Jethro(Yitro) Exodus(Sh’mot) 18:1-20:23
1.Exodus 20:17 says, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.” What does it mean to covet? What does it say about us, our spiritual state, if we covet what someone else has? Are there examples of coveting in scripture?
Korah coveted Moses authority and position.
Numbers 16:1-3, “Now Korah the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, with Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men; and they rose up before Moses with some of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty leaders of the congregation, representatives of the congregation, men of renown. They gathered together against Moses and Aaron, and said to them, “You take too much upon yourselves, for all the congregation is holy, every one of them, and the L-RD is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the L-RD?”
Yeshua spoke about coveting
Luke 12:15, And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”
If I covet what another has it is a good indication that I am not satisfied with what G-d has done in my life. My own desires take precedents over G-d’s provision for me. The result can be that we lose our focus on what is important spiritually and begin to look at life through the world’s eyes of money, power, status, etc. and lose sight of the truly important things of life.
Please take the time to consider this topic in your own life. I think you will find peace and rest as you live these verses out each day.
2.Look at the sixth commandment. We often read it as “Thou shall not kill.” It actually says, “Thou shall not murder.” We are familiar with the legal consequences of murder. However, what do these two words tell us about G-d? Why must we not murder spiritually and if we do how does it affect us spiritually? How do we murder others spiritually?
Each of us has a spark of G-d, the soul, spirit in us.
Genesis 2:7 says, “G-d breathed into man the breath of life and man became a living being.” Each of us carries with us this mark of the Creator.
To murder a person does what?
It extinguishes that spark of G-d and it harms us spiritually as well.
It shows that we had no regard for the image of G-d in that person and therefore we suffer from the act. We find ourselves cut off as well and if not remedied by repentance we die spiritually for that act.
In the sixth commandment, G-d says, “Thou shall not murder.”
Yeshua taught that murder is defined more broadly than the physical taking of life.
Matthew 5:21-22, gives his fuller definition. “You have heard that it was said by the ancients, ‘You shall not murder,’ and ‘Whoever murders shall be in danger of the judgment.’ But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ shall be in danger of the Sanhedrin. But whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be in danger of hell fire.”
With this teaching, Yeshua broadened the scope of the commandment.
to encompass “murderous thoughts,
words, deeds, anger and insults” as well as the taking of innocent life.
It was understood that murdering the physical body was strictly prohibited by G-d,
but it was less well known that the prohibition also extended to murderous attacks on the character and personality of someone.
Even believers sometimes murder one another with their tongues and believe there is no wrongdoing. These attacks can be subtly masked under the guise of “discernment” or “sharing information for prayer purposes.”
The tongue is the primary weapon used by Satan to launch his murderous attacks,
It is the tongue that must be subdued.
It is the heart that conceives all sorts of evil,
It’s the tongue that releases the evil that damages the speaker as well as the hearer.
The power of the tongue to bring destruction is not to be taken lightly.
James identifies the tongue as the part of the body that can do the most damage to men.
James 3:6 6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
James 3:8-9, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.9 With the tongue we praise our L-rd and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in G-d’s likeness.
James 4:2, 2 You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask G-d.
James places slander, jealousy, selfish ambition and murder in the same context.
James prohibits cursing a brother because he is “made in the image of G-d,”
Genesis 9:6 prohibits murder for the same reason, “Whoever sheds human blood, by humans shall their blood be shed; for in the image of G-d, has G-d made mankind.”
To kill a person is to kill a living being made in G-d’s image.
Verbal assaults against another person (or in writing on social media) sometimes result in the “murder” of character, hopes, dreams and visions.
Such attacks can destroy the image of G-d in a man or woman.
3.We know that each word in scripture is there for a reason. There are no superfluous words. So why do you think it was important to put the passage in this week’s Torah portion, Exodus 18:10 where Jethro, a non-Jew, praised the G-d of Israel? Are there other gentiles who praised the G-d of Israel?
The words Baruch Hashem appear in this week’s parsha.
But they are not spoken by a Jew.
The person who says them is Yitro, Moshe’s father-in-law.
Rejoining Moshe after the Exodus, bringing with him Moshe’s wife and children, and hearing from his son-in-law all that had happened in Egypt, he says, “Praise be to the L-rd [Baruch Hashem], who rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and of Pharaoh, and who rescued the people from the hand of the Egyptians” Exodus 18:10
Three people in the Torah use this expression
all of them are non-Jews, people outside the Abrahamic covenant.
Noah: “Praise be to the L-rd, the G-d of Shem”Genesis 9:26.
Avraham’s servant, Eliezer, whom he sends to find a wife for Yitzchak:
“Praise be to the L-rd, the G-d of my master Avraham, who has not abandoned His kindness and faithfulness to my master” Genesis 24:27.
Yitro in this week’s parsha. Exodus 18:10
Is this significant? Why is it that this praise of G-d is attributed to Noah, Eliezer and Yitro?
At that time in history gods were local.
There were gods over crops, fertility gods, gods over specific countries or areas.
Some believed this Jewish G-d was also limited.
Scripture is telling us that we worship the G-d of the universe.
The G-d of Israel is the G-d of all humankind. Our faith is rooted in the G-d of Israel.
Isaiah said in chapter 6 the L-rd G-d is high and exalted, seated on His throne. “Holy holy holy is the L-rd Almighty; the whole earth is full of His glory.”
Also in Acts 11 we see Jewish believers struggling with the knowledge that Yeshua’s salvation was also universal. Peter was explaining to them why he went to the house of non-Jews and ate with them and what happened while he was there.
Acts 11:15-18, “As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning. 16 Then I remembered what the L-rd had said: ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’So if G-d gave them the same gift he gave us who believed in the L-rd Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could stand in G-d’s way?”
18 When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised G-d, saying, “So then, even to Gentiles G-d has granted repentance that leads to life.”
Even today there are some that believe the G-d of the “Old Testament” is not the same G-d as the G-d of the “New Testament.