We are going to start this post with the same passage that we looked at yesterday: Exodus 17:1-7. At the Lord’s command, the whole community of Israel left the wilderness of Sin and moved from place to place. Eventually, they camped at Rephidim, but there was no water there for the people to drink. So once more the people complained against Moses. “Give us water to drink!” they demanded.
“Quiet!” Moses replied. “Why are you complaining against me? And why are you testing the Lord?”
But tormented by thirst, they continued to argue with Moses. “Why did you bring us out of Egypt? Are you trying to kill us, our children, and our livestock with thirst?”
Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What should I do with these people? They are ready to stone me!”
The Lord said to Moses, “Walk out in front of the people. Take your staff, the one you used when you struck the water of the Nile, and call some of the elders of Israel to join you. I will stand before you on the rock at Mount Sinai. Strike the rock, and water will come gushing out. Then the people will be able to drink.” So Moses struck the rock as he was told, and water gushed out as the elders looked on.
Moses named the place Massah (which means “test”) and Meribah (which means “arguing”) because the people of Israel argued with Moses and tested the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord here with us or not” (Exodus 17:1-7 NLT)?
The people's quarrel with Moses was that they did not have water to drink. They accused Moses of bringing them out of Egypt to kill them, their children, and their livestock with thirst. As I said yesterday, the people's quarrel against Moses was legitimate in one sense, illegitimate in another, but in both cases, it demonstrated a lack of faith in God. I can sympathize with how they were suffering. Walking in a desert for a long time with water doesn't sound like my idea of fun. But they had been walking without water, not long enough to completely dehydrate, but long enough to really start feeling it and seeing those they love suffering. On the other hand, their statement that Moses brought them out there to die was more out of frustration than having any foundation in common sense. What incentive would Moses have had to give up the life he had as a prince in Egypt, become a fugitive for four decades, come back, stand up to the most powerful ruler in the world, and lead the people out of Egypt if he was just taking them out in the middle of nowhere to die a horrible death? But although I understand their frustration, this, too, demonstrated a lack of faith in God and his willingness to provide for them after bringing them that far.
There are many lessons in leadership to be learned from observing Moses' life. One time when Israel was still under bondage in Egypt, the Israelite foremen went to Pharaoh and pleaded with him. "Please don’t treat your servants like this," they begged. "We are given no straw, but the slave drivers still demand, 'Make bricks!' We are being beaten, but it isn’t our fault! Your own people are to blame!"
But Pharaoh shouted, "You’re just lazy! Lazy! That’s why you’re saying, "Let us go and offer sacrifices to the Lord." Now get back to work! No straw will be given to you, but you must still produce the full quota of bricks.”
The Israelite foremen could see that they were in serious trouble when they were told, “You must not reduce the number of bricks you make each day.” As they left Pharaoh’s court, they confronted Moses and Aaron, who were waiting outside for them. The foremen said to them, “May the Lord judge and punish you for making us stink before Pharaoh and his officials. You have put a sword into their hands, an excuse to kill us!”
Then Moses went back to the Lord and protested, “Why have you brought all this trouble on your own people, Lord? Why did you send me? Ever since I came to Pharaoh as your spokesman, he has been even more brutal to your people. And you have done nothing to rescue them!”
Then the Lord told Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh. When he feels the force of my strong hand, he will let the people go. In fact, he will force them to leave his land!”
And God said to Moses, “I am Yahweh—‘the Lord.’ I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as El-Shaddai—‘God Almighty’—but I did not reveal my name, Yahweh, to them. And I reaffirmed my covenant with them. Under its terms, I promised to give them the land of Canaan, where they were living as foreigners. You can be sure that I have heard the groans of the people of Israel, who are now slaves to the Egyptians. And I am well aware of my covenant with them.
“Therefore, say to the people of Israel: ‘I am the Lord. I will free you from your oppression and will rescue you from your slavery in Egypt. I will redeem you with a powerful arm and great acts of judgment. I will claim you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God who has freed you from your oppression in Egypt. I will bring you into the land I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I will give it to you as your very own possession. I am the Lord!’”
So Moses told the people of Israel what the Lord had said, but they refused to listen anymore. They had become too discouraged by the brutality of their slavery (Exodus 5:15-6:9 NLT).
