Now Jethro, the priest of Midian and father-in-law of Moses, heard of everything God had done for Moses and for his people Israel, and how the LORD had brought Israel out of Egypt. – Exodus 18:1

Today's Scripture Reading (October 5, 2021): Exodus 18

Canadian musical comedians "The Arrogant Worms" released a song extolling the exploits of one of Jesus's brothers. No, the song was not about James, Judah, Simon, and Joseph, the brothers mentioned in the Biblical record. The Arrogant Worms wrote their parody about Jesus's brother, Bob. The Arrogant Worms begin this song this way.

If you haven't heard of me
I wouldn't be surprised
I bet you know my relatives
Their names will never die
My mother is a saint
And my brother is a God
But all I am is Jesus's brother Bob.

Is the song sacrilegious? Maybe. It tells the story of a brother of Jesus who is a little bit jealous about the fame of his older brother. And the story might be more accurate than even the Arrogant Worms understood when they wrote the song. Did Jesus have a brother, Bob? No, definitely not. But he did have four brothers, some of which might have gone through the exact emotions that Bob experiences in the song. And one of the likely candidates for Bob is actually one of the more famous brothers of Jesus, James. Yes, eventually, James would become the leader of the Christian Church in Jerusalem. But there is every indication that James did not believe his brother was the Son of God until after Jesus's death and resurrection. Up until that time, he was only Jesus's brother, James.  From the beginning of time, siblings have stood in the shadows of their more famous brothers and sisters.

There is a children's action song that we sang back in the old days that talked about the seven sons of Abraham. As a child, I wondered from where the number seven came. I remembered my Bible stories, and Abraham and Sarah were childless until very late in their lives. First, Sarah gave her handmaiden, Hagar, to Abraham in hopes of gaining a child through her. It worked, and Ishmael was born. But Ishmael was not the promised one. Years later, Sarah did get pregnant and gave birth to a son, the promised one of God, Isaac. And for the rest of his days, Ishmael lived in the shadows of his younger brother, Isaac. I was young, but I could do the math. One plus one equals two; two sons. So, where did the writers of "Farther Abraham" get the number seven?

The song was wrong, but not in the way that I believed at the time. After Sarah died, Abraham married again, this time to a woman named Keturah. And Keturah gave birth to six more sons. (If you are keeping count, that makes eight sons that we know of for Abraham.) But we only really remember two, Isaac, and seemingly a step behind him, Ishmael. The other six brothers grew up in relative obscurity.

And one of those sons was Midian, likely the father of Midianites or descendants of Midian. They were not part of Israel, but they were descendants of Abraham. And it also seems likely that Abraham taught all of his sons about the God that he served.

As God leads Israel out of Egypt, the word quickly begins to spread, especially to the other people groups who also claimed to be the descendants of Abraham. It also seemed likely that they worshipped the God of Abraham in their own way. The God of Israel was their God, too.

If all this is true, then Jethro, Moses's father-in-law, a priest of Midian, was likely a follower of the God of Abraham. He probably worshipped differently from the slaves in Egypt, but both had found their ways to honor the God that Abraham had served so faithfully.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Exodus 19