Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Jethro, Moses's father-in-law, brings back his wife Sephora with their sons to him; and at his advice, verse 13, Moses shares the governance of the people with others, and appoints magistrates and judges to decide lesser matters.
Vulgate Text: Exodus 18:1-27
1. When Jethro, priest of Midian, kinsman of Moses, had heard all the things that God had done for Moses and for Israel His people, and that the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt: 2. he took Sephora, the wife of Moses, whom he had sent back, 3. and his two sons, one of whom was called Gershom, his father saying: I was a stranger in a foreign land. 4. And the other was Eliezer: For the God of my father, he said, was my helper, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh. 5. So Jethro, the kinsman of Moses, came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the desert, where he was encamped near the mountain of God. 6. And he sent word to Moses, saying: I, Jethro, your kinsman, am coming to you; and your wife, and your two sons with her. 7. Moses went out to meet his kinsman, bowed down and kissed him: and they greeted each other with words of peace. And when he had entered the tent, 8. Moses told his kinsman all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians on behalf of Israel, and all the hardship that had befallen them on the journey, and how the Lord had delivered them. 9. And Jethro rejoiced over all the good things that the Lord had done for Israel, and that He had rescued them from the hand of the Egyptians, 10. and said: Blessed be the Lord, who delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of Pharaoh: who rescued His people from the hand of Egypt. 11. Now I know that the Lord is great above all gods, because they dealt arrogantly against them. 12. So Jethro, the kinsman of Moses, offered burnt offerings and sacrifices to God; and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with him before God. 13. And the next day Moses sat to judge the people, who stood before Moses from morning until evening. 14. When his kinsman saw all that he was doing among the people, he said: What is this that you are doing among the people? Why do you sit alone, and all the people wait from morning until evening? 15. Moses answered him: The people come to me seeking the judgment of God. 16. And when any dispute arises among them, they come to me so that I may judge between them and show them the precepts of God and His laws. 17. But he said: What you are doing is not good. 18. You will wear yourself out with foolish labor, both you and this people who are with you: the task is beyond your strength, you cannot handle it alone. 19. But listen to my words and counsel, and God will be with you. Be you the people's representative before God, and bring their matters to Him: 20. and show the people the ceremonies and the manner of worship, and the way in which they should walk, and the work they should do. 21. And choose from all the people able men who fear God, men of truth who hate covetousness, and appoint from among them tribunes, and centurions, and captains of fifties, and captains of tens, 22. who shall judge the people at all times: and whatever is of greater importance, let them refer to you, and let them judge only the lesser matters; so it will be lighter for you, the burden being shared with others. 23. If you do this, you will fulfill the command of God, and you will be able to sustain His precepts, and all this people will return to their places in peace. 24. When Moses heard this, he did all that Jethro had suggested. 25. And choosing capable men from all Israel, he appointed them leaders of the people: tribunes, centurions, captains of fifties, and captains of tens. 26. They judged the people at all times; whatever was more difficult they referred to him, judging only the easier matters themselves. 27. And he dismissed his kinsman, who returned and went back to his own land.
Verse 1: When Jethro, Priest of Midian, Had Heard
1. WHEN JETHRO, PRIEST OF MIDIAN, HAD HEARD. The Chaldean translates: "prince of Midian." For the Hebrew word cohen signifies both priest and prince, because formerly whoever was a prince was also a priest.
KINSMAN OF MOSES — that is, the father-in-law of Moses: for Moses had married his daughter Sephora, chapter 3, verse 1. The Hebrew word חתן choten signifies a relative, or an in-law in a general sense (such as a father-in-law). Hence from choten comes התחתן hitchatten, that is, to be joined by affinity through marriage.
Verse 2: He Took Sephora, Whom He Had Sent Back
Verse 2. HE TOOK SEPHORA, THE WIFE OF MOSES, WHOM HE HAD SENT BACK — that is, when Moses was returning from Midian to Egypt, about to contend with Pharaoh, he had undertaken such a great and dangerous burden of affairs that he could not attend to his wife and children; hence, as she herself feared Pharaoh, he willingly and voluntarily sent her back with the children to Midian, as I said at chapter 4, verse 27.
Epiphanius, in Heresy 78, reports that Moses, from the time he began to prophesy, did not know his wife carnally: for otherwise, he says, he could not have been so intimate and closely united with God.
