Commento su Esodo 18:15

כי יבא — This is the same as כי בא because the people comes”, the imperfect tense expressing continuous action.

FOR THE PEOPLE COME UNTO ME TO INQUIRE OF G-D. Moses answered his father-in-law: “They must stand about me a great part of the day, for they come before me for many things. Because the people come unto me to inquire of G-d, that is, to pray for their sick, and to inform them of the whereabouts of what they have lost,” this being “the inquiring of G-d.”
And thus the people did with the [later] prophets, just as it is said, In former times in Israel, when a man went to inquire of G-d, thus he said: Come and let us go to the seer.⁹²I Samuel 9:9. The matter there concerned the finding of Saul’s lost asses. The prophet was Samuel. Similarly, Go meet the man of G-d, and inquire of the Eternal by him, saying: Shall I recover from this sickness?⁹³II Kings 8:8. The speaker is Ben-hadad, king of Aram, and he is sending Hazael to the prophet Elisha, who had come to Damascus. meaning that the prophet should pray for his recovery and that he should inform him if his prayer was accepted. This is also the meaning of the verse, and she [Rebekah] went to inquire of the Eternal,⁹⁴Genesis 25:22 (Vol. I, p. 316). as I have explained there.
“Moreover,” [Moses continued], “I adjudicate matters between them, when they have a matter, it cometh unto me, and I judge.⁹⁵Verse 16. And I also teach them Torah, and I make them know the statutes of G-d and His laws.”⁹⁵Verse 16.

לדרוש אלוקים, the princes and leaders of the community who come to me to consult me on matters of public concern, come to seek out the word of G’d because only after getting such a ruling will the people be able to come to rest.