Midrasch zu Schemot 18:1

Now Jethro heard (Exod. 18:1). Scripture states elsewhere in reference to this verse: And so I saw the wicked buried, and they came into their rest; but they that had done right went away from the holy place, and were forgotten in the city; this also is vanity (Eccles. 8:10). Is it really so that wicked buried come and go at will? R. Simon declared: These are the wicked, who are considered as dead and buried while still living, as it is said: The wicked man travails with pain all his days (Job 15:20). What is the meaning of mitholel (“travails with pain”)? The wicked man, even in his lifetime, is considered as met (“dead”) and halal (“slain”) even while alive.

(Exod. 18:1:) NOW JETHRO <PRIEST OF MIDIAN, MOSES' FATHER-IN-LAW>, HEARD <ALL THAT GOD HAD DONE FOR MOSES>…. This text is related (to Eccl. 8:10): AND THEN I SAW THE WICKED BURIED, AND THEY CAME BACK. Are there wicked buried who [come back] and go about?¹Tanh., Exod. 5:1. <It is even> as Solomon said (ibid.): BURIED, AND THEY CAME BACK. However, R. Simon has said: These are wicked, in that they are dead and buried during their lifetimes.²Eccl. R. 8:10:1; see Ber. 18b; Gen. R. 39:7. Thus it is stated (in Job 15:20): A WICKED PERSON WRITHES IN TORMENT ALL HIS DAYS. What is the meaning of WRITHE IN TORMENT (mitholel)? That he is dead (met) and writhing (holel).

Another interpretation (of Eccl. 8:10): <BUT THEY ARE FORGOTTEN (yishtakkehu) >. They take pride (yishtabbehu) in that they take pride (mishtabbehim) in their good deeds.⁴See Git. 56b. (Ibid., cont.:) THIS ALSO IS VANITY. Is this not vanity when the peoples of the world see them, <when they see> how they come, convert to Judaism, and enter under the wings of the Divine Presence, while they < themselves > do not convert to Judaism? THIS ALSO IS VANITY. Who was this person who came and converted to Judaism as a true proselyte? This was Jethro, as stated (in Exod. 18:1): NOW JETHRO <PRIEST OF MIDIAN, MOSES' FATHER-IN-LAW>, HEARD⁵In Hebrew this verb also tends to imply heeding and obeying. <ALL THAT GOD HAD DONE FOR MOSES>….

Now Jethro heard (Exod. 18:1). Some hear and lose (their reward), while others hear and are rewarded. Joash heard and lost (his reward), just as it is said: Then the king hearkened unto him (II Chron. 24:17), but after that is written: So they executed judgment upon Joash (ibid., v. 24). Similarly, the peoples have heard and they tremble (Exod. 15:14). However, Jethro heard and was rewarded. Though he had been an idolatrous priest, he joined Moses, and entered under the wings of the Shekhinah. For that he became worthy of adding the portion dealing with judges to the Torah of Israel, when he told Moses: The thing that thou doest is not good (ibid. 18:18).

Another interpretation (of Cant. 1:3): THEREFORE DO THE WORLDS LOVE YOU. These are the peoples of the world, who converted to Judaism. Who was this? Jethro. When he heard what miracles were done for Israel, he came and converted to Judaism, as stated (in Exod. 18:1): NOW JETHRO < PRIEST OF MIDIAN, MOSES' FATHER-IN-LAW >, HEARD <ALL THAT GOD HAD DONE FOR MOSES…. >

Now Jethro heard (Exod. 18:1). Scripture says elsewhere in allusion to this verse: Thine ointments have a goodly fragrance; thy name is an ointment poured forth; therefore do the maidens love thee (Song 1:3). R. Yannai the son of R. Simeon the son of Yohai said: The earlier generations merely chanted pleasant songs before You, but when we reached the sea we left unuttered no words of praise with which to extol You. Hence it is said: Thine ointments have a goodly fragrance.

