Comments on Exodus 18 This chapter recounts Moses' interaction with his father-in- law Jethro, and his ultimate suggestion to institute a formal bureaucracy. There isn't much here requiring comment, so I will limit them to a few interesting points. First off, we should notice that Jethro is not an Israelite, but is labeled a "priest" (v. 1), blesses the Lord (v. 10-11), and sacrifices to the Lord with Moses, Aharon, and all of the elders of Israel partaking in that sacrifice (v. 12). So we have a non-Israelite priest worshiping and sacrificing to the Lord, which violates dogmatic notions about who can and cannot be a "priest". Jethro was a Midianite, which is of the lineage of Ishmael son of Abraham. So, Jethro was of the lineage of Abraham, just not through Isaac. This particular branch of Ishmael appears to have been quite devout up until the incidents with Balaam (cf. Num. 22-24, Num. 25, Num. 31:8-16). Jethro's priesthood lineage is traced in D&C 84:6-16 and we are informed that Moses received his priesthood from Jetrho. Next, we have the institution of a bureaucracy wherein there is no distinction between Church and State. The Church was the State, and this is the ideal for Israel and will return in a Millennial setting (cf. Isa. 2:3, Isa. 9:7). Copyright © 2002 by S. Kurt Neumiller . All rights reserved. No part of this text may be reproduced in any form or by any means for commercial gain without the express written consent of the author. Digital or printed copies may be freely made and distributed for personal and public non-commercial use.