After the Lord had delivered them from slavery, the Egyptians pursued Israel to the point that they were trapped between the fast-approaching Egyptian army and the Red Sea. As Pharaoh approached, the people of Israel looked up and panicked when they saw the Egyptians overtaking them. They cried out to the Lord, and they said to Moses, “Why did you bring us out here to die in the wilderness? Weren’t there enough graves for us in Egypt? What have you done to us? Why did you make us leave Egypt? Didn’t we tell you this would happen while we were still in Egypt? We said, ‘Leave us alone! Let us be slaves to the Egyptians. It’s better to be a slave in Egypt than a corpse in the wilderness!’”
But Moses told the people, “Don’t be afraid. Just stand still and watch the Lord rescue you today. The Egyptians you see today will never be seen again. The Lord himself will fight for you. Just stay calm.”
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the people to get moving! Pick up your staff and raise your hand over the sea. Divide the water so the Israelites can walk through the middle of the sea on dry ground. And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they will charge in after the Israelites. My great glory will be displayed through Pharaoh and his troops, his chariots, and his charioteers. When my glory is displayed through them, all Egypt will see my glory and know that I am the Lord!”
Then the angel of God, who had been leading the people of Israel, moved to the rear of the camp. The pillar of cloud also moved from the front and stood behind them. The cloud settled between the Egyptian and Israelite camps. As darkness fell, the cloud turned to fire, lighting up the night. But the Egyptians and Israelites did not approach each other all night.
Then Moses raised his hand over the sea, and the Lord opened up a path through the water with a strong east wind. The wind blew all that night, turning the seabed into dry land (Exodus 14:10-21 NLT).
As Moses led the people of Israel away from the Red Sea, they moved out into the desert of Shur. They traveled in this desert for three days without finding any water. When they came to the oasis of Marah, the water was too bitter to drink. So they called the place Marah (which means “bitter”).
Then the people complained and turned against Moses. “What are we going to drink?” they demanded. So Moses cried out to the Lord for help, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood. Moses threw it into the water, and this made the water good to drink.
It was there at Marah that the Lord set before them the following decree as a standard to test their faithfulness to him. He said, “If you will listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his sight, obeying his commands and keeping all his decrees, then I will not make you suffer any of the diseases I sent on the Egyptians; for I am the Lord who heals you" (Exodus 15:22-26 NLT).
Soon after, the whole community of Israel set out from Elim and journeyed into the wilderness of Sin, between Elim and Mount Sinai. They arrived there on the fifteenth day of the second month, one month after leaving the land of Egypt. There, too, the whole community of Israel complained about Moses and Aaron.
“If only the Lord had killed us back in Egypt,” they moaned. “There we sat around pots filled with meat and ate all the bread we wanted. But now you have brought us into this wilderness to starve us all to death.”
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Look, I’m going to rain down food from heaven for you. Each day the people can go out and pick up as much food as they need for that day. I will test them in this to see whether or not they will follow my instructions. On the sixth day, they will gather food, and when they prepare it, there will be twice as much as usual.”
So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, “By evening you will realize it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt. In the morning you will see the glory of the Lord because he has heard your complaints, which are against him, not against us. What have we done that you should complain about us?” Then Moses added, “The Lord will give you meat to eat in the evening and bread to satisfy you in the morning, for he has heard all your complaints against him. What have we done? Yes, your complaints are against the Lord, not against us.”
Then Moses said to Aaron, “Announce this to the entire community of Israel: ‘Present yourselves before the Lord, for he has heard your complaining’” (Exodus 16:1-9 NLT).
In reviewing these passages, there are a number of principles that we can learn from these events in the life of Moses:
- Moses was not a distant, far-off leader, but he was with the people in all they endured. He was not above the "team," but a part of it. When the Israelite foremen went before Pharaoh, he awaited them to hear all that had occurred.
- Moses was a mediator to the Lord for the people he led. In the New Covenant, Jesus is our mediator to the Father, but we can still intercede for those we lead. Hey look, I'm a poet and didn't know it.
- Moses shared with the people what the Lord had spoken to them. God will give guidance to leaders who have ears to hear. Then they can pass that along as needed.
- Moses was an encourager. When the people wanted to give up in fear and go back to Egypt, Moses encouraged them to stay calm and trust the Lord. Leadership is not without challenges. When his people wanted to buckle under the pressure, Moses supported them in their time of need. Good leaders today do the same.
- Moses took divinely-directed action. God told Moses to raise his staff in his hand over the Red Sea and it would divide for them. Moses obeyed the Lord and took action. He did not use continued prayer as an excuse for lack of obedience. The Lord said to Moses, "Why are you carrying out to me? Tell the people to get moving!" So he did. A leader's words are important, but so are their actions.
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