The Passionate Judge
Moses had issues, but let it never be said that Moses lacked passion for his people and God. Even though was raised as an Egyptian by necessity, he knew his Hebrew heritage, and when he saw that his people were mistreated and suffered at the hand of their Egyptian taskmasters, he killed an Egyptian and tried to hide him in the sand so that no one would know what he had done (Ex. 2:12). The very next day he saw two of his Hebrew brothers fighting against each other and tried to intervene to bring peace. They promptly set him in his place: “Who made you a prince or a judge over us?” (Ex. 2:14). Moses, fearing retaliation, fled Egypt and escaped to Midian, where he met Jethro and his daughter Zipporah, whom he married. When God called Moses to lead his people out of Egypt, Moses temporarily left his family behind. When Moses led his people across the Red Sea and the Egyptians washed upon the seashore, Jethro heard what God had done for Moses and His people, and he met him in the desert with his wife and sons (Ex. 18).
It didn’t take Jethro long after arriving at the camp before he saw that Moses, who had to leave Israel because he appointed himself judge, jury, and executioner of an Egyptian taskmaster, had once again set himself up as the judge—this time of the children of Israel. Jethro saw that Moses sat in judgment of all the people each day from early until late and asked him why he alone sat as judge of the people. There’s really nothing like someone who knows you well pointing out the fly in the ointment, is there? Moses simply saw a need and filled it. Sometimes it is much easier to just do something ourselves rather than seeking God’s will first. In this case, Jethro pointed out a better way and Moses listened. Jethro told Moses that if God allowed, he should delegate authority to truthful men who feared God more than they loved money gotten dishonestly (Ex. 18:19-24). Moses did and these men judged the problems of the people and brought only the major ones to Moses, which freed him up to be available for God to use in other ways. A burned-out Moses, physically worn out and used up would not have been able to endure the trials of leading the people through a desert for forty grueling years. Judging came easily to Moses, just as it does to us, but judging wisely as the Lord leads is another story altogether. Wise counsel helped Moses convert his passion for his people into a system that worked for the situation in which they found themselves. I don’t think it is coincidental that shortly afterwards, Moses received the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai from God himself, the Judge who sits on the great white throne and has the power to cast into hell (Luke 12:5).
It didn’t take Jethro long after arriving at the camp before he saw that Moses, who had to leave Israel because he appointed himself judge, jury, and executioner of an Egyptian taskmaster, had once again set himself up as the judge—this time of the children of Israel. Jethro saw that Moses sat in judgment of all the people each day from early until late and asked him why he alone sat as judge of the people. There’s really nothing like someone who knows you well pointing out the fly in the ointment, is there? Moses simply saw a need and filled it. Sometimes it is much easier to just do something ourselves rather than seeking God’s will first. In this case, Jethro pointed out a better way and Moses listened. Jethro told Moses that if God allowed, he should delegate authority to truthful men who feared God more than they loved money gotten dishonestly (Ex. 18:19-24). Moses did and these men judged the problems of the people and brought only the major ones to Moses, which freed him up to be available for God to use in other ways. A burned-out Moses, physically worn out and used up would not have been able to endure the trials of leading the people through a desert for forty grueling years. Judging came easily to Moses, just as it does to us, but judging wisely as the Lord leads is another story altogether. Wise counsel helped Moses convert his passion for his people into a system that worked for the situation in which they found themselves. I don’t think it is coincidental that shortly afterwards, Moses received the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai from God himself, the Judge who sits on the great white throne and has the power to cast into hell (Luke 12:5).
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