Exodus 18:17-27 – Be sure to adopt godly counsel

Realizing that Moses was wearing himself out and if nothing was done, he would soon have a burnt-out. The weariness was not affecting Moses alone. It also affected the people waiting in queue for him to attend to them. They were also feeling weary. So, Jethro told him frankly that his system was not good. The task was too heavy for him to bear alone. So he proposed a system of effective pastoral care for the people. The system he counselled Moses to adopt would not minimize the prophetic role he had to fulfil. In fact, he would still be the key person between God and the people. He was Israel’s representative and guardian of the covenant between God and them. Moses would still be responsible to instruct the people the law of God for effective living. He was still the leader and would guide them through the elucidation of God’s word. But to help govern the people effectively, he offered him a plan that would hugely decrease his burden.

The plan he proposed is described in Exodus 18:21-23. He told Moses to “…select out of all the people able men who fear God, men of truth, those who hate dishonest gain; and you shall place these over them as leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens. Let them judge the people at all times, and let it be that every major dispute they will bring to you, but every minor dispute they themselves will judge. So, it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you. If you do this thing and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure, and all these people also will go to their place in peace.” The plan he proposed would immediately reduce Moses ineffectiveness. The prophet was to pick out spiritually mature people and empower them to be supervisors. There was a hierarchy of leadership. There were leaders who would watch over groups of a thousand people, then those who would handle groups of hundred. Then there should be supervisors over groups of fifty and then some groups of ten. These leaders would be delegated with the power to handle the day to day problems. But for difficult disputes that were beyond them, they would refer upward to Moses. The system was structured in such a way that Moses’ leadership role was enhanced. Now he had a group of people with varying level of maturity to assist in the leadership and share his load.

Notice the kind of leaders Moses should select. They must be mature. These were people with wisdom and insight, not people of status or education or people who were popular. The people Moses was to select must be spiritually and morally sound, people who possessed the fear of the LORD. They should be people of integrity and were trustworthy and not susceptible to dishonest gain. Their relationship with God was paramount. Then their relationship with people must also be good. He must be a trustworthy person who kept his commitment. The people chosen must come from the community and not because they were his friends or his relatives. This principle would root out nepotism. The system Jethro counselled provides the basis for the elders’ system. This system was not only effective but also more efficient.

We can see that Jethro was not insisting that Moses should capriciously follow what he had proposed. His advice was for the son-in-law to take it before the Lord to make sure that it was not contradicting divine principles. Jethro was rightly evaluating himself. He knew that ultimately all human wisdom must be subjected to divine scrutiny. Young as he was in his trust of Jehovah, Jethro was already God-conscious in his decision. He wanted the principles of God to be factored in and divine approval to be the ultimate test of the system. What a godly plan! We can see from these verses that leadership should be a shared responsibility. Depending on the level and gifting, each leader should be assigned according to their capacity. There must not be any favouritism in the choice of leaders. And the people must be accountable to God through that God ordained leader. We also learn that even people who are new in their experience with the Lord will also have good things to offer us, seasoned believers. When he had helped Moses to establish a good system of leadership, Jethro was at peace to depart for home. And he did.