What did Moshe answer?
Rashi: He answered that the people came to him to be judged, in which case he was obligated to sit and the litigants to stand. 1
Ramban: The reason that they had to stand long hours by him was because he had to deal with so many issues - including Davening for the sick, and that the owners should find their lost articles, 2 litigating their disputes, and teaching them Torah.
Seforno: He explained to Yisro that he was so busy seeing to the multiple needs of the communal leaders, 3 that he did not have time to tend to the general public until the evening.
Rashbam: He had to bring all their problems before Hashem, and there was nobody else who had access to Hashem.
Refer to 18:13:2.1:1 . For Gur Aryeh, see 18:13:2.2:1 .
Both included in "Lidrosh Elokim" - as we find in Shmuel I 9:9, in Melachim II 8:8, and in Bereishis 25:22.
In order to; a. to deal with the communal issues regarding encamping and the likes ("li'Derosh Elokim"); and b. to settle their interpersonal quarrels which they inevitably brought with them ("v'Shafat'ti ... "), and c. to teach them Torah ("v'Hoda'ti ... "), since they had to be taught before the rest of Yisrael - as the Gemara in Eruvin 54b explains, based on the Pasuk in Shemos 34:31.
QUESTIONS ON RASHI
Rashi writes: "'Ki Yavo' - I.e., 'Ki Va,' in the present tense." What problem is Rashi addressing?
Gur Aryeh: Moshe cannot be speaking in future tense, 'the people will come' - because we saw above in Pasuk 13 that they already came! (Rather, it means "they come to me on a constant basis.")
