Jethro: Calling All Recruits!

By: Carletta Traylor, Esq. aka C.N.

 

How many of us recall the “Clean Up” song from Barney? Barney might have been a creepy troll to me (I’m sorry! Barney was a big purple dinosaur who constantly stared at you, constantly smiled, never blinked, and never went to the bathroom. He was creepy!), but the “Clean Up” song (Clean up, clean up, everybody, everywhere; clean up, clean up, everybody do your share) taught children the importance of working together to accomplish a task; one person couldn’t do everything on his or her own.

 

Similarly, when it comes to doing Yah’s (God’s) work, one person cannot possibly do everything on his or her own-there’s simply too much to do! On this note, I present today’s (shorter) Bible story: Jethro’s calling in the recruits!

 

If we’ll recall from my previous post, Yahuah Loves Flamin’ Hots!, Moses certainly had his hands full. Not only did The Most High Yah (Yahuah/God the Father/God Almighty; the father of our Lord and Savior, Yahushua Hamashiach (Jesus Christ)) use Moses to free the Israelites (His homies! His homeboys! His home skillet biscuits with butter and jelly on top! His Day Ones! His partners! His pals! His friends! His buddies! His…sorry. Haha) from Egyptian slavery under Pharaoh->I See The Red Sea! Pharaoh’s A Weenie!, but Yahuah made Moses (and his younger brother, Aaron, before he lost his ever-loving mind and started acting like he didn’t have any home training) the spiritual leader and judge of the Israelites while trying to lead them into the Promised Land.

 

Here’s the thing, though: the Israelites were clowning! Despite everything that Yah had done for them and had brought them through, they continued to doubt (not trust) Yah, they continued to disobey (not listen to) Yah-especially by worshipping fake, phony, fraudulent, fruit loop loving “gods” instead of Yah himself-, and they continued to make Yah look bad.

 

Do you all know that these dipsticks (I mean Grade-A, primed and ready, cream of the crop-level doofuses) doubted Yah so much that they actually wanted to return to Egypt?! Please allow me to ask that question again: do you all know that these jamokes (these braindead dingbats (RIP Archie Bunker. Haha)) doubted Yah so much that they wanted to be Pharaoh’s slaves again…where they were beaten, robbed, worked to death, half starved, treated like garbage (as if they weren’t human), and didn’t have any rights?!

 

As if that wasn’t enough for Moses to deal with, if you all will recall from my Yahuah Loves Flamin’ Hots! post, dumb, dumber and dumbest-The Three Stooges-Korah, Dathan and Abiram-tried to challenge Moses’ and Aaron’s spiritual authority and didn’t think that they deserved to be the leaders/judges of the Israelites. Needless to say, Moses had a lot of people (over 600,000 Israelites) and unnecessary drama to deal with (if I want drama, I’ll watch TNT!), and he needed help overseeing the Israelites. In comes Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro, for the save and win!

 

In the 18th Chapter of Exodus (the second book of the Bible in the Old Testament), Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro (Jethro was the father of Moses’ wife, Zipporah, and the grandfather of their children, Gershom and Eliezer) comes to visit Moses. As soon as Jethro steps on the scene, he notices that the Israelites are standing around Moses (they’re circling him like a pack of wild animals! Get back, you wild orangutans! I’m sorry. How dare I insult orangutans like that. Haha) as he’s sitting down. Jethro asks his son-in-law what he has been up to and why this is so. Moses responds as follows:

 

Exodus 18:15-16 (KJV)–And Moses said unto his father in law, Because the people come unto me to enquire of God: When they have a matter, they come unto me; and I judge between one and another, and I do make them know the statutes of God, and his laws.

 

These people are crazy and can’t be left alone, Daddy (these fools might blow something up! KABOOM!)! The Most High Yah put me in charge of them, Daddy, which means that they all come to me with their problems, and I have to help them and explain Yah’s rules and laws to them. They don’t know how to act, they continue to disrespect Yahuah, and they make Children of the Corn seem like little angels (parents, please DON’T EVER allow your children to watch Children of the Corn…EVER. Haha!)!

