Who was Jethro in relation to Moses and the Midianites?
Jethro was Moses’ father-in-law, a Midianite, and the Midianite priest whose daughter Moses married after fleeing Egypt. He is identified as a relative of Abraham. Seeing Moses besieged by Israel’s problems, Jethro advised him to set up a system because one man could not do it all alone.
Les explains that Jethro was Moses’ father-in-law, a Midianite connected to the time Moses fled from Egypt and married the daughter of the Midianite priest. Jethro came on the scene, saw the multitude of Israelites bringing one problem after another to Moses, and told Moses no one man could handle it alone. He advised establishing a system for dealing with their problems. When Jethro saw all Moses did, he asked why Moses sat alone while all the people stood by him from morning. Moses answered that the people came to inquire of God, and he judged between them and made known God’s statutes and laws. Jethro said what Moses was doing was not good, that it would wear him away and was too much. Les notes Jethro is called a Midianite priest; he would not accuse him of being pagan, but he does not believe Jethro was a believer in the God of Abraham, though he also is a relative of Abraham.