Discovery BoxExodus 18:15-16 
Context18:15 Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire 1 of God. 18:16 When they have a dispute, 2 it comes to me and I decide 3 between a man and his neighbor, and I make known the decrees of God and his laws.” 4
Exodus 18:23
Context18:23 If you do this thing, and God so commands you, 5 then you will be able 6 to endure, 7 and all these people 8 will be able to go 9 home 10 satisfied.” 11
1 tn The form is לִדְרֹשׁ (lidrosh), the Qal infinitive construct giving the purpose. To inquire of God would be to seek God’s will on a matter, to obtain a legal decision on a matter, or to settle a dispute. As a judge Moses is speaking for God, but as the servant of Yahweh Moses’ words will be God’s words. The psalms would later describe judges as “gods” because they made the right decisions based on God’s Law.
2 tn Or “thing,” “matter,” “issue.”
3 tn The verb שָׁפַט (shafat) means “to judge”; more specifically, it means to make a decision as an arbiter or umpire. When people brought issues to him, Moses decided between them. In the section of laws in Exodus after the Ten Commandments come the decisions, the מִשְׁפָּטִים (mishppatim).
4 tn The “decrees” or “statutes” were definite rules, stereotyped and permanent; the “laws” were directives or pronouncements given when situations arose. S. R. Driver suggests this is another reason why this event might have taken place after Yahweh had given laws on the mountain (Exodus, 165).
5 tn The form is a Piel perfect with vav (ו) consecutive; it carries the same nuance as the preceding imperfect in the conditional clause.
6 tn The perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive now appears in the apodosis of the conditional sentence – “if you do this…then you will be able.”
7 tn Heb “to stand.” B. Jacob (Exodus, 501) suggests that there might be a humorous side to this: “you could even do this standing up.”
8 tn Literally “this people.”
9 tn The verb is the simple imperfect, “will go,” but given the sense of the passage a potential nuance seems in order.
10 tn Heb “his place.”
11 tn Heb “in peace.”
sn See further T. D. Weinshall, “The Organizational Structure Proposed by Jethro to Moses (Ex. 18:17),” Public Administration in Israel and Abroad 12 (1972): 9-13; and H. Reviv, “The Traditions Concerning the Inception of the Legal System in Israel: Significance and Dating,” ZAW 94 (1982): 566-75.
