I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Numbers 27-29.

    When Moses realized that he would not be leading the Children of Israel much longer he asked God to appoint someone to take his place. Moses’ chosen successor was Joshua, who had been Moses’ assistant since shortly after the Israelites left Egypt. Joshua is first mentioned as Moses’ assistant at Mt. Sinai, but the context there indicates that he had already been Moses’ assistant before that. Now the interesting thing is that God splits Moses’ duties between Joshua and Eleazar, Aaron’s son and successor as High Priest. Joshua was to be the leader of the people, but when God’s guidance was needed he was to have Eleazar consult God. Moses did the latter himself. This split created checks and balances which limited the likelihood of abuse of power. There is an important lesson here. Moses had been training Joshua as his successor for the entire time the people of Israel were in the wilderness. Yet he still asked for God’s guidance in selecting his successor. Moses both planned for succession and asked for God’s guidance on implementing it when the time came to do so.