In Exodus 18:1, the Torah tells us:"Yitro (Jethro), the 'minister' of Midian, the father-in-law of Moses, heard everything that G-d did to Moses and to Israel, his people..." The word for minister,"cohen", has two connotations - one is minister and the other is priest. Why is Yisro called the priest of Midian? To allude to his past life as an idolater, and not just any idolater, but the head of idolatrous practice for all the nation of Midian. Why would the Torah juxtapose this detail, with the coming of Yisro to join the Jewish people especially since the Torah goes out of its way not to say anything negative about anyone (see Genessis 7:2, the Torah goes out of its way to call a animal that is impure "not clean").
The explanation is that according to the Zohar, Yisro's joing the Jewish people was the necessary precondition for the revelation of G-d on Mt. Sinai, and the giving of the Ten Commandments. Yisro was the high priest of Midian for Idolatry, meaning he was the most well versed in astrology, in reading the paths of the constellations, and other stellar beings, in addition to understanding the relationships between angels in higher worlds and this world. This is what Maimonides explains was the basis for idolatry, obeisance to the intermediaries for bringing G-d's abundance into this world. This made Yisro one of the leading minds of his generation in earthly wisdom.
The Torah is Divine wisdom but in order for its light to first to be revealed in the world it has to be in a way of "as light surpasses darkness" (Ecclestiastes 2:13) -the revelation and supremacy of the light has to come out of great darkness. As chassidus explains this verse, that the transformation of darkness is the source for the greatest light. So also the transformation of Yisro, the greatest philosopher and scientist of the nations at the time brought about the greatest revelation of light the world has ever experienced.
(From the Lubavitcher Rebbe's Talks Volume 11)
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