Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Leviticus 16:1-2

1 And the Lord spake unto Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered before the Lord, and died;

2 And the Lord said unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into the holy place within the veil before the mercy seat, which is upon the ark; that he die not: for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat.

The opening of this chapter references back to the priestly disobedience of Aaron’s two sons, Nadab and Abihu, who were consumed in fire by the Lord for their sin. This memory is invoked to remind Aaron of the strictness of his calling, particularly in matters of “the holy place,” which is the inner chamber of the tabernacle where the Ark of the Covenant resides. Aaron is informed, on pain of death, that he must never come into that place outside of the very specific conditions that God will describe in the rest of this chapter. And none of the other priests could ever venture into that place. Only the High Priest, and only once a year, as we will soon read.

The reason is given in verse 2. The Lord, Himself, will dwell in a cloud upon the mercy seat, which is the lid of the Ark of the Covenant. His presence and His glory are wonderful and terrible, consuming like a flame any who are not prepared beforehand.

There is in these verses an example of the principle of leadership. With leadership responsibility there comes great obligation, great consequence for failure, and also great privilege. Aaron will officiate as the highest authority in bearing the sins of the people, he is given the instructions of how to do so under pain of death, and he will be the only one allowed into the very chambers of the Lord. Obligation, consequence, and privilege.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 32:31-32

31 And Moses returned unto the Lord, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold.

32 Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin—; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.

Moses shows us an excellent example of leadership and responsibility. He was not down in the valley committing idolatry, but he still says that if the people are to be blotted out, may he be blotted out as well. As their leader, Moses is prepared to accept the same punishment as his people.

As members of humanity, our consequences are overlapped with those that surround us. Whatever society decides to do, even if we personally abstain from it, we all experience many of the same repercussions. We are a part of them and share in their lot. This effect is enhanced even further when we are a leader in that society.

Moving on, Moses also provides an excellent example of repentance in these verses. He makes absolutely no attempt to minimize or justify the seriousness of what has happened. It was wrong, and greatly so, and he admits it. Second, he appeals to God’s mercy, but he also accepts God’s judgment. He knows that God’s punishment is justified, but also that His mercy is possible.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 18:21-23

21 Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens:

22 And let them judge the people at all seasons: and it shall be, that every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge: so shall it be easier for thyself, and they shall bear the burden with thee.

23 If thou shalt do this thing, and God command thee so, then thou shalt be able to endure, and all this people shall also go to their place in peace.

Jethro had already established that Moses should remain as a teacher and a prophet to the people, but now, instead of Moses hearing every single issue that came up among the people, he should delegate that responsibility to other leaders. Jethro even describes a tiered delegation, so that there would be multiple levels of judges and high judges and higher judges, meaning that this system could scale indefinitely. Up at the very top of the hierarchy would be Moses, still available to handle the greatest judgments, while all the others would be handled by the lower tiers.

A key element to this, however, would be that the judges would have to be absolutely upstanding and righteous individuals. They had to be trusted to make right judgments more than wrong, and be personally incorruptible.

One has to wonder whether the idea of tiered delegation was entirely new to Moses. He had been raised in mighty Egypt, had the Pharaoh not maintained power through some system of chiefs or captains? We know that a Pharaoh many generations ago had delegated management of the grain to Joseph, so it couldn’t have been entirely without precedent. Perhaps the hierarchical delegation had been seen before, but wasn’t so formally defined before this point. Or perhaps it had already existed in exactly the same form that Jethro described, but Moses hadn’t considered that it might apply to spiritual leadership as well as to matters of state.

And surely there is a difference between spiritual leadership and matters of state, and Jethro shows that he appreciates this distinction when gives all due humility in verse 23. He has given this advice as an option for Moses going forward, but he then defers to the almighty when he says, “if thou shalt do this thing, and God command thee so.” Ultimately, the Lord would have the final say on how His people were to be governed. If Jethro’s advice appeared wise, but God said no, then of course it should not be enacted. Apparently, though, God agreed with Jethro’s counsel. Indeed, this conversation between Jethro and Moses was probably all according to divine design. Many times the wisdom of the Lord is communicated to us through different people.