Exodus 18

2 after. Probably after the occurrence in iv. 25. 11 for, etc. Or, “yea: [He is so] in the [very] thing that they [the Egyptians] acted haughtily against them” [the Israelites]; meaning that the wickedness of the Egyptians towards the Israelites became an occasion for God to display His almighty power and supremacy.

12 to eat bread. A thanksgiving feast. Cp. Deut. xii. 7; 1 Chron. xxix. 22.

21 able men. Jethro’s judicious proposal, which he piously made subject to the command of God (ver. 23), accorded with a subsequent Divine arrangement (Numb. xi. 16, 17); and probably laid the foundation of the municipal polity of the Hebrews. The Saxon institutions of Alfred resembled this plan.