Exo 18:1 When Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses' father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses, and for Israel his people, and that the LORD had brought Israel out of Egypt;
Exo 18:2 Then Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took Zipporah, Moses' wife, after he had sent her back,

Moses seemingly sent his wife and children back to live with her father while he was getting the children of Israel out of bondage and into the wilderness. This is understandable for he had to give himself totally to the Lord so that the Lord could direct his way.  He didn't know how much trouble they would have to go through to get out of Egypt. I'm sure God would have taken care of Moses' family but it was done this way for some reason and it is easy to understand why. It was time now to reunite the family of Moses.

Exo 18:3 And her two sons; of which the name of the one was Gershom; for he said, I have been an alien in a strange land:

They named their children after events in their life. Gershom came at the time when Moses fled Egypt and into the land of Midian.

Exo 18:4 And the name of the other was Eliezer; for the God of my father, said he, was mine help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh:

This child was named in remembrance of the time God saved Him from the sword of Pharaoh. Actually his life was saved twice. Once was when he was a baby and the other was when he fled Egypt after killing the Egyptian in defense of a fellow Israelite.

Exo 18:5 And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife unto Moses into the wilderness, where he encamped at the mount of God:
Exo 18:6 And he said unto Moses, I thy father-in-law Jethro am come unto thee, and thy wife, and her two sons with her.
Exo 18:7 And Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, and did obeisance, and kissed him; and they asked each other of their welfare; and they came into the tent.
Exo 18:8 And Moses told his father-in-law all that the LORD had done unto Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake, and all the travail that had come upon them by the way, and how the LORD delivered them.
Exo 18:9 And Jethro rejoiced for all the goodness which the LORD had done to Israel, whom he had delivered out of the hand of the Egyptians.

He seemed to be a good man who feared God and rejoiced that God had used Moses to lead these people free.

Exo 18:10 And Jethro said, Blessed be the LORD, who hath delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of Pharaoh, who hath delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians.
Exo 18:11 Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods: for in the thing wherein they dealt proudly he was above them.
Exo 18:12 And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God: and Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law before God.

They not only came to unite the family of Moses again but hearing the great things God had done caused them to sacrifice and worship God in thanksgiving for His deliverance. Being thankful for God's salvation is very important in our worship.

Exo 18:13 And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses sat to judge the people: and the people stood by Moses from the morning unto the evening.
Exo 18:14 And when Moses' father-in-law saw all that he did to the people, he said, What is this thing that thou doest to the people? why sittest thou thyself alone, and all the people stand by thee from morning unto even?
Exo 18:15 And Moses said unto his father-in-law, Because the people come unto me to inquire of God:
Exo 18:16 When they have a matter, they come unto me; and I judge between one and another, and I do make them known the statutes of God, and his laws.
Exo 18:17 And Moses' father-in-law said unto him, The thing that thou doest is not good.
Exo 18:18 Thou wilt surely wear away, both thou, and this people that is with thee: for this thing is too heavy for thee; thou art not able to perform it thyself alone.
Exo 18:19 Hearken now unto my voice, I will give thee counsel, and God shall be with thee: Be thou for the people to Godward, that thou mayest bring the causes unto God:
Exo 18:20 And thou shalt teach them ordinances and laws, and shalt show them the way wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do.
Exo 18:21 Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens:
Exo 18:22 And let them judge the people at all seasons: and it shall be, that every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge: so shall it be easier for thyself, and they shall bear the burden with thee.
Exo 18:23 If thou shalt do this thing, and God command thee so, then thou shalt be able to endure, and all this people shall also go to their place in peace.
Exo 18:24 So Moses hearkened to the voice of his father-in-law, and did all that he had said.

It could be that Jethro sincerely believed Moses was going to wear himself out with judging the people in the manner in which he was judging and was concerned. He also could have desired to hear more about the works of God and Moses had no time to spare. It seemed to be good advice.

Exo 18:25 And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.
Exo 18:26 And they judged the people at all seasons: the hard causes they brought unto Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves.

This is a good system on the surface and many churches use this type of system to help serve a great many people when a church grows large. However, it order to have this type of system, one has to have good men to rule. One bad apple who has a problem with control will ruin everything. One person who teaches a false doctrine will make divisions and trouble.

This type of system can only be done by people who are filled with the love of God and have compassion for people.

The church in the Middle ages abused this authority and lost it eventually. They proved themselves unworthy to rule over others. If they got back the power they once had, it would be the same thing all over again for men cannot handle authority without abusing it.

This I believe this is why God allowed the breaking up of the church by the Protestant Reformation and afterward others breaking away. People say denominations are not of God but I say different. God is not asleep somewhere. He had to break us up so we can learn the true unity of the spirit and love. That unity they had was not good. It became a powerful political church that forsook the simple gospel and substituted the doctrines and commandments of men. They failed in setting up a kingdom for Christ and if we try it again we would fail again. We must wait for the literal coming of Jesus Christ.  Our job is not to unify into one big worldwide church.  Our job is to simply preach the gospel that will save souls from sin.  We are to go forth and teach, making disciples for the Lord so that they can go forth and teach.  We are not to use forced conversions but they would not be real conversions.  A conversion to a religion is different from someone being changed by God's spirit and born again by that same spirit.  Only God can make a true convert.  We need the spirit of God.  Setting up Christian cities and communities are doomed to failure because we are still flesh and cannot set up God's kingdom ahead of time.  We are to preach the gospel of the coming kingdom but we can't set it up.  Jesus Christ has to set that up when He returns.  To have a closed Christian community will not save the lost.  Sooner or later we would stop preaching the gospel of salvation because we will have assumed everyone is saved already when they are not.
However, for this congregation in the wilderness they had to have order. They were people that were needy and needed a good shepherd. Moses was that type of person.

In order to lead a congregation, one must recognize that he needs God himself and he cannot do it without the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Moses recognized this. He really didn't want this authority at first. He would have preferred someone else to do it. He was very meek and knew he needed the help of God.

Anyone that leads a church or congregation today, needs to keep this in mind. We must not desire to lord over and rule people. We must desire to lead them and teach them like a faithful shepherd over a flock of sheep. He must see that he needs to be an under shepherd under Jesus Christ completely dependent upon Jesus for all things.

Exo 18:27 And Moses let his father-in-law depart; and he went his way into his own land.

The father-in-law had to return to his own place. Now we see the works of God being told to other nations as Jethro left the presence of Moses.

Exodus 19