Exodus 18: You’re Doing It All Wrong

Synopsis:

Moses’ father in law Jethro hears about what Moses has done and brings Moses’ wife Zipporah and his two sons to see Moses. Everyone is glad to see each other. But the next day Moses sits in judgement all day hearing conflicts and dealing with issues. Jethro asks him what he is doing and why. Moses tells him that people want to know what God’s will is.  Jethro says, if you keep this up dealing with individual problems you are going to wear yourself out. Here’s what you need to do.  Create a set of ordinances and laws. Find men of truth who hate covetousness and place them over the people to be rules.  You need people for every 1,000 people, 100 people, 50 people and 10 people. These rulers can judge small matters. Only the big issues will surface up to your level. Jethro leaves.

In other words:

Moses’s father in law shows up and shows Moses how to create courts so that Moses’ time is not spent on trivial matters.

My snarky thoughts:

Isn’t this advice Moses should have gotten from God?  I’m not saying it’s not good advice, I’m just saying that he shouldn’t have had to figure it out on his own. I mean, what if Jethro had never shown up?

Favorite bit:

Exodus 18:14 “What is this thing that thou doest to the people?”

Moral Lesson:

Whenever possible, delegate. (Exodus 18)