“Now listen to me: I will give you counsel, and God be with you.
“You be the people’s representative before God, and you bring the disputes to God.
“Then teach them the statues and the laws, and make known to them the way in which they are to walk and the work they are to do.
“Furthermore, you shall select out of all the people able men who fear God, men of truth, those who hate dishonest gain; and you shall place these over them as leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens. Let them judge the people at all times. And let it be that every major dispute they will bring to you, but every minor dispute they themselves will judge.
“So it will be easier for you, and they will bear with you.
“If you do this thing and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure, and all these people also will go to their place in peace.” Exodus 18.19-23.
Jethro’s third and most well known exhortation was to delegate. The first two of his three admonitions are often overlooked.
Jethro gave these three instructions, in this order:
- Intercede
- Teach
- Delegate
Intercede. “Be the people’s representative before God.” Either the people can’t or won’t come to God directly. Job interceded for his children, in case any of them had sinned. Ezekiel sought for a man to stand in the gap. The Holy Spirit intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. Jesus continually intercedes for us at the right hand of the Father.
The first role of a leader is to intercede for his people. They may not deserve it. Maybe they should be saying their own prayers. But they may not, perhaps out of rebellion, negligence, laziness, immaturity, or ignorance. Yet the Holy Spirit and Jesus intercedes for them, and for us. So should we intercede for our people.
Here, Moses excelled. From the bush that was not burning to entry into the Promised Land, Moses was constantly face to face with God on behalf of the people. One notable example was after the golden calf idolatry:
The Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, they are an obstinate people. Now then let Me alone, that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them; and I will make of you a great nation.”
Then Moses entreated the Lord his God, and said, “O Lord, why does Your anger burn against Your people whom You have brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians speak, saying, ‘With evil intent He brought them out to kill them in the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your burning anger and change Your mind about doing harm to Your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants to whom You swore by Yourself, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heavens, and all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’” So the Lord changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people.
Intercession, it seems, can be quite powerful.
We may not be able to do much else for our people, no matter how much we may want to. But we can always pray. And there is nothing more effective.
Teach. “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.”
Moses excelled here, too. Not once but twice he brought down the Ten Commandments. The Book of Deuteronomy is essentially Moses’ final sermon. That book and Leviticus are extensive records of Moses’ teaching. Within these passages are many reminders of how often on other occasions Moses taught the people. Moses’ teachings endure to this day as powerful revelation of God’s Word. Moses had this one nailed.
Teaching is to trust that God’s word never returns to Him void without accomplishing the purpose for which He sent it. It is to trust that we are to train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it. Teaching is to trust that all Scripture is God-breathed, and useful for teaching, correcting, rebuking and training. Teaching is not to depend on oneself, but the power and efficacy of God’s eternal truths and His Word.
Delegate. Delegation invests hope and expectancy in those entrusted. It is risky. They will not do it like we would do it, and may even “fail.” But having interceded, having taught and trained, one may now release, trust, and leverage ministry. Leveraging ministry will multiply it. And without wearing anyone out.
Jesus, not surprisingly, used all three tools. He interceded (and continues unceasingly at the right hand of God). Jesus taught. And Jesus released and delegated. He sent out the disciples. He sent out the 70. He told the disciples, “You give them something to eat.” He promised that even greater works than Jesus himself did, we would do. Jesus left us after His ascension, entrusting us with “talents” literally and figuratively, and the gift of His Holy Spirit. This was a risky plan. We have in the past and likely will in the future fall far short of how the Savior Himself would do things. Jesus’ delegation is born out of His love relationship with us and His divine, unfathomable plan, that He chooses us for this mysterious partnership.
Did Moses succeed in delegation? Not so much. But what are we to say; that Moses was not a great leader? Of course not.
So of these three, intercession, teaching and delegation, the greater are intercession and teaching. Intercession and teaching are to precede delegation.
We need not necessarily extend the ministry to others that God entrusts to us. Moses didn’t, not so much. And he was pretty much one of the most effective leaders ever.
But, the exhortation from Jethro, and the model of Jesus, remains. Intercede. Teach. Delegate. In that order.