What is written above on the matter (in Exod. 17:8–16)? The downfall of Amalek. Then afterwards (comes Exod. 18:1): NOW JETHRO <PRIEST OF MIDIAN, MOSES' FATHER-IN-LAW>, HEARD <ALL THAT GOD HAD DONE FOR MOSES….> This text is related (to Prov. 19:25): BEAT THE SCOFFER, AND THE SIMPLETON WILL BECOME CLEVER.⁸PRK 3, at the beginning (according to some texts, including S. Buber’s edition; but cf. Wm. G. Braude, who in his translation of Pesikta de-Rab Kahana, p. 39, n. 1, expresses some doubt over whether the passage, which he numbers 3:a-e, belongs to this Pesiqta). (Ibid.:) BEAT THE SCOFFER. This is Amalek. (Ibid., cont.:) AND THE SIMPLETON WILL BECOME CLEVER. This is Jethro. When Amalek fought with Israel, what is written (in Exod. 17:8)? THEN AMALEK CAME AND FOUGHT WITH ISRAEL AT REPHIDIM. What is the meaning of IN REPHIDIM (RPYDYM)? <It is so named> because their hands YDYM had let go (rt.: RPY)⁹In the Hebrew word order, the root rpy immediately precedes YDYM. of the commandments. And how had their hands let go? It is written (in vs. 7): AND THEY CALLED THE NAME OF THE PLACE MASSAH AND MERIBAH¹⁰MASSAH means “a testing,” and MERIBAH means “a contention.” < BECAUSE THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL WERE IN CONTENTION AND BECAUSE THEY TESTED THE LORD, SAYING: IS THE LORD PRESENT AMONG US OR NOT?>¹¹See Sanh. 106a; Bekh. 5b; cf. Mekhilta de Rabbi Ishmael, Wayassa‘, 7. He began to cry out: How long will you test me? How long will you contend with me? And Moses also cried out (in Exod. 17:2): WHY DO YOU CONTEND WITH ME? WHY DO YOU TEST THE LORD? And how did they test <him>? R. Judah and R. Nehemiah disagree.¹²Below, Deut. 6:15. R. Judah says: They murmured and said this: If he satisfies us with food [as a king who, when he enters a province where they praise him and honor him, satisfies them with food], we will serve him; but if not, we will not serve him. R. Nehemiah says: Israel said this: If he does what we need for us [as a king who, when he enters a province where they praise him and honor him, does for them everything they need], we will serve him; but if not, we will not serve him. And our masters have said this: They reflected and said: Here we are reflecting in our heart. If he knows what we are reflecting, we will serve him; but if not, we will not serve him. Thus it is stated [(in Exod. 17:7): <THEY TESTED THE LORD, SAYING: > IS THE LORD PRESENT AMONG US <OR NOT>?] R. Berekhyah said: They may have spoken in their heart, but the Holy One granted them their petition, as stated (in Ps. 78:18): THEY TESTED GOD IN THEIR HEART [BY ASKING FOOD FOR THEMSELVES.] What is written (in vs. 29): SO THEY ATE AND WERE VERY FULL. The Holy One said this: You reflected in your heart. By your life I am informing you: Here is Amalek before you, as stated (in Exod. 17:8): THEN AMALEK CAME.

Now Jethro heard (Exod. 18:1). Jethro was known by seven names. He was called Jethro (yitro) because he added (yater) a chapter to the law, that is, the chapter dealing with judges. He was called Hobab (hobab) because he loved (hiba) the law. When he came to the Holy Land, they offered him the fields of Jericho, but he said: “I brought none of my possessions with me, and I abandoned all I owned in order to study the Torah, shall I now sow and reap when I should be studying Torah?” They told him: “There is a man studying the law in a certain area that is in a desolate place in the desert, and it lacks even wheat.” When they heard this, they went there, as it is said: And the children of the Kenite, Moses’ father-in-law, went up out of the city of the palm trees with the children of Judah, unto the wilderness of Judah, which is in the south of Arad; and they went and dwelt with the people (Judg. 1:16).⁷See Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews 3:76. The descendants of Jethro devoted themselves to Torah study. They went there and found Jabez sitting in the house of study, and the priests, the Levites, and the rulers were sitting with him, and all the Israelites were sitting there. And so they said to him (Jabez): “We are converts, how can we sit there among them?” Thereupon they seated themselves at the entrance to the school and listened and learned, as it is said: The families of scribes that dwelt at Jabez: the Tirathites, the Shimeathites, the Succathites. These are the Kenites (I Chron. 2:55). They were called tiratim (Tirathites) because they sat at the gate (sha’ar), shime’atim (Shimeathites) because they listened (from shama, “to hear”) and learned, and sukhatim (Succathites) because the Israelites made it clear to them (from mesakhim, “looked after them”). Another explanation (of Tirathites). Whenever the Israelites were confronted by danger they would blow (matri’in) their shofars, and they (Kenites) would hear them.

Now Jethro heard (Exod. 18:1). Scripture says elsewhere: Thine own friend and thy father’s friend forsake not; neither go into thy brother’s house in the day of thy calamity; better is a neighbor that is near than a brother far off (Prov. 27:10). Thine own friend is the Holy One, blessed be He, who called Israel brother and friend, as it is said: For My brethren and friends’ sakes (Ps. 122:8). Thy father’s friend is Abraham, as is said: The seed of Abraham my friend (Isa. 41:8). Forsake not implies that if you would forsake God, remember what happened to the house of your brothers, Ishmael and Esau.⁹Better to rely on God than on brethren who betray you, as the descendants of Esau and Ishmael did at the destruction of the First Temple; see below.

