When Jethro heard "that the Lord had taken Israel out of Egypt," the Mekhilta draws a remarkable conclusion: the Exodus is not just one miracle among many. It is the miracle against which all others are measured. Every act of might, every wonder, every supernatural intervention that God performed for Israel — all of it is weighed against the Exodus, and the Exodus outweighs them all.
The splitting of the sea, the manna from heaven, the water from the rock, the defeat of Amalek — these were astonishing events. But the Mekhilta says that the single phrase "the Lord had taken Israel out of Egypt" encompasses and surpasses every one of them. The Exodus is the master miracle, the root from which every subsequent wonder grows.
Why would a single event carry such disproportionate weight? Because the Exodus was not merely a rescue operation. It was the birth of a nation. Before Egypt, Israel was a collection of enslaved tribes. After the Exodus, they were a people with a covenant, a destiny, and a God who had demonstrated — publicly, unmistakably — that He intervenes in history on their behalf.
The Mekhilta is also explaining why Jethro was so deeply moved. He was not impressed by any single miracle. He grasped the totality. The phrase "taken Israel out of Egypt" was a summary of everything — the ten plagues, the departure, the sea, the wilderness provisions, the revelation at Sinai. Jethro heard that one sentence and understood that it contained the entire story. The Exodus, the Mekhilta teaches, is the lens through which every other divine act must be viewed.