Verse 5: Near the Mountain of God
5. NEAR THE MOUNTAIN OF GOD — that is, Horeb, or Sinai, as is clear from chapter 3, verse 1. Hence it is clear that Jethro came not at Rephidim, but at Sinai, about which the following chapter speaks, and that these events are inserted here by prolepsis, perhaps because Jethro was stirred especially by the recent victory of the Hebrews against Amalek, spoken of in the preceding chapter, and so was coming to Moses.
Hence, probably against Lyra, he teaches and maintains Abulensis, that Jethro came to Moses after the law had been given at Sinai, near the end of the first year after the departure from Egypt. He infers this from Deuteronomy 1, verses 6, 7, 9, 15, where it is said that Moses appointed magistrates shortly before the camp was to move from Sinai; and the camp moved from Sinai in the second year, in the second month, as is clear from Numbers 10:11. But these magistrates are said in this chapter 18 to have been appointed when Jethro came to Moses and suggested and persuaded him of their appointment; therefore Jethro came to Moses near the end of the first year, shortly before the camp was to move from Sinai. Hence the same Abulensis judges that this chapter ought to be placed and inserted before Numbers chapter 10, verse 41. For there, in verse 29, Hobab (who according to Abulensis and others is Jethro) is asked by Moses to be willing to serve as guide for the Hebrews through the desert; and shortly after, in Numbers 32, the quarrel and murmuring of Aaron and Miriam arose when they saw the wife of Moses the Ethiopian woman, that is, Sephora the Midianite, who had come together with her father Jethro to Moses her husband.
Verse 7: Moses Went Out to Meet His Kinsman
Verse 7. WHO WENT OUT TO MEET HIS KINSMAN (FATHER-IN-LAW), BOWED DOWN — that is, by bending his body; for this is what the Hebrew root שחה schacha signifies. Moses showed reverence to his father-in-law Jethro according to the custom of his people. This reverence and homage is a participation in the reverence and worship due to God: for parents, princes, and eminent persons share something of God's power and honor. In a similar way Abraham bowed before the sons of Heth, Genesis 23:12; Jacob bowed before Esau, Genesis 33:3; the brothers bowed before Joseph, chapter 43:26.
THEY GREETED EACH OTHER WITH WORDS OF PEACE. In Hebrew, "they asked about peace," or "whether there is peace," that is, whether all things are safe and prosperous; for this is what the Hebrew greeting means: "peace be with you."
Verse 8: The Hardship That Had Befallen Them
Verse 8. THE HARDSHIP — that is, the difficulty and trouble. Note here the character and piety of the conversations of the Saints. Such were the conversations between St. Anthony and St. Paul the first hermit, between St. Benedict and his sister Scholastica, among the Essenes and other ancient hermits and cenobites.
Verse 9: Jethro Rejoiced
Verse 9. HE REJOICED. The Septuagint has ἐξέστη, "he was amazed," as if rapt in ecstasy.
Verse 11: Now I Know That the Lord Is Great Above All Gods
Verse 11. NOW I KNOW THAT THE LORD IS GREAT ABOVE ALL GODS — as if saying: I, Jethro, formerly had some knowledge of your God, the true God, and I did not entirely abandon the faith of Abraham my forefather, which Midian, Abraham's son and our ancestor, drew from him and handed down to us; but until now that faith was weak, and polluted by the admixture and worship of idols. But now, hearing of His wonders which He performed for you in Egypt and at the Red Sea, I recognize and firmly believe that He alone who helped you is the true God, the best, most just, and most powerful, inasmuch as He executed so powerful and just a vengeance upon the impious and tyrannical Egyptians.
Jethro propagated this faith and piety to his descendants. For from him the Rechabites descended, as is clear from 1 Chronicles 2:55, whom Jeremiah praises in chapter 35 for their abstinence and obedience, on which see more there.
See here what the piety of a single father and ruler can accomplish. Thus Constantine was great by this title, because he was of great spirit and extraordinary piety; and he was the first of all the emperors who not only embraced the faith of Christ, but also left behind Christian emperors.
Theodosius the Younger, bearing the name and piety of his grandfather, arranged his court like a school, in which he exercised himself and his household in piety, having times appointed in order for readings, psalms, fasting, and vigils, as Socrates says, Book 7, chapter 22, and Theodoret, Book 5, chapter 36. In this his companion, indeed his leader and inspirer, was his sister Pulcheria, and Eudoxia his wife. See The Holy Court, which our Raderus published.
