this reason did He allow it to come to pass that Moses had to have
his attention called to the plan of installing the elders through his
father-in-law, that the Holy Scriptures might devote a whole
chapter to the plan of Jethro. [168]

This, however, is not the only reward for Jethro's piety, who, in his
love for the Torah, excelled all proselytes. A miracle occurred on
the very first day of his arrival in camp for manna in his honor
descended at the noon hour, the hour of his arrival; and, moreover,
in as great quantities as was wont to rain down for sixty myriads of
Israelites. He did not have to exert himself to gather the food, for it
came over his body, so all he had to do was to carry his hand to his
mouth to partake of it. [169] Jethro, nevertheless, did not remain
with Moses, but returned to his native land. Moses, of course, tried
to persuade his father-in-law to stay. He said to him: "Do not think
that we shall continue to move thus slowly through the desert, nay,
we shall now move directly to the promised land." Only to urge
Jethro to stay longer with them did Moses use the words "we
move," so that his father-in-law might believe that Moses too
would enter the promised land, for otherwise he would hardly have
allowed himself to be persuaded to join the march to Palestine.
Moses continued: "I do not want to mislead thee, hence I will tell
thee that the land will be divided only among the twelve tribes,
and that thou has no claim to possession of lands; but God bade us
be kind to the proselytes, and to thee we shall be kinder than to all
other proselytes." Jethro, however, was not to be persuaded by his
son-in-law, considering himself in duty bound to return to his
native land. For the inhabitants of his city had for many years
made a habit of having him store their valuable, as none possessed
their confidence in such a measure as he. If he had stayed still