The next day Moses resumed his accustomed routine of labor, sitting for the administration of justice to the people from morning till evening. The spirit which we see in Moses where he appears first in active life (Ex. 2: 11–13) would naturally put him to this service. His prestige as the recognized Leader of Israel under God would turn the eyes of all the people to him as their Judge. Hence naturally this overwhelming burden, from which relief came through the wise suggestion of Jethro. This was that a gradation of subordinate courts be instituted so that cases of lesser magnitude and difficulty might be administered by others, and only the more difficult be brought before Moses. The guiding principle in the classification was at first both tribal and numerical――following their division into tribes and their numbers. After their location in Canaan the numerical element gave place to the geographical. Judges had their province and their responsibility limited, not by thousands and hundreds directly but by cities and localities. With this modification the system passed into established usage among the Hebrews.――――In a parallel passage (Deut. 1: 9–18) Moses recites the same transaction, omitting all allusion to his father-in-law, and giving prominence to the qualities requisite in judges, and to the principles of justice and righteousness by which they were to be governed.――――At the close of this brief interview Jethro returned to his home and people. His son Hobab, brother-in-law of Moses, appears in the history somewhat later (Num. 10: 29–32), and seems to have consented to act as guide to Moses and Israel in their march from Sinai to Kadesh, and not improbably until they reached the Jordan. The home of the family had been on the East and South of Horeb. In the period of the Judges and onward they are in the Northern border of the great Arabian desert. (See Judg. 1: 16 and 4: 11 and 1 Sam. 15: 6). THE SCENES AT SINAI. _The National Covenant and the Giving of the Law._