Tiberius, commander of the guard under Justin II, was in such favor on account of his piety toward God and liberality toward the poor that he was declared successor by the Emperor Justin.
The Emperor Honorius was most zealous for the true religion: hence God delivered him from the many tyrants rising up against him on all sides, as Baronius teaches from Socrates, Sozomen, and others.
BECAUSE THEY DEALT ARROGANTLY AGAINST THEM. This is an ellipsis, but with a fuller and more complete meaning than what is in the Hebrew. For in Hebrew it reads: "because in whatever matter they acted arrogantly against them (the Hebrews)" — supply: in that same matter God punished them, namely, in the waters and the sea; for just as with these they had drowned the infants of the Hebrews, so the same was measured back to them by God, that they themselves should be drowned by the waters. Hence the Chaldean supplies the ellipsis: he translates, "because by the same thing by which the Egyptians thought to judge (punish and afflict) Israel, they were judged (punished)."
Verse 12: He Offered Burnt Offerings and Sacrifices
Verse 12. HE OFFERED. In Hebrew it is "he took," namely, from Moses and the Hebrews the sacrificial victims, which he would offer not to idols, as formerly, but to the true God of the Hebrews.
TO EAT BREAD WITH HIM BEFORE GOD. Note here: Sacrifices dedicated to God and offered in thanksgiving (such as those Jethro offered here) for the most part became a solemn banquet, which was therefore said to be held "before the Lord," as though He Himself were present at the sacrifices offered to Him and at their feast, especially if the feast took place near the altar on which the victims had been sacrificed to God. If the tabernacle had already been built and erected at the end of the year when Jethro came to Moses, as Abulensis holds, then "before God," that is, before the tabernacle, which was as it were the house of God, this feast took place.
Second, some Hebrews think that "before God" is said on account of the holy, pious, and godly men who were present at that banquet, according to that saying of the ancient sages: "He who enjoys a banquet at which wise men recline is as if he enjoyed the glory of the divine majesty."
Third, St. Augustine, Question 66, says "before God" means "in honor of God"; but both of these senses are somewhat remote. Hence it is clear that this sacrifice of Jethro was pure and offered to the true God: for otherwise Moses and the other elders would not have eaten from it, lest they be polluted by food offered to idols.
Tropologically: The saints, says Origen, do all their works before God, as those who look upon God as present and are themselves looked upon by Him; for they constantly live, work, and walk in the sight of God.
Verse 13: Moses Sat to Judge the People
Verse 13. TO JUDGE — that is, to pronounce judgment.
Verse 15: The People Come Seeking the Judgment of God
Verse 15. THE PEOPLE COME TO ME SEEKING THE JUDGMENT OF GOD. The Hebrew has: "seeking God"; the Chaldean: "seeking instruction from God"; the Septuagint: "seeking judgment from God," that is, from the eternal law of God (says St. Augustine, Question 67), which existed before all written law, which Moses, being filled with the Holy Spirit, discerned more clearly than all the other Hebrews, and consulted in all matters, both by thinking and meditating, and by praying.
Verse 17: What You Are Doing Is Not Good
Verse 17. WHAT YOU ARE DOING IS NOT GOOD, HE SAID. You are doing what is less suitable and less fitting; because what you are doing, wanting to handle every single matter alone, is too burdensome for you and less useful for the people.
Verse 18: You Will Wear Yourself Out with Foolish Labor
Verse 18. YOU WILL WEAR YOURSELF OUT WITH FOOLISH LABOR. The Hebrew word נבל nabal signifies to be foolish, and also to wither, to fall, to be consumed: the Translator has rendered both meanings here.
God willed that Moses, a man otherwise most wise, should be instructed by a foreigner and a Gentile, namely Jethro, to show that it is given to no one to be equally wise in all things at all times, and that therefore even inferiors who suggest sounder counsel should be humbly listened to.
For often has the gardener spoken timely words:
For no one is a good teacher who is not teachable; because he teaches better who daily grows and advances by learning better things," says St. Cyprian to Pompeius, at the end. So also St. Augustine, Question 68. Indeed, when someone objected to Plato: "You who are a teacher, are you also a student? And how long will you learn?" he answered: "As long as I do not regret becoming wiser," as Plutarch attests in his Life of Plato.
Allegorically it was signified that Jethro would be wiser than Moses, that is, the Gentile people wiser than the Jewish, says Cyril in his Collection on Numbers, chapter 13.
