Discovery BoxExodus 18:16 
Context18:16 When they have a dispute, 1 it comes to me and I decide 2 between a man and his neighbor, and I make known the decrees of God and his laws.” 3
Exodus 29:30
Context29:30 The priest who succeeds him 4 from his sons, when he first comes 5 to the tent of meeting to minister in the Holy Place, is to wear them for seven days. 6
1 tn Or “thing,” “matter,” “issue.”
2 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).
3 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).
4 tn Heb “after him”; NCV, NLT “after Aaron.”
5 tn The text just has the relative pronoun and the imperfect tense. It could be translated “who comes/enters.” But the context seems to indicate that this would be when he first comes to the tent to begin his tenure as High Priest, and so a temporal clause makes this clear. “First” has been supplied.
6 tn “Seven days” is an adverbial accusative of time. The ritual of ordination is to be repeated for seven days, and so they are to remain there in the court in full dress.
