Moses Essay
If you asked the New Testament believers who’d been raised on the Torah what great Old Testament leaders came to mind, one of the first leaders that would come to their mind would be Moses. Although Moses may be well-remembered as the man who spoke to God on Mount Sinai (Exodus 20 - 32), receiving the ten commandments listed in Exodus 20:3-17, we’d be misguided to forget his flaws. Moses, the man who raised his arms and beckoned the sea to split in two (Exodus 14), also murdered an Egyptian and fled to the wilderness (Exodus 2:11-15). Moses, the man who boldly asked God to see His face (Exodus 33:18), had started out too insecure in his speaking ability to speak to Pharaoh himself and instead spoke through his brother, Aaron (Exodus 4:10-16). Moses, the prophet of God who led the Israelites out of Egypt, through the desert, and to the Promised Land in the book of Exodus, did not himself enter the land due to his disobedience (Numbers 20:10-13). Moses is well-remembered as a great leader because, despite these failings, he turned his focus back to God and recommitted his ways to obedience. When Moses was told by a mentor, his father-in law, Jethro, that he was doing too much himself and needed to recruit leaders to do take some of the work off his plate, we see him accept the advice and apply it, knowing the wisdom of the older man was worthy of heeding (Exodus 18).
Moses, as the one called to share the words from God to His chosen people, was great at giving the people underneath him hope. When Israel had left Egypt and was unsure what their future looked like, Moses’s voice was the one God used to share that they should “be (His) treasured possession among all peoples... a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:5&6, ESV). Part of his job was sharing the promises of the Lord and thus keeping the nation’s focus on the promise of the land they were to inherit. Earlier in their journey, when the people grew anxious from the realization that they had no food nor water, Moses offered stability by turning to God and, through miracles of manna, quail, and water from a rock, showed them how the Lord can provide no matter the circumstances (see Exodus 16 & 17). Moses earned the trust of the nation of Israel by showing his compassion in the time he spent each day, sitting with them, listening to their concerns and complaints, and offering wisdom from God (Exodus 18:13). He furthermore went above and beyond by advocating for them to God when He grew angry with the nation’s disobedience (Exodus 33:12-23), proving his care for his people.
Moses knew that the people he was leading were prone not only to complaining but also to disobedience. When faced with the additional labor enforced by Pharoh after Moses, the Israelites didn’t hesitate to complain against Moses (Exodus 5:21). Moses, in a moment of doubt laments to the Lord that the people he came to help now hate him (Exodus 5:22&23), but when called to return to Pharoh, not just once but ten more times (Exodus 7-11), Moses agreed, deciding to trust the God who had kept his promise to Abraham (Genesis 9:9 and 21:1-7). Moses also recognized that the Israelites had spent their entire lives as slaves in an unholy land. Having been surrounded by false gods, idols, and immoral ways, the Israelites had little idea what holy meant, let alone what it meant to live a holy life or be faithful to one God. Perhaps this was part of the reason he took time to sit and settle their disputes. A large part of Moses’ job was listening to God’s instructions and relaying them to His people so they could learn His laws, heed His instructions, and learn what it meant to be a nation unlike the gentile ones that surrounded them. This part of his job we see written in the Torah, specifically the books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy. Moses also understood that the Israelites had a fear of God, not just in a holy awe and reverence but in the way one is afraid of the dark. The Israelites not only didn’t know God but feared what they didn’t know. For this reason, Moses continued to point them to the bigger picture unfolding through God’s miracles, blessings, and laws.
Moses’ biggest challenge as he led the Israelite people was getting them to shed their identity of slave hood and put on their new identity as the holy nation of the living God. As previously discussed, the Israelites under Moses had never lived outside of Egypt and had been under Egypt’s yoke their entire lives. The only one not enslaved to Pharaoh was Moses himself, who’d been raised inside the Egyptian palace (Exodus 2:1-10). Moses- sharing the word of the Lord- often strategically pointed the Israelites to the past to remind them of the movement of God's hand in their story so far. A great example of this is seen in Exodus 15:1-21, where Moses sings of God’s accomplishments regarding their exodus: “I sing to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider He has thrown into the sea” (Exodus 15:1). Moses, when sharing the laws God has given His people, often points to the past to strategically show them why these guardrails matter. Twice he tells them not to oppress a sojourner for they were sojourners in the land of Egypt (Exodus 22:21 & 23:9). Moses also points forward, giving warnings of what will happen to the nation if they disobey the rules gifted by God. “(The Gentile nations) shall not dwell in your land lest they made you sin against me; for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you” (Exodus 23:33). We later read that this was true; in the book of Judges the Israelites go through a repeated pattern of bowing to the idols of other nations, doing what is evil in the sight of the Lord, and finding themselves enslaved to the nations around them because of their disobedience. After the people of Israel repent, turning back to the Lord their God at their darkest moment, they would be rescued only to turn back to those idols soon after. Moses’ warning was a vital one, but his actions did more for them.
