Exodus 18’s description of Jethro’s advice to Moses seems disconnected from its context. As Martin Hauge explains (Descent from the Mountain, 252), the story actually anticipates the entire narrative of chapters 19-40:
“The story of the second day presents how parts of the Moses function were transferred to representatives of the people. This is comparable to the main story line in Exodus 19-40. Concluded by the people as the new theophanic figures, the substitution of Moses by a new set of actors is presented as the climax of the Sinai events. The appointment of ‘lesser judges’ in Exodus 18 could represent a special version of the theme of substitution.”
The substitution of Moses simultaneously frees him for “higher” purposes: “The appointment of lesser judges means that Moses is set free for the higher aspects of mediation. The new situation is visualized by the opening scene of the Sinai stories in 19.2-3. While the people settle down, Moses is free for an immediate ascent on his own. The elevation of Moses-substitutes combined with the idea of Moses set free for higher things is comparable to the aspects of Moses substituted by the people in ch. 40 and Moses elevated into a semi-divine figure in ch. 34. Taken together, the two versions of the common theme of substitution indicates the ‘upward mobility’ of the human actors” (254).
That movement in chapter 18 is replicated in the overall movement of Exodus, a movement from reliance on divine action to human action: “The Egyptian and journey stories represent the first stages, characterized by miraculous divine acts of salvation which are now concluded. Sinai represents a new stage in the story development, dedicated to ordinary human reality as the locus of sacred action performed by human subjects” (258).