 

Jethro realizes that Moses can’t deal with these imbeciles…I mean, loving children of Yah…by himself; he needs help! As such, Jethro warns Moses that he’ll kill himself trying to judge all 600,000 Israelites and explain Yah’s laws/rules on his own. Jethro makes the following fatherly suggestion to Moses:

 

Exodus 18:19-23 (KJV)–Hearken now unto my voice, I will give thee counsel, and God shall be with thee: Be thou for the people to God-ward, that thou mayest bring the causes unto God: And thou shalt teach them ordinances and laws, and shalt shew them the way wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do. Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens: And let them judge the people at all seasons: and it shall be, that every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge: so shall it be easier for thyself, and they shall bear the burden with thee. If thou shalt do this thing, and God command thee so, then thou shalt be able to endure, and all this people shall also go to their place in peace.

 

What a great idea, Jethro! Jethro suggests to Moses that he (Moses) should teach and appoint (choose) some of the Israelites to help him to share Yah’s laws and rules with the group. ALL of the Israelites weren’t clueless oompa loompas; some of them actually loved Yah, trusted Yah, and wanted to be like Spike Lee and “do the right thing.” As such, Moses took Jethro’s advice, trained a subset (some) of the Israelites, and appointed these men to be the spiritual leaders/judges of groups of ten, fifty, hundreds, and even thousands of fellow Israelites.

 

Thata’ boy, Moses! Now you don’t have to do everything on your own! While the Israelites still brought the more difficult matters to Moses, his appointed leaders took care of the smaller matters themselves. Such a delegation of duties allowed Moses to focus his attention on the more important spiritual issues of the Israelites (Lord knows that they had plenty. Haha), he wasn’t so overwhelmed with all of the Israelites’ problems, and he was able to more effectively lead the Israelites in their walk with the Lord. Thanks, Daddy!

 

I always like to end my posts by explaining how we all can become saved (give our lives to Yahushua Hamashiach (Jesus Christ)). Becoming saved is as simple as ABC:

 

·   Admit that we’re sinners, and ask Yah (God) to please forgive us of our sins (bad things that we say, do, don’t do, and/or think, that Yah doesn’t like) and help us to stop sinning (Please clean me up, Lord! I’m hot garbage, dipped in excrement, sprinkled in chitling grease on the inside (just STANKY!)!).

·   Believe that Yahushua Hamashiach (Jesus Christ) is Yah’s Son, that he died on the Cross/stake for our sins, that he rose from the dead (came back alive)-3 days later-with all power in his hands, that he ascended back into Heaven on a cloud, that he’s sitting at Yah’s right hand right now, and that he’s coming back one day to take his children (take all believers in him) home to Heaven and to judge/destroy this wicked world.

·   Commit ourselves to following Yahushua Hamashiach (listen to him and live for/like him forevermore).

 

Once we’ve given our lives to Yahushua Hamashiach (Jesus Christ), we will live forever, y’all! When Yahushua Hamashiach comes back to Earth, he shall raise the dead back to life, and those of us who have given our lives to him (both dead and still living at the time of his return) will receive new bodies, we’ll receive new names, and we’ll live it up with him in Heaven forever (Aye! Turn up! Ain’t no party like a Holy Ghost party, ‘cuz a Holy Ghost party don’t (doesn’t) stop! Party over here! Ooh-ooh! Party over here! Ooh-ooh! SINLESS partying at its finest!)! I’m looking forward to it! Let’s get it!

 

Given the length of today’s article, I will not remake today’s Bible story. No worries, though (I’m still not THAT trifling!)! I have included a wonderful video from Harbor Kids, which explains the story of Jethro and Moses beautifully. With that in mind, I love you all, Yah (God) bless you all, and I’ll see you all on the next one!

 

Harbor Kids: Jethro Helps Moses-Elementary-The Gospel Project (YouTube)

-Carletta