Moses executed a lot while they wandered in the desert. Moses, under the direction of the Lord, arranged a series of systems to help not only the current generation keep the law, but the generations to come as well. By writing down the laws seen in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, Moses set up a way for future generations to find the word of God and thus understand the rules. Through Moses’ obedience to lead the team that constructed the tabernacle, the people that crafted its furnishings, and the team designated by God to be in charge of transporting it (Exodus 25-30), he helped create a way for the people to commune with God and understand how they could enter his presence since they were unholy. These rules, which were recorded by Moses, either by his own hand or his command to a scribe, also created the path for David to bring the ark of the covenant back to Jerusalem. When David had first attempted to regain the ark, he and his men loaded it onto a cart (2 Samuel 6:1-3), although the law states it must be carried on the shoulders of men of Levi (Numbers7:10). As a result of this disobedience, the ark begins to slip from the cart, causing a man named Uzzah tried to steady it. Uzzah died, for the unholy cannot live when interacting with that which is holy. David, after reading the law of Moses, instructs his men that only those from the tribe of Levi were to carry the ark (1 Chronicles 15:2), stating that “Because you did not carry it the first time, the Lord our God broke out against us” (1 Chronicles 15:13). Without Moses’s foresight and obedience to write down the words of the Lord, David would have been unable to correct his mistake. It also bears necessary to mention that after the Israelites’ exile, the prophet Ezra read the Law of Moses before an assembly to re-teach them the rules God intended for them to follow and guide the people back to holiness (Nehemiah 8:1-8).
Moses resolved many conflicts among the Israelites, often by taking their problems directly to the Lord or the law. When they cried out to Moses after leaving Egypt, fearing that they would die in the wilderness at the hand of the Egyptians who now pursued them, Moses’ first response was to say, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord,” (Exodus 14:13). Moses knew from his experiences confronting Pharoh that there was no foundation stronger than the same God who declared he was for them. He was also vocal about his mistakes, reminding the Israelites that his mistakes came at a cost, just as their mistakes did. He recorded in the book of Deuteronomy that God told him, “You shall see the land before you, but you shall not go there, into the land that I am giving to the people of Israel” (32:52). This transparency, the admittance of his own failings, offered the Israelites a chance to see that if Moses, the man whose face shone from his time in the presence of the Living God, could fail, they would too... but perhaps they too could seek to be as obedient as him. Moses had been a murderer who’d fled his crime and returned unable to speak to the crowd and now stood before them a strong leader and prophet of God. If God could use Moses in such unimaginable ways, who’s to say they couldn’t be transformed too?
A leader requires people to follow them. As stated in Strengths-Based Leadership1, “You are only a leader if people follow.” This rings especially true for Moses. If the people of Israel had continued to hold the distain they first held for him, Moses would have never been a leader. However, Moses’s obedience and growth in his position qualified him as a leader for they quite literally followed him out of Egypt and into the desert: “Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur.”2
A leader can’t do everything. Moses was quick to ask God for someone to fill the gaps he couldn’t yet fill. When called to speak to Pharoh, Moses admitted he wasn’t great at speaking (Exodus 4:10). As Blackaby put it, “a team member can shine in one setting and yet stumble in another.”3 Gallup agrees when they state, “Effective leaders surround themselves with the right people and build on each person’s skills.”1
A leader keeps their team looking forwards. Moses did nothing if not consistently reminded the Israelites where they were heading. Blackaby reminds us of this when he said, “it’s the leader’s responsibility to keep the team centered on its mission.” The Bible echoes this while reminding us that our mission is to become more like our Savior. “Run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith.”4
Bibliography
Conchie & Rath, Strengths-Based Leadership, (Gallup Press), 81 & 43
Exodus 15:22 (ESV), The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (Crossway)
Henry & Richard Blackaby, Spiritual Leadership, (Broadman & Holman Publishers)
Hebrews 12:1&2, The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (Crossway)
