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

When God told Moses that he would shortly die without entering into the Promised Land, Moses’ first response was not to beg God to reconsider.  His first response was to ask God to appoint someone to lead the Children of Israel in his place so that they would not be like sheep without a shepherd.  The first thing which came to me when I read that was what Matthew wrote in chapter nine of his Gospel account.

36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

I am confident that Matthew was making the same connection.  God’s immediate answer to Moses’ request was to have him appoint Joshua, Moses’ disciple, to lead the people.  God split Moses’ responsibilities between Joshua, who handled the military and other secular leadership functions, and Eleazar the priest, who was responsible for the spiritual and religious leadership functions.  However, as Matthew repeatedly pointed out, God’s long term answer to Moses’ request was Jesus of Nazareth, who once again combined all aspects of leadership over God’s people into one man.

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

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

As a leader, Moses had his shortcomings, but he seemed to learn from his mistakes.  However, there was one mistake which is common to leaders similar to Moses that he did not make.  Moses prepared for a successor.  Joshua had been his aid since before the Israelites arrived at Mount Sinai, possibly going back to before the Israelites left Egypt.   Not only did Moses start training a successor as soon as he began to lead the Israelites, when it came time to pass on his leadership he recognized the value in separating religious and secular leadership.  Part of the commissioning of Joshua as Moses’ successor was the command that Joshua would consult with Eleazar when he needed God’s guidance.  Moses had always sought God’s guidance directly, but Joshua was instructed to consult with the high priest when he needed God’s guidance in leading the people.  By dividing the leadership of the Israelites in this manner, Moses ensured that there would be someone who could hold Joshua accountable.  Every organization needs a mechanism to hold its leadership accountable if it is going to survive for the long term.

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