Seeing the Bigger Picture: How Yitro Recognized God's Hand

At the beginning of the parashah it says: “And Yitro heard… all that God had done for Moshe and for Israel His people…” (Shemot 18:1).

In his work Od Yosef Chai (Derashot), Rabbeinu Yosef Chaim emphasizes the word “all.” Yitro heard everything that God had done for Moshe and for Israel. Had Yitro been satisfied with only a partial picture, he would have listened with one ear and let it go out the other. What, then, was the report that he heard and came because of it? Yitro had the wisdom to see the entire picture, and it was this comprehensive view that led him to conclusions others failed to grasp.

The other nations looked at each plague in isolation. As a result, they attributed what happened to some form of “luck” or to a hostile deity that had temporarily overtaken Egypt. Yitro, however, paid attention to the remarkable connection woven between all ten plagues. He perceived how they formed a single, continuous sequence, and he understood that this could not be random chance. Only a guiding hand — the mighty hand and outstretched arm of the Creator, could orchestrate the plagues with such precision. This holistic view of the ten plagues and their inner order gave him a unique perspective that led him to take concrete action: to journey into the wilderness and unite himself with the Jewish people.

As an example of the precise order embedded within the plagues, Rabbeinu Yosef Chaim cites the explanation of the Maharam Alshich on the verse, “So that you may tell… how I made a mockery of Egypt” (Shemot 10:2). God, so to speak, “played” with the wicked Pharaoh — appearing to show mercy by stopping a plague, while in truth the goal was to repay him measure for measure with the full set of ten plagues that had been decreed upon him.

For example, the plague of wild beasts (arov) did not destroy all of Egypt’s livestock. Pharaoh viewed this as something in his favor. In reality, it worked against him, because had all the livestock been destroyed, the subsequent plague of pestilence (dever) would have had nothing to affect. Likewise, the plague of pestilence did not wipe out all the livestock, for if it had, the plague of hail would have had nothing to strike. Even the plague of hail did not destroy everything; God instructed Moshe to warn the Egyptians to bring their livestock in from the fields, leaving enough horses alive so that they could later pursue the Israelites, and ultimately drown in the Sea of Reeds.

Here too, the nations who heard of each plague separately erred. They thought Egypt still possessed strength and good fortune, since it had “managed” to halt each plague and save part of its losses. Yitro, by contrast, saw the entire system of plagues together, and recognized the hand of God.

Yitro’s Joy and the Discovery of Divine Order

To complete the picture, we can add the clear explanation of Rabbi Raphael Berdugo (one of the great sages of Morocco about two hundred years ago), found in his work Mei Menuchot, on the verse: “And Yitro rejoiced over all the good that the Lord had done for Israel…” (Shemot 18:9).

Rabbi Berdugo asks: What was the source of Yitro’s immense joy over the salvation of a people to whom he did not belong?

He explains that more than Yitro rejoiced for Israel’s deliverance, his soul was filled with inner joy for himself. Yitro, as is well known, had experimented with every idol in the world, and in none of them did he find rest for his searching soul. A person who believes his fate is controlled by random forces, stars, and strange deities, without pattern or plan, lives frustrated and hopeless.

Now, however, upon hearing from Moshe everything that God had done to Pharaoh and Egypt, measure for measure, Yitro’s soul was stirred by the wondrous Divine providence that governs every detail. On that day, he reached absolute clarity that “the Lord is One and His Name is One,” and he knew that the Lord is greater than all gods. This realization is what filled him with true joy.

In the eloquent words of Mei Menuchot: “Such joy can arise only from wisdom and investigation into the nature of this world — whether events are random or arranged by an Organizer who watches with intent. For it is a great anguish for a thinking person if there is not one God overseeing this precious world… But when Yitro saw God’s actions and realized that the world has an Owner, he rejoiced with great joy. This is the meaning of ‘And Yitro rejoiced’ — a joy that also implies unity, for he believed that there is One and no other, who watches and has the power to do all, blessed be He.”

A beautiful definition of this exalted feeling experienced by Yitro can be found in the elevated language of the Chazon Ish, in Emunah u’Bitachon (beginning of chapter 1): “Faith is a delicate inclination of a refined soul. When a person is inwardly rich, in a moment of calm, free of lustful hunger, and his eyes gaze in wonder from the heights of the heavens to the depths of the earth, he becomes moved and astonished. The world appears to him as a sealed riddle — hidden and wondrous. This riddle envelops his heart and mind, and he is almost faint, with no breath left within him. His entire focus and longing are toward the riddle, and his soul yearns for its solution.”

When the Full Picture Comes Together

In Ma’ayan HaShavua, this idea is illustrated with a parable: a painter mixes colors, switches brushes, draws a thin line, adds a dot. Line by line, nothing seems to connect or make sense. One who watches the painter in the middle of his work stands puzzled and frustrated: how could these meaningless scribbles ever become a real painting? But one must wait until the painting is finished. Suddenly, all the lines and dots, the colors and shades, merge into a single, complete whole, filled with meaning, harmony, and beauty.

The same is true with the governance of creation. Only when one looks at the complete picture do all things become clear and unite into a wondrous harmony.