Coming Around
Coming Around
Exodus 18:1 & 6-7
Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses’ father-in-law, heard of all God had done for Moses and for Israel his people, how the LORD had brought Israel out of Egypt. … And when he sent word to Moses, “I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons with her,” Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and bowed down and kissed him. And they asked each other of their welfare and went into the tent.
We learn in chapter 18 that Moses had left his wife Zipporah and their two sons with her father, Jethro, before arriving in Egypt, so I can only imagine how nourishing this family reunion must have been for Moses’ psychiatric state. Evidently, Jethro had been keeping tabs on Moses. Maybe he had a spy or a merchant-friend who’d inquire about Moses every time he was in Egypt on business, sparking up conversations in the market place with passersby, listening to the chitter-chatter in the public square, maybe even pulling Moses aside from time to time to ask for a progress report. And I’m sure Zipporah and her boys are in on it, too. I’m sure they pestered Jethro for news, waiting on pins and needles for its arrival, always fearing the worst but hoping for the best.
Just think: the last time we saw Zipporah she was rushing with a flint knife to save Moses’ life, and her excoriation of him during that affair was unforgettable—“Surely, you’re a bridegroom of blood to me!” But time has way of healing wounds and softening hearts, and I’d like to think that as Zipporah rushes with Jethro to embrace her husband between verses 6 and 7, the words she offers this time around are far more consoling. Moses doesn’t write them down for us; maybe it’s all a bit too mushy-gushy; but I feel a deep sigh of relief in this silence regardless of what is or isn’t spoken. God has brought Moses back to his family, God has brought his family back to Moses, and—most significantly—God has been reaching people in this wilderness even before Moses gets there.
Friend, never forgot that while God walks along with you through life, He’s always ahead of you.