Converts to The Way of God

The central point in the Exodus story is not any part of leaving Egypt but the destination, Mount Sinai, to receive the Torah, The Word of God. The portion that gives us the Ten Commandments is not named commandments or laws; it is named after Jethro, Moses’s father-in-law.

Deuteronomy 18:8-12 “In order to encourage him to join the ranks of the Jewish people, Moses told his father-in-law everything that God had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for the sake of Israel, as well as all the travail that had befallen them on the way, at the Sea of Reeds and in the attack of Amalek, and that God had rescued them.

9 Jethro rejoiced over all the good that God had done for Israel by providing them with manna and the well and teaching them parts of the Torah. But he rejoiced most that God had saved them from the hands of the Egyptians. It was reputedly impossible to escape Egypt, yet here an entire nation had succeeded in fleeing. At the same time, Jethro was pained over the suffering of the Egyptians for, being a Midianite, he was of Egyptian stock.

10 When Jethro heard how the Egyptians had drowned in the Sea of Reeds and had suffered the very fate that they had wished to inflict on the Jews, he said, “Praised be God who rescued you from both the hands of the Egyptians, a difficult people, and of Pharaoh, a difficult king, who liberated the people from the authority of the Egyptians.

11 Now I know that God is greater than all the deities—and I am familiar with them all—for He has done what no other deity can do: in the very matter that the Egyptians plotted against Israel they have been foiled!” Until this point, Jethro had not considered converting to Judaism and joining the Jewish people, feeling that it was sufficient for him to renounce idolatry and establish a relationship with God individually. Now, however, he decided to convert. This was when he changed his name from Jether to Jethro. 12 In order to complete the story of Jethro, the Torah now jumps ahead four months, to the 10th of Tishrei of the following year, 2449, when Moses descended Mount Sinai for the last time. When Moses descended the mountain, Jethro offered up an ascent-offering and peace-offerings to God, and Aaron and all the elders of Israel came to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law while Moses served them. The religious atmosphere and discussion at this meal rendered it a holy event; as such, it was as if the participants were eating in the presence of God.” (Interpolated Translation, Kehot Chumash).

The narrative of the Law of God begins with Moses convincing his father-in-law to convert to the ways of God. It is after Jethro converts that the Law is given. The portion begins to reveal the heart of God that those in the nations would forsake their idolatry, worship the God of Israel, and walk in His ways.

Isaiah 2:2-3 ESV “It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, 3 and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob,

that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.”

For out of Zion shall go forth the Law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”

Zechariah 8:23 ESV “Thus says the Lord of hosts: In those days ten men from the nations of every tongue shall take hold of the robe of a Jew, saying, ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.'”

Every year, when Jews commemorate the giving of the Torah, they read the Book of Ruth. Ruth is the quintessential convert to Judaism – “And she said, “See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.” 16 But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.17 Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.” 18 And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more.” (Ruth 1:15-18 ESV).

Yeshua didn’t come to start a new religion; He came for Israel and so that those of us in the nations would join Israel in walking in the ways of God. Two central characters in remembering God giving Israel His ways were people who left paganism and joined themselves to Israel.

Now look at the record of the celebration of Purim, “the Jews firmly obligated themselves and their offspring and all who joined them, that without fail they would keep these two days according to what was written and at the time appointed every year,28 that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, in every clan, province, and city, and that these days of Purim should never fall into disuse among the Jews, nor should the commemoration of these days cease among their descendants.” (Esther 9:27-28). And all who joined them – from beginning to end, the nations joined themselves with Israel and those who do not will be judged in the end.

The giving of the Commandments is our invitation as non-Jews to join the Jewish people, to leave our idolatry, to leave the ways of the world behind, and to worship the true God, the God of Israel, and conduct our lives in a manner that pleases Him.

And what are His ways like? They are good, just, and beneficial. Just look at Exodus twenty-one and twenty-two: You aren’t allowed to hold a slave indefinitely and cannot mistreat them; you are to help your enemy’s animal if it falls in a ditch, and you are to make restitution if your animal injures someone.

God didn’t give the Law as a hindrance but as a help. God gave us His Law so we would treat each other well and do good for one another. The Law is not a burden but a blessing. King David loved and delighted in the ways of God; Psalm 119 is a clear picture of that. 

As Christians, it is my prayer that last week and this week, our hearts have begun to change toward the Law. The Law of God – the teaching and the pathway of God is a beautiful thing; it brings us closer to God and one another. Pray as we continue making our way through the Torah that you would fall in love with God’s teaching and His ways, that you would love and delight in His Words and that you would conform your life to them.