Yitro tells Moses that only people of integrity, who themselves would never engage in legally questionable business dealings, are qualified to serve as judges. We use cookies to improve your experience on our site and bring you ads that might interest you. Join Our Newsletter Empower your Jewish discovery, daily. Sign Up. Discover More. You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy for you.
You are not able to do it alone. Now obey my voice; I will give you advice, and God be with you! You shall represent the people before God and bring their cases to God, and you shall warn them about the statutes and the laws, and make them know the way in which they must walk and what they must do. Moreover, look for able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe, and place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.
And let them judge the people at all times. Every great matter they shall bring to you, but any small matter they shall decide themselves.
So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you. If you do this, God will direct you, you will be able to endure, and all this people also will go to their place in peace. Did you notice the change in the text? Some have taken this as evidence that Jethro is a priest for God. I see it as a break in the pattern. Moses has stopped listening to God and has allowed Jethro to take his place.
In fact, God gives Moses similar instruction later in the book of numbers. Moses does need to delegate some of his workload. The problem is not with the advice. The problem is that Moses has stopped listening to God. As leaders, when we stop listening to God, the best leadership principles can become destructive to the people we lead. At first things seem to go smoothly.
Moses appointed chiefs over the people and they judged the people at all times. They were trustworthy, God-fearing men. So we should expect that things would go well. They had wisdom to handle what they could, but they brought the hard cases to Moses. As Moses is receiving the law of God, what happens in the camp? Over a period of forty days, the people turn from God and begin to worship a golden calf. Where were the chiefs whom Moses had appointed? They were listening to the voice of the people.
In Numbers 11, God recognizes that Moses needs help. So he makes a plan to set elders over the people. See if you can pick up on the key difference in Numbers And I will come down and talk with you there. And I will take some of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them, and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you may not bear it yourself alone. Did you catch it? Moses needed the men to be filled with the Spirit.
We see a similar event in the New Testament. In Acts 1, the Apostles decide they need to fill the void left by Judas. So they cast lots between Justus and Matthias. The church thought they were doing the right thing — they even had texts of scripture to prove it. So they cast lots and Matthias was chosen, and he is never mentioned again in the book of Acts. Later in the book of Acts, Jesus chooses Saul to become his apostle to the Gentiles. Saul becomes Paul, and the second half of Acts chronicles the powerful ways that God uses him to spread the gospel.
Were the Apostles acting foolishly to choose Matthias? No, they were using the best resources at their disposal and doing the best they knew to do. As leaders, we have to make decisions every day. We seek the best wisdom. This would help prepare the people to run as an organized community when finally, they would enter the promised land.
Despite my consistent insistence that I can do everything and need no one, I have found over the years that this is simply not true. I have identified several of the areas I really need help. And then I have found people who can help me to do the things I am not able to do by myself. The answer? But I do know that delegating and asking others for help really does make a difference.
After Moses had sent away his wife Zipporah, his father-in-law Jethro took her back, along with her two sons. Jethro rejoiced for all the good that the Lord had done to Israel, in delivering them from the Egyptians.
Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods, because he delivered the people from the Egyptians, when they dealt arrogantly with them. The next day Moses sat as judge for the people, while the people stood around him from morning until evening. Why do you sit alone, while all the people stand around you from morning until evening?
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