Laws and Revelation: A Chronology Problem

(13) Next day, Moses sat as magistrate among the people, while the people stood about Moses from morning until evening. (14) But when Moses’ father-in-law saw how much he had to do for the people, he said, “What is this thing that you are doing to the people? Why do you act alone, while all the people stand about you from morning until evening?” (15) Moses replied to his father-in-law, “It is because the people come to me to inquire of God. (16) When they have a dispute, it comes before me, and I decide between one party and another, and I make known the laws and teachings of God.”

ויהי ממחרת AND IT CAME TO PASS ON THE MORROW — And it was on the morrow. It was the day after Yom Kippur, so we have learned in the books. And what is meant by 'on the morrow'? The morrow of his descent from the mountain. And of necessity, it can only be said that it was the day after Yom Kippur, for before the giving of the Torah it is impossible to say, 'And I will make known the statutes, etc.', and from the time the Torah was given until Yom Kippur Moses did not sit to judge the people. For on the seventeenth of Tammuz he descended and broke the tablets, and on the next day he ascended early in the morning and remained eighty days, and he descended on Yom Kippur.

And this section is not written in chronological order, for it does not say 'and it was on the morrow' until the second year. Even according to the view that Jethro came before the giving of the Torah, his being sent back to his land did not take place until the second year. For it is stated here, 'And Moses sent his father in law away', and we find in the account of the journey with the banners that Moses said to him, 'We are journeying to the place, etc.' (Numbers 10:29), 'Please do not leave us' (there, verse 31). And if this occurred before the giving of the Torah, once he was sent away and departed, where do we find that he returned?

And if you say that there it does not say Jethro but rather Hobab, and that he was the son of Jethro, he is Hobab, he is Jethro. For it is written, 'Of the children of Hobab, the father in law of Moses' (Judges 4).

And it was on the morrow - the morrow of Yom Kippur.

And Moses sat to judge the people - according to his custom.

AND IT CAME TO PASS ON THE MORROW. Of Jethro’s coming.

Scripture says, a burnt-offering and sacrifices to G-d, because Jethro did not yet know the Eternal. It was Moses who said, all that the Eternal had done unto Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel’s sake… and how the Eternal delivered them, but Jethro sacrificed to Elokim (G-d). You will not find this concerning any of the sacrifices in Torath Kohanim (the law of the priests) [i.e., the Book of Leviticus], as I will explain with the help of G-d. Similarly, Because the people come unto me to inquire of G-d… and I make them know the statutes of G-d, are the words of Moses to his father-in-law, [who did not yet know the Eternal]. It is possible that Moses spoke to him thus, [using the name Elokim and not the Tetragrammaton], because of the verse which states, for the judgment is G-d’s, just as our Rabbis always mention: “Elokim (G-d): this is the attribute of justice.”

לשפוט את העם. Even if we accept the opinion that Jethro had arrived at the encampment of the Jewish people before the revelation at Mount Sinai, mundane matters had been subject of judgment all the time. Any disagreement concerning people’s property needed adjudication. While it is true that at Marah, prior to the revelation at Sinai, not only social laws but also some ritual laws had been revealed (Exodus 15,25), the opinion that Yitro arrived after the revelation at Mount Sinai is more plausible seeing that we read here of the Israelites being encamped at the Mountain of G’d (verse 5). Moreover, chapter 19 commences with the words: “In the third month after the Exodus on the first of the month the Israelites entered the desert of Sinai after having journeyed from Refidim.” It is clear from there that what happened at Refidim and the encampment at Mount Sinai occurred before what is discussed in our paragraph, but that this paragraph was inserted here in order not to interrupt the portions dealing with all the commandments which commence in chapter 21 after the revelation at Mount Sinai.