Moses went back to Jethro his father-in-law and said to him, “Please let me go back to my brothers in Egypt to see whether they are still alive.” And Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.” And the Lord said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for all the men who were seeking your life are dead.” So Moses took his wife and his sons and put them on a donkey, and went back to the land of Egypt. And Moses took the staff of God in his hand.
And the Lord said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the miracles that I have put in your power. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go. Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord, Israel is my firstborn son, and I say to you, “Let my son go that he may serve me.” If you refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son.’”
Exodus 4:18-23
If it was with a sense of trepidation that Moses told his father-in-law about his intention to return to Egypt, making him less than open (18) about his reasons for going - and many a young servant of God has had good reason to fear what parents would say when they heard of such intentions - it must have come as a great relief to have had Jethro's reaction, 'Go in peace'. Nor need we under-estimate what it must have meant for him, for although Moses was but his son-in-law, Zipporah was his own flesh and blood, and father-love is much the same in any country. Jethro's stature stands out very clearly for us. And God had prepared the way for such an attitude to be taken. Is not this something that should be much prayed for today, when sometimes the greatest hurt to a young missionary is the adverse and even hostile attitude of parents who deeply resent the will of God being placed before family loyalties? Some think that may have delayed his departure, even after receiving Jethro's blessing, and he had to receive another urgent summons from God (19), and this may well be; we have seen so much of Moses' unwillingness in this chapter. It has also been suggested that personal difficulties in Moses' relationship with his wife may have caused the delay. We shall see in the next reading more than a little evidence of this. From 18:5 we see that Zipporah did not in fact accompany him to Egypt after all and it would seem that after the incident recorded in the next passage, she returned to her father in the desert of Midian. Of which, more in the next Note. In the meantime we may regard 21-23 as representing the communion Moses had with the Lord during his journey from Midian to Egypt. As Moses stepped out, the Lord spoke with him all the way, telling him what was to happen in Egypt. Fruitful converse indeed for an outgoing servant of God!