(Exod. 18:1:) NOW JETHRO PRIEST OF MIDIAN, <…>, HEARD. He was a priest for idolatry.¹⁷Mekhilta de Rabbi Ishmael, Amaleq, 3. (Exod. 18:9:) AND JETHRO REJOICED (rt.: YHD), in that he professed (YHD) the name of the Holy One. Another interpretation (of Exod. 18:9:) AND JETHRO REJOICED (rt.: YHD). <It was> that he became a Jew (rt.: YHD). (Vs. 10:) SO JETHRO SAID: BLESSED BE THE LORD. Jethro said: I did not leave a deity alone without serving him, but I have found no deity like the God of Israel. (Vs. 11:) NOW I KNOW THE LORD IS GREATER THAN ALL GODS. Four children of Adam said four things. If someone else had said them, they would have laughed at them.¹⁸Eccl. R. 3:11:1. And who were they? Moses, Jethro, Solomon, and Nebuchadnezzar. Moses said (in Deut 32:4): THE ROCK!—HIS WORK IS PERFECT, [BECAUSE ALL HIS WAYS ARE JUSTICE]. [If someone else had said it, they would have laughed at him, saying: From where does this one know the ways of the Holy One? However,] because it is written (in Ps. 103:7): HE MADE HIS WAYS KNOWN TO MOSES, it is therefore stated (in Deut. 32:4): THE ROCK!—HIS WORK IS PERFECT, BECAUSE ALL HIS WAYS ARE JUSTICE. Then Solomon said (in Eccl. 3:11): HE HAS MADE EVERYTHING BEAUTIFUL IN ITS TIME. If someone else had said it, they would have laughed at him, saying: Who has made known to this one what is beautiful and what is not beautiful? But, <in the case of> Solomon, whose table lacked nothing, he knew what was beautiful. R. Jose bar Hanina said: Solomon's table did not even lack bitter herbs¹⁹Tanh., Exod. 5:7, and Codex Vaticanus Ebr. 34 read “ice” here. of Tammuz nor melopepones {i.e., radish and lettuce}²⁰The Greek word means “melons.” of Tishri. Nebuchadnezzar said (in Dan. 4:32 [35]): ALL THE INHABITANTS OF THE EARTH ARE OF NO ACCOUNT. If another had said it, they would have laughed at him: Over what does this man rule? He does not even rule over a gnat. But in the case of Nebuchadnezzar it was fitting for him to say so, since it is stated concerning him (in Dan. 2:38): AND [INTO YOUR HAND HE HAS GIVEN] THE CHILDREN OF ADAM, [THE WILD BEASTS OF THE FIELD, AND THE FOWL OF HEAVEN,] WHEREVER THEY MAY DWELL; [AND HE HAS HAD YOU RULE OVER ALL OF THEM]. Jethro said (in Exod. 18:11): NOW I KNOW THE LORD IS GREATER THAN ALL GODS, because among all his gods he did not see one as great as the Lord. (Ibid., cont.:) YES, BY THE THING WHICH <THE EGYPTIANS> PLOTTED AGAINST THEM.²¹PRK 11:5. R. Eleazar said: By that with which the Egyptians intended to destroy Israel, <i.e.,> by water, by that they were destroyed. So they were drowned in the midst of the sea.

Now Jethro, the priest of Midian, heard (Exod. 18:1). Scripture says elsewhere in reference to this verse: The wise shall inherit honor; but as for the fools, they carry away shame (Prov. 3:35). The wise shall inherit honor refers to Jethro at the time he came to Moses. How very great, indeed, was the honor accorded him! And He said unto Moses: “I, thy father-in-law, Jethro” (Exod. 18:6). R. Joshua held that Jethro sent a messenger to inform him (of his coming). R. Eleazar of Modi’im declared: He sent him a letter stating: “Do it (welcome me) for my sake, but if not for my sake, do it for the sake of your wife, but if not for her sake, then do it for the sake of your children.”