Verse 19: God Will Be with You
Verse 19. AND GOD WILL BE WITH YOU — God will be your help, so that aided by so many assistants, and relieved by shifting part of the burden to them, you may more conveniently bear and accomplish all things.
BE YOU THE PEOPLE'S REPRESENTATIVE IN MATTERS THAT PERTAIN TO GOD. In Hebrew, "be you for the people before God," or "in God's presence," as if saying: Be you the people's advocate, intercessor, and mediator before God, "that you may bring their matters to Him," namely, the people's words, vows, requests, and needs; for the pronoun "him" refers to God, as is clear from the Hebrew, not to the people, as Abulensis supposed.
Verse 20: Show the People the Ceremonies
20. AND SHOW THE PEOPLE THE CEREMONIES AND THE MANNER OF WORSHIP, AND THE WAY IN WHICH THEY SHOULD WALK — as if saying: Just as I said that you, O Moses, ought to be the people's advocate before God, so conversely I now say that you ought likewise to be God's interpreter before the people, to teach them how they should worship God and live rightly; but you should appoint others as judges and arbiters to settle their disputes and quarrels.
Hence morally, St. Gregory, Part 2 of the Pastoral Rule, chapter 7, teaches what a ruler ought to be: "the ruler should not diminish his care for interior matters by preoccupation with exterior ones, nor abandon his oversight of exterior matters by preoccupation with interior ones: lest, devoted to external affairs, he collapse inwardly, or, occupied solely with internal affairs, he fail to provide for his neighbors what he owes them outwardly." Hence also St. Augustine, Question 68: "We are taught here by Jethro to relieve a mind too intensely occupied with human affairs."
Verse 21: Choose from All the People Able Men
Verse 21. AND CHOOSE FROM ALL THE PEOPLE ABLE MEN. Thus read the Hebrew, Chaldean, Septuagint, and the Roman Latin text; not "wise men," as the Platinian edition has: for in Hebrew it is "men of valor," that is, men of strong spirit, vigorous and magnanimous, who do not fear the faces of the great and powerful so as to show partiality in judgment and pervert justice, but fear only God, the Judge of judges and King of kings.
Thus the Emperor Frederick II, when asked which of his subjects he held dearest, replied: "Those who fear God no less than they fear me." Such a judge was Job, chapter 29: "I broke the jaws of the wicked," he says, "and snatched the prey from his teeth." This is what Ecclesiasticus warns, chapter 7, verse 6: "Do not seek to become a judge, unless you have the strength to break through iniquities: lest you fear the face of the powerful and put a stumbling block in your justice."
Indeed, Epictetus addresses a judge thus: "Just as a goose is not frightened by clamor, nor a sheep by bleating, so neither should the foolish voice of the multitude frighten you."
Hence the Emperor Trajan, when appointing a magistrate and judge, and handing him the sword according to custom, said: "Take this, and use it for me as long as I command justly; but if I command unjustly, use it against me."
Thus Christian courtiers and military commanders resisted their emperors who ordered the worship and sacrifice of idols, even unto death and martyrdom. So St. Sebastian resisted Diocletian, St. Eustace resisted Hadrian, St. Theodore resisted Licinius, St. Gallicanus resisted Julian, Maurice and the Thebans resisted Maximian.
That Moses also required wise judges is clear from Deuteronomy 1:13: for not all the qualities of judges that Jethro laid down are listed here; and there is no doubt that both knowledge and prudence, as well as virtue and firmness of spirit, are required in a judge.
For truly did Charles V say, upon hearing of the death of Thomas More, who was a most wise man, Lord Chancellor of England and a Martyr: "In More, King Henry VIII cut off the head of all England."
IN WHOM THERE IS TRUTH — not so much truth of doctrine, or even of life, as of justice (for that is principally the subject here), that is, just men: so the Septuagint; who do not deceive anyone, but do what they have promised and what is equitable and prescribed by law. Hence it follows: "Hating covetousness," that is, who do not accept bribes, lest they be captured by them and violate justice.
Louis XI, king of France, used to say that in his court he had an abundance of all things except one; and when asked what that was, he said: Truth.
Hippocrates, in his letter to Philopoemen, depicts truth as a woman who is beautiful, tall, simply adorned, illustrious and splendid, whose eyes shone with a pure light, so that they seemed to imitate the brilliance of the heavenly bodies and stars.
