What Does Exodus 18:12 Mean?
And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took a rising offering and slaughtered offerings to God, and Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law before the face of God.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
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.THE KEY
The offering does not end in what is given up; it opens into bread shared in God’s presence.
THE MEANING
The offering and the meal form one movement: what is brought before God leads into bread shared by the gathered people in God’s presence. The table itself belongs to the encounter with God.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It loosens the belief that offering something to God means only losing it: here, the offering opens into shared bread before God.
THE ROOT
עֹלָה
ʿōlāh
GROWS FROM
עלה
ʿ-l-h
to go up; to ascend
“rising offering” in this verse is ʿōlāh. The offering’s Hebrew name carries the movement of ascent: what is placed on the altar goes up to God. Here that upward movement opens into a shared meal, so the offering and the table belong to one encounter.
ALSO GROWS
ʿālāh: to go up; ascend
עָלָה
This verb is the root of the offering’s name and makes its upward movement visible.
ʿăliyyāh: ascent; going up
עֲלִיָּה
This related noun preserves the same motion of rising that is carried in the offering’s name.
זְבָחִים
zevaḥim
GROWS FROM
זבח
z-b-ḥ
to slaughter, especially for sacrifice
“slaughtered offerings to God” in this verse is zevaḥim. The word for sacrifices keeps slaughter at its center, while its related altar name marks the place of that act. Here the sacrifice is followed by food shared among the gathered people before God, linking what is offered with those who share the table.
ALSO GROWS
mizbēaḥ: altar
מִזְבֵּחַ
The altar’s name comes from the same root as sacrifice, tying the place to the act of offering.
zōvēaḥ: one who sacrifices; one who slaughters
זֹבֵחַ
This related word names the person performing the act that stands behind the shared meal.
THE PATTERN
An offering brought before God can open into a meal shared in God’s presence.
And there you shall eat before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice in all that you stretch out your hand to, you and your households, in which the LORD your God has blessed you.And on the nobles of the children of Israel he did not stretch out his hand, and they saw God, and they ate and drank.Look at Israel according to the flesh. Are not those who eat the slain offerings sharers in common of the altar?THE THREAD
Look at Israel according to the flesh. Are not those who eat the slain offerings sharers in common of the altar?This verse names the relation implicit in Exodus 18:12: those who eat of the sacrifices share in the altar. The offering and the meal belong to one encounter before God, rather than standing as separate acts.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us