Exodus 18:15

Exo 18:15 And Moses said unto his father in law, Because the people come unto me to enquire of God:

Ver. 15. To inquire of God.] For a divine sentence is in the mouth of the Judge: therefore also the place of judicature is called the holy place. {Ecc 8:10} Let those that go to law inquire of God, and rest in his will.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Exo 18:15. The people came to inquire of God — And happy was it for them that they had such an oracle to consult. Moses was faithful both to him that appointed him, and to them that consulted him, and made them know the statutes of God, and his laws — His business was not to make laws, but to make known God’s laws: his place was but that of a servant.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

That is, to know God’s will, and to have justice executed.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 15. The people come unto me to inquire of God] To know the mind and will of God on the subject of their inquiries. Moses was the mediator between God and the people; and as they believed that all justice and judgment must come from him, therefore they came to Moses to know what God had spoken.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(15, 16) Moses assigns two reasons for his conduct.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

15. to inquire of God] i.e. to obtain from Him a legal decision. In early times judgement was a sacred act; legal decisions were regarded as coming from God, the judge being his representative, or mouthpiece (cf. v. 16 end)1[160], accordingly ‘God’ is sometimes used, where we should say ‘judge’ (see on Exo_21:6). Perhaps in very primitive times the decision was given by the sacred lot (cf. the use of the Urim and Thummim in 1Sa_14:41 LXX. [see Kennedy’s note in the Century Bible, or DB. iv. 839b]; and the ‘breastplate of judgement,’ ch. Exo_28:15): but the same view of the nature of judgement prevailed, even after this method of obtaining it was given up, or only resorted to exceptionally. To inquire of (or seek) God (דרש) in later times, means often to seek Him generally, in prayer and worship; but it means also, particularly in the early language, to resort to Him for the sake of obtaining an oracle, either in answer to some particular question, or, as here, a legal decision (LXX, ἐκζητῆσαι κρίσιν παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ): see Gen_25:22 the answer follows in v. 23), 1Sa_9:9, 1Ki_22:8, 2Ki_3:11; 2Ki_8:8; 2Ki_22:13; 2Ki_22:18, Jer_21:2 (so, of inquiring of the dead, or of heathen gods, 1Sa_28:7, 2Ki_1:2, Deu_18:11, Isa_8:19 al.).

[160] So in Homer, θέμιστες are spoken of as received by kings from Zeus (Il. i. 239 οἵ τε θέμιστας Πρὸς Διὸς εἰρύαται); and cf. Sir Henry Maine, Ancient Law, ch. 1.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

When they have a matter, they come unto me,.... This is the other thing he did for them, as the above writer observes; which being last mentioned, he speaks of first, as follows, meaning that when there was a matter in difference between two persons or more, and they could not agree upon it among themselves, then they brought it to him to be heard and decided:

and I judge between one and another; hear what they have to say on both sides, and then judge which is in the right and which is in the wrong, and determine what is to be done, according to the laws of God or according to the rules of justice and equity:

and I do make them know the statutes of God and his laws; this relates to the first thing, their coming to him to inquire of God, what is his mind and will, or what he would have them do; and in order to this, and in answer to their request, he instructed them in the laws of God, both civil and religious: this is made use of by some, to prove that Jethro's coming to Moses was after the law was given: but this does not necessarily follow, because Moses, by a divine impulse, might be directed immediately to make known to the people what was the will and mind of God, with respect to any particular case they inquired about; and rather this seems to furnish out an argument to the contrary, since, if the laws and statutes of God had yet been given on Mount Sinai, the people could not have been ignorant of them, and so needed not such daily information and instruction from Moses.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

To enquire of God - The decisions of Moses were doubtless accepted by the people as oracles. The internal prompting of the Spirit was a sufficient guidance for him, and a sufficient authority for the people.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

i.e. Of the mind and will of God, both as to his worship and service and as to their mutual duties to one another. 1Sa 9:9.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

15. The people come unto me to inquire of God — They recognised Moses as their divinely chosen lawgiver and judge, and his decision in any given case would be of the nature of a divine oracle. If we understand that this event occurred soon after the first Sinaitic legislation, it has a force not otherwise so apparent. See especially note on next verse.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And Moses said Because the people come unto me, to inquire of God. To inquire of God is certainly not a mere "juridical phrase," meaning to consult a judge (Kalisch), nor, on the other hand, is it necessarily "to consult God through an oracle." It cannot, however, mean less than to seek a decision from some one regarded as entitled to speak for God; and it is certainly assigned by Moses as the reason why he judged all the causes himself, and did not devolve the duty upon others. They could not be supposed to know the mind of God as he knew it. Jethro, however, points out, that it is one thing to lay down principles, and another to apply them. Moses might reserve the legislative function the inculcation of principles to himself, and so still, "be for the people to Godward" (ver. 19); but he might find "able men" among the congregation, quite capable of applying the principles, and delegate to them the judicial function (vers. 21, 22).

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The people came to inquire of God - And happy was it for them that they had such an oracle to consult. Moses was faithful both to him that appointed him, and to them that consulted him, and made them know the statutes of God, and his laws - His business was not to make laws, but to make known God's laws: his place was but that of a servant.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

translationWords

Moses

God

statute

law

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

כי יבא — This is the same as כי בא because the people comes”, the imperfect tense expressing continuous action.

לדרש אלהים TO ENQUIRE OF GOD — Understand this as the Targum does: למתבע אלפן, to seek instruction from the mouth of the Almighty.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

FOR THE PEOPLE COME UNTO ME TO INQUIRE OF G-D. Moses answered his father-in-law: “They must stand about me a great part of the day, for they come before me for many things. Because the people come unto me to inquire of G-d, that is, to pray for their sick, and to inform them of the whereabouts of what they have lost,” this being “the inquiring of G-d.”And thus the people did with the [later] prophets, just as it is said, In former times in Israel, when a man went to inquire of G-d, thus he said: Come and let us go to the seer. Similarly, Go meet the man of G-d, and inquire of the Eternal by him, saying: Shall I recover from this sickness? meaning that the prophet should pray for his recovery and that he should inform him if his prayer was accepted. This is also the meaning of the verse, and she [Rebekah] went to inquire of the Eternal, as I have explained there.“Moreover,” [Moses continued], “I adjudicate matters between them, when they have a matter, it cometh unto me, and I judge. And I also teach them Torah, and I make them know the statutes of G-d and His laws.”

Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.