Our Ruler

Author: Joseph

Date: July 15, 2018

Israel had defeated Amalek and began to trust in Moses’s leadership after they again saw how God’s favor was with him. Moses began to make judgments in matters between the Israelites on a regular basis. He would hear their concerns throughout the day and then late into the evening. During this time, Moses was reunited with his father-in-law, Jethro. Jethro took notice of how Moses was handling disputes between the Israelites and counseled Moses, telling him it was too burdensome for him to handle the task on his own.

Moses reasoned that he alone would judge between the Israelites because he was knowledgeable of God’s statutes and laws regarding their specific needs. Moses also understood that knowing God’s commandments was not enough and that communicating with Him was necessary for making decisions. Jethro advised Moses to take trustworthy men of Israel and make them judges in minor matters. The more severe decisions would be brought before Moses, who would bring them before God.

The first step to making this possible was teaching all the people of Israel God’s statutes and commandments (Exodus 18:20). The people had to first know what was right and wrong in order to know if they were sinning against one another and against God. This knowledge would allow them to understand how they were supposed to live their lives and make them aware when someone violated God’s ruling.

The Bible states that Moses selected “men of truth” and those “who hate dishonest gain” (Exodus 8:21). These became leaders over large and small groups within the Israelites.

Israel’s leaders, though they were given authority over small matters, still had to go to Moses for making decisions that required greater discernment. This is because they were unable to communicate with God directly as he was. They lacked the relationship with God that they needed for that kind of responsibility.

The Bible does not explicitly make a judgment about every situation in daily life. We live in a society where technologies and community lifestyles are drastically different from those of Moses and the Israelites. While this is true, we cannot make judgments as the lesser leaders of Israel did. They had to rely on what they knew from the commandments and statutes, without the essential communication with God in how to handle more complicated matters or matters that seemed vague. Lesser matters consisted of rulings on things such as murder (Genesis 4:6-8), acts of violence (Genesis 6:11), eating blood of any creature (Genesis 9:4). These things and many others were obvious and lacked complexity. They were things to which a straightforward answer was already given. If we attempt to discern all our questions (and the disputes that arise from them) using a straightforward method, we will oversimplify our lives and allow room for sin to flourish where specifics are not mentioned. Like the lesser leaders, we also must bring complicated matters to a more authoritative source.

In order to understand fully what sin is in an ever-changing world we need to rely not only on the written Word of God, but also on God’s active communication with us through His Spirit. God's authority is essential. Even Moses did not pridefully assume he understood God’s intentions for every situation regarding a commandment, but he brought the matter before God and let God make the final authoritative decision.

We need to embrace the example of Moses in bringing every matter before God in which we are uncertain. If we choose to disregard God or His statutes, we bring harm to ourselves and separate ourselves from God’s ruling in our lives. If God is not ruling our lives, then something or someone else is, and this is idolatry.

When you claim to follow God and submit to Him, do you actually live out your words? Do you let God have absolute authority over the decisions in your life? Make sure that God is the one leading your life before you sin and make trouble for yourself, just as Israel was about to do at Mount Sinai.

Bible Passage: Exodus 18:1 – 19:2.