Again, truth has been considered the daughter of time and the mother of virtue. Plutarch in the Roman Questions says that the Romans regarded Saturn as the parent and god of truth; he adds the reason: "Is it perhaps," he says, "because, as the philosophers think, Kronos is Chronos, that is, Saturn is Time? And truth is found through time. Or is it rather because Saturn was the most just of all and especially honored truth?" Hence Democritus also wrote that truth lies hidden at the bottom of a well; and there is a proverb: "Time brings truth to light."
Giraldus, Syntagma 1, testifies that deceased judges were formerly sculpted in such a way that truth hung suspended from their neck to their breast, nodding with its eyes.
Cajetan notes that princes should particularly look for and require these five qualities in those whom they place over others, namely: first, magnanimity; second, the fear of God; third, wisdom; fourth, justice; fifth, abstinence from bribes.
Thus Plato used to say: "There is no more excellent kind of possession for rulers than the friendship of those who do not know how to trade for profit." Hence also Isaiah, chapter 1, verse 23, reproaching the people of Jerusalem, after he had said: "Your princes are faithless, companions of thieves," immediately adds the reason: "They all love bribes."
On the contrary, Samuel, the best of judges, thus argues openly with his people: "If I have accepted a gift from anyone's hand, speak, and I will despise it today and restore it to you," 1 Samuel 12:3. And Paul, Acts 20:33: "I have coveted no one's silver or gold or clothing, as you yourselves know."
Thus Alcamenes, son of Teleclus, a Spartan, when asked why he had not accepted gifts offered by the Messenians, replied: "Because if I had accepted them, I could not have been at peace with the laws"; meaning that gifts should not be accepted which tend to harm the laws and the commonwealth. Plutarch is the witness, in the Laconic Sayings.
Let confessors, who are judges in the tribunal of the soul, possess these qualities of judges. As a sign of this, the Old Testament priest, who was a judge, had inscribed on his breastplate: "Doctrine and Truth"; hence also among the Egyptians, judges wore a sapphire around their neck, on which truth was inscribed, concerning which see chapter 28, verse 30.
Verse 23: You Will Fulfill the Command of God
Verse 23. IF YOU DO THIS, YOU WILL FULFILL (that is, you will be able to fulfill: for this is a potential future) THE COMMAND OF GOD, AND YOU WILL BE ABLE TO SUSTAIN HIS PRECEPTS — that is, to sustain them. In Hebrew it is: "God will command you, and you will be able to stand," that is, you will be able to satisfy God's precepts concerning the governance of the entire people.
Let all who wish to govern rightly follow this wise counsel of Jethro: namely, to share the burden with others and delegate lesser matters to them, so that they themselves can attend to weightier affairs and to the entire community, and at the same time devote themselves to God and prayer. For they are like Atlases who, leaning upon God, must sustain the weight of the whole people on their shoulders. For it is perverse, foolish, and unjust if a ruler so occupies himself with minor, or others', or external affairs that he must neglect greater, personal, and domestic matters, or perform them perfunctorily.
Verse 24: Moses Did All That He Had Suggested
Verse 24. MOSES DID ALL THAT HE HAD SUGGESTED. Moses therefore chose lower magistrates suitable for judging affairs, but with the consent of the people, and he seriously admonished them of their duty. See Deuteronomy 1, from verse 9 to 19, where these things are narrated more fully.
Verse 25: He Appointed Them Leaders of the People
Verse 25. AND CHOOSING CAPABLE MEN, HE APPOINTED THEM LEADERS OF THE PEOPLE AND TRIBUNES. "Tribunes" is in Hebrew "chiliarchs," that is, leaders of a thousand families: for in a beautiful order these magistrates were established for the relief of Moses, so that captains of ten were under captains of fifty, these under centurions, centurions under tribunes or chiliarchs; so that each tribune had under him ten centurions, each centurion had under him two captains of fifty, each captain of fifty presided over five captains of ten, so that the chain of appeal ran from captains of ten to captains of fifty, from these to centurions, from centurions to tribunes, and finally from tribunes to Moses.
Our Translator calls the chiliarchs "tribunes," because this was formerly the highest magistracy (for tribunes of the people were equal to consuls, and were as it were the consuls of the common people) in the Roman populace, as also in the military; and we too rightly call our colonels, or commanders of a thousand soldiers, tribunes.