Now I know that יהוה is greater than all gods, yes, by the result of their very schemes against [the people].”
מכל האלהים [GREATER] THAN ALL THE GODS — This tells us that he had a full knowledge of every idol in the world — that he left no idol unworshipped by him (Mekhilta).
כי בדבר אשר זדו עליהם — Understand this as the Targum does for by that very thing with which the Egyptians thought to judge Israel were they themselves judged — they had thought to destroy them by water and they were themselves destroyed by water (cf. Mekhilta).
אשר זדו means in which they had shown themselves wicked. Our Rabbis, however, explained it in the same sense as the root which we find in (Genesis 25:29) “And Jacob was boiling (ויזד) pottage (נזיד) (lit., something boiled)” — in the pot wherein they had boiled, therein were they themselves boiled (Sotah 11a).
כי בדבר אשר זדו עליהם. G’d saved the people by using the very means the Egyptians had used to harm them to harm their oppressors. The word זדו, past tense, occurs as future tense, יזיד in Exodus 21,14 describing the deliberate commission of a crime, a sin. The sin Yitro had in mind was that G’d had killed the Egyptian firstborn as a retribution for the male babies of the Jewish people having been thrown into the river to drown. (Exodus 1,22). The Egyptians died by drowning just as their victims the Jewish babies had died by drowning. Yitro recognised that the ability to make the punishment fit the crime is what put our G’d in a class all by Himself, unparalleled in any other religion. None of G’d’s agents in the celestial spheres, even, would be able to do this.
...
FOR IT IS IN THE THING THAT ‘ZADU’ UPON THEM. The meaning of this is that in the matter wherein the Egyptians premeditated [their wickedness] against Israel, I [Jethro] now know that the Eternal is greater than all gods. And the purport thereof is as follows: Due to the fact that G-d had decreed upon Israel, and they shall enslave them, and they should afflict them, there would have been no great punishment meted out to the Egyptians. But they acted presumptuously against them, and intended to eradicate them from the world, just as they said, Come, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply. Pharaoh commanded the midwives to kill the male children, and he decreed upon [all his people, saying], Every son that is born [unto the Israelites] ye shall cast into the river. It was due to this that there came upon the Egyptians the kind of punishment which utterly destroyed them. It is this principle which is expressed in His words, And also that nation that made slaves of them will I judge, as I have explained. Now G-d saw their intentions, and He took vengeance upon them for the wickedness of their hearts. And thus does Scripture say again, And Thou didst show signs and wonders upon Pharaoh… for Thou knowest that they dealt insolently against them, for the punishment was because of the wicked plans they devised to carry out against the Israelites. Thus the Eternal looketh on the heart, and executeth justice for the oppressed, avengeth and is full of wrath, and no one can deter Him.
Now Onkelos translated [the above Scriptural expression] thus: “for by that very thing with which the Egyptians thought to judge Israel, they themselves were judged.” By this rendition, Onkelos meant to say that their punishment came because of the drowning of the [Hebrew] children in the river, which was not part of the Divine decree, and they shall enslave them, and they shall afflict them. Therefore, He destroyed them by water.
עתה ידעתי כי גדול יהוה מכל האלוהים, "Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods;" Yitro acknowledged that although all other nations have spiritual representatives in the celestial regions, some of whom are very powerful and both protect their protegees and assist them in their wars, they do not exact retribution from the adversaries of their protegees as does G'd. Only G'd operates on the principle of the punishment fitting the crime. Only the G'd of Israel would drown people who themselves had drowned others, etc. When the celestial representatives of other nations act in defense of their protegees one cannot recognise this as what happens to their adversaries seems totally unrelated to what these people had perpetrated. In the case of the G'd of Israel, every one of the plagues He brought upon Egypt was retribution for a specific wrong committed by that people and their king.
Next day, Moses sat as magistrate among the people, while the people stood about Moses from morning until evening.
מן הבקר עד הערב FROM MORNING UNTO EVENING — Is it really possible to say so — that Moses sat the whole day long? But the explanation is that any judge who gives a rightful decision as truth demands it, even though he spends but one hour on it, Scripture accounts it to him as though he had occupied himself with the Torah the whole day long, and as though he became co-partner with the Holy One, blessed be He, in the work of the Creation of which it is stated, “It was evening and it was morning” (cf. Mekhilta; Shabbat 10a).
...
Speaking of judgment, the Gemara relates that Rav Ami and Rav Asi would sit and study between the pillars beneath the study hall. And each and every hour they would knock on the bolt of the door and say: If there is someone who has a case that requires judgment, let him enter and come before us. The Gemara also relates that Rav Ḥisda and Rabba bar Rav Huna would sit in judgment all day and their hearts would grow weak from hunger. Therefore, Rav Ḥiyya bar Rav from Difti taught them a baraita with regard to the verse: “And it was the next day and Moses sat to judge the people and the people stood over Moses from the morning until the evening” (Exodus 18:13). Does it enter your mind that Moses would sit and judge all day long? If so, when was his Torah study accomplished? Rather, surely the verse is coming to tell you: Any judge who judges a true judgment truthfully, even if he sits in judgment only one hour, the verse ascribes to him as if he became a partner to the Holy One, Blessed be He, in the act of Creation, as by means of a true judgment he upholds the world (Me’iri). This conclusion is derived by means of a verbal analogy [gezera shava]: It is written here: “And the people stood over Moses from the morning until the evening.” And it is written there, in the act of Creation: “And it was evening and it was morning, one day” (Genesis 1:5). The evening and part of the morning are considered a whole day. With regard to this issue as well, it is sufficient for the judges to sit in judgment for only part of the day and there is no need for them to starve themselves by sitting in judgment all day.