24 So Moses hearkened to the voice of his father in law, and did all that he had said.

25 And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.

26 And they judged the people at all seasons: the hard causes they brought unto Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves.

27 And Moses let his father in law depart; and he went his way into his own land.

Moses took Jethro’s counsel and chose men to be heads over different segments of the Israelite populace. We already learned that there were about 600,000 men who took part in the exodus, which would mean about 600,000 households. Assuming that a “ruler of ten” was a ruler of ten households, then there would have had to be 60,000 lowest-level rulers, 12,000 of the second-to-lowest, 6,000 of the second-to-highest, 600 of the highest, and then Moses, himself. In all, 78,600 judges to preside over the body of approximately 2 million.

Of course, every tier of judge would have had quite a burden of responsibility. Presiding over just ten households can certainly be a highly demanding task all by itself, depending on the nature of those families, while presiding over a larger population would open one up to a larger swath of issues, though also provide a buffer in the lower judges.

And let us take note that these rulers who were chosen were already of high merit, and none of them had sought for the station, because it hadn’t existed yet. They had already proved themselves worthy, just in the natural course of their lives. They had not pursued this office by a lust for status, power, or vanity. It is an oft-observed paradox that those who seek positions of power are often the least worthy of holding it, whereas those who never sought it often become the greatest leaders.