Noah, Melchizedek, Abraham’s servant, Laban, and Jethro all bless YHWH, but, as Rabbi Pappias notes in the Mekhilta, the Israelites don’t. Only later in the Bible do we find David and Solomon blessing YHWH, but so do Hiram King of Tyre and the Queen of Sheba.
Moses revises the account of why he appointed judges to oversee the Israelites, and the way the wars with the Amorites of the Transjordan were conducted. Examining the changes uncovers the ideological stances that motivated this revisionist history.
Israel’s cries for help in Egypt reach all the way to God, upon “the Mountain of God” in Midian. In response, God sends Moses, a local shepherd, to free them.
Even before Israel receives laws at Sinai, Exodus tells how Jethro the Midianite advises Moses to establish judges, a unique origin story for the judicial system with no parallel in ancient Near Eastern law collections. Deuteronomy revises the story to credit Moses with this idea after the revelation at Horeb.
Linked by words and acts of chesed (lovingkindness), Jethro and Rahab are rabbinic exemplars of true converts.
The Midianite Origin of YHWH and Aniconism
In the ancient world, genealogy was not about family relations but about political alliances.
A study of Deuteronomy’s polemical revision of the Exodus 18 judges account.
Viewing the Divine as transcendent and without a physical presence in the world, the authors of Deuteronomy recast earlier stories to show that the Torah—and by extension God—is nonetheless “very close to you.”
When Eldad and Medad prophesy in the camp, Joshua zealously presses for their incarceration. Moses, however, exclaims that all the people should ideally be prophets.
From Judges to Tefillin, the Hagaddah to Kol Nidrei – Jewish Tradition has preserved or harmonized different opinions: An idea reflected in Torah as understood by the Documentary Hypothesis