who were evil and in sin if they approached God’s holiness, either on the mountain or in the New Jerusalem? They would perish. The reason why evil is not allowed there because the evil man or woman would perish. God’s presence would vaporize them instantly, they would have no opportunity for repentance, it would be too late.

I think of King Azariah who arrogantly presumed to play priest in the temple by bringing in incense for prayer and God immediately struck him with leprosy. God was basically telling him, “How dare you enter without an invitation? You can’t do that.” At that point, Azariah was cast off as a leper for the rest of his life. His son had to take over the throne in his place from that point on.

May we continue to follow the Torah and choose life. God has given us the Torah so we can understand Him. It’s written for us to explore and to be guided to walk in His ways. May we be humble enough and flexible enough to follow them. As we seek to share the Torah amongst our friends, may we give our pearls to those who will value them.

Summary: Tammy