(Fol. 116) The following Tannaim differ in this point: (Ex. 18, 1) Now Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses' fahter-in-law, heard. What was the news which he heard that caused him to go to Moses and become a proselyte? R. Joshua says: "He heard of the war with Amalek; this caused him to come to Moses; for next to this is written (Ib. 17) And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of his sword." R. Elazar the Modite said: "He heard of the giving of the Torah; this caused him to come and visit Moses; for when the Holy One, praised be He! gave the Torah unto Israel, His voice rang from one end of the globe to the other, and caused all the idolatrous kings to tremble in their palaces and they sang praises [for him], as it is said (Ps. 29, 9) And in His temple all say, 'Glory.' They all assembled around Bil'am saying to him: 'What do these voices refer to? Perhaps He is bringing a flood upon the world, as it is said (Ib.) "Yea, the Lord sitteth as King forever, i.e., for long since He had already sworn not to bring a flood upon the world." They then said to Bil'am: "Perhaps He cannot bring a flood of water [on account of his oath] but He is bringing now a flood of fire, as it is said (Is. 66, 16) For by fire will the Lord judge." Whereupon Bil'am replied: "Long since He had already sworn not to destroy all the flesh." 'What then mean all these voices?' asked they again. Whereupon he replied: 'A precious treasure which the Holy One, praised be He! kept in His treasure, which was preserved with Him for nine hundred and seventy-four generations before the creation; this treasure He wants to give to His children, as it is said (Ib.) The Lord will give strength unto His people.' Whereupon they all responded: "The Lord will bless His people with peace.' " R. Elazar b. Jacob said: "Jethro heard of the division of the Red Sea, as it is said (Josh. 5, 1) And it came to pass, when all the kings of the Amorites heard, etc., how the Lord dried up the waters of the Jordan from before the children of Israel, until they were passed over, that their hearts melted, neither was there spirit in them any more, because of the children of Israel." So also said Rachab the harlot unto the messengers of Joshua (Ib. 2, 10) For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you, etc. And as soon as we had heard it, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more spirit in any man, because of you."

Another interpretation: "And Yitro Heard": He was called by seven names. Yeter was his name while he was yet an idolater. As it says: "He returned to Yeter his father-in-law"(Exodus 4:18). Once he converted, an extra letter (vav) was added to his name, just as was done to Avraham, and he was then called Yitro. Another interpretation: Yitro, because he increased (yiter) a section of the Torah, i.e. "And you shall see from amongst the people" (Exodus 18:21). Hobab, because he cherised (hibeb) the Torah, as written in the section "Moshe said to Hobab" (Numbers 10:29)

And the children of Israel journeyed from Rephidim and encamped in the wilderness of Sinai, ‎in the third month after their going out of Egypt. At that time Reuel, the father-in-law of ‎Moses, came with Zipporah his daughter and her two sons, for he had heard of the wonders ‎which the Lord had done in behalf of Israel, that he delivered them from the hand of Egypt; ‎and Reuel came to Moses into the wilderness where he was encamped on the mountain of ‎God; and Moses went to meet his father-in-law with great honors, and all Israel went with ‎him, and Reuel with his children remained for many days in the midst of the children of Israel, ‎and he knew the Lord from that day on. And in the third month after the children of Israel ‎went forth from Egypt, in the sixth day of the month, the Lord gave the commandments unto ‎Israel on Mount Sinai, and all Israel heard these commandments, and they all rejoiced greatly ‎in the Lord on that day. And the glory of the Lord was resting upon Mount Sinai, and he called ‎unto Moses from the midst of the cloud, and Moses came in the midst of the fire and went up ‎the mount. And Moses was upon the mount forty days and forty nights, he ate no bread, ‎neither did he drink water, and the Lord gave him statutes and judgments to teach the ‎children of Israel. And the Lord wrote the ten commandments, which he had commanded ‎unto the children of Israel, upon two tables of stone, to give them unto Moses, in order to ‎command them unto the children of Israel. And at the end of forty days and forty nights, when ‎the Lord had ceased speaking unto Moses on Mount Sinai, the Lord gave unto Moses the ‎tables of stone, written with the finger of God. And when the children of Israel saw that ‎Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together ‎unto Aaron and said: As for this man Moses we wot not what is become of him, now ‎therefore, up, make us gods which shall go before us, lest thou shalt die. And Aaron was ‎greatly afraid of the people, and he commanded, and they brought unto him gold, and he ‎made a molten calf unto the people. And the Lord said unto Moses before he had gone down ‎from the mountain: Go, get thee down, for the people which thou broughtest out of the land ‎of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They have made a molten calf and have bowed down to ‎it. Now therefore, let me alone, that I may consume them from the earth, for they are a stiff ‎necked people. And Moses entreated the Lord, and he prayed to the Lord in behalf of the ‎people, concerning the calf which they had made, and after wards he went down from the ‎mount with the two tables which God had given unto him to command unto the Israelites. And ‎when Moses approached the camp and beheld the calf which the people had made, Moses’ ‎anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands and broke them beneath the mount. ‎And Moses entered the camp, and he took the calf and burnt it in fire and ground it to ‎powder, and strewed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it.‎