There is an opinion that Moshe sent Yisro back home before matan Torah. Yalkut Shimoni (Mishlei 950) explains that Yisro couldn't be at matan Torah because Yisro didn't suffer enslavement in Mitzrayim. As if to say, "If you didn't suffer with them, you don't deserve to rejoice with the great joy of matan Torah together with them."
Reb Boruch Mordechai Ezrachi zt'l explained that the problem wasn't that Yisro wasn't a slave in Mitzrayim like the Yidden were. The issue was that Yisro lived comfortably in Mitzrayim at a time when the Egyptians oppressed the Jewish nation. The complaint against Yisro was that he didn't feel the pain of the Jewish nation who were being tortured in his country. How could he live tranquilly in Mitzrayim when the Jews suffered so much? And since he didn’t participate in their sorrow, he wasn't worthy to partake in their joy.
Reprinted from the Parshas Chayei Sora 5785 email of Rabbi Eli Biderman’s Torah Wellsprings.
