Jethro Leadership Lessons

Not the Hillbilly from Beverly Hills. Though he did have that down home charm. Not the special agent from NCIS – though I loved the discipline of Tony with the slap on the back of the head. I am one who (might have, I will deny it to government officials) used this policy raising my son through adolescence. Even to this day, he ducks if my arm twitches behind him (supposedly).

This Jethro is the one with seven daughters – a daunting task in itself. This Jethro is the one who raised livestock. This is the one that kept his two grandsons and their mother while their dad ran off to free a nation by taking on the strongest leader in the world. Quite a family man. This is the one that took the leader of a million plus refugees and told the leader he was doing everything wrong. He was not afraid of the hard calls and hard conversations. This is the one whose wisdom can be seen impacting judicial systems for millennia, even the America system.

Jethro – aka Reuel (which means friend of God) – a Midianite, who were descendants of Abraham through another wife after Sarah passed away. Jethro – a priest who worshipped Yahweh. Jethro gave his daughter, Zipporah, to Moses.

After Moses and the Israelites left Egypt, Jethro caught up with Moses. He escorted Moses’ wife and kids back to him. And then he shared a meal and listened to how the LORD worked through Moses and did great acts in delivering them from Pharaoh. Interestingly, the word most translations use is Jethro ‘rejoiced’ … but the word could also mean ‘shiver, feared.’

Later, he saw Moses tied down judging and helping people lined up to see him. Jethro motivates him to get leaders over 10, 50, 1000 etc. Let the judging be done through progressive system, Get a bureaucracy set up. All while doing what the Lord tells him to do.

Jethro was a wise man. From him we can learn some great leadership skills.

• Be willing to listen to outsiders and glean wisdom
• Be willing to have the hard conversation
• Be willing share/delegate the responsibility
• Be willing to hold people accountable and be held accountable
• Be willing to stay involved

There are other lessons, but these are five basic principles in which we all can see powerful wisdom.

Thank you Jethro.