040. XXVI. Moses’s Work As Judge And Prophet
§ XXVI. MOSES’S WORK AS JUDGE AND PROPHET Exodus 18:1-27; Exodus 33:5-11
1. The visit of Jethro. Now when Jethro the priest of Midian, Moses’s father-in- law, heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel his people, how that Jehovah had brought Israel out of Egypt, Jethro, Moses’s father-in-law, took Zipporah, Moses’s wife, and her two sons, of whom the name of one was Gershom [An alien resident there]; for he said, I have been a resident alien in a foreign land; and the name of the other was Eliezer [My God is a help]; for he said, The God of my father was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh; and Jethro, Moses’s father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness where he was encamped, at the mountain of God. And he said to Moses, I, thy father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife, and her two sons with her. And Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, and bowed before him, and kissed him; and when they had asked regarding each other’s welfare, they came into the tent. Then Moses told his father-in-law all that Jehovah had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, all the hardship they had encountered on the march, and how Jehovah had delivered them.
Then Jethro rejoiced because of all the goodness which Jehovah had done to Israel, in that he had delivered them from the power of the Egyptians. And Jethro said, 2. His song of thanksgiving and sacrificial offering.
Blessed be Jehovah Who hath delivered them from the power of Pharaoh; Who hath delivered the people from under the power of the Egyptians.
Now I am persuaded that Jehovah is greater than all gods, For in that, wherein they acted so arrogantly toward them, hath he thrown them into confusion.
Moreover Jethro, Moses’s father-in-law, took a burnt-offering and sacrifices for God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses’s father-in-law before God.
3. Moses’s duties asjudge. Now on the next day Moses sat as judge to decide cases for the people, and the people stood about Moses from morning until evening. But when Moses’s father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, What is this thing that you are doing for the people? Why are you sitting all alone, while all the people stand about you from morning until evening? And Moses answered his father- in-law, Because the people keep coming to me to inquire of God. Whenever they have a matter of dispute, they come to me, that I may decide which of the two is right, and make known the statutes of God, and his decisions.
4. Appointment of minor judges. Then Moses’s father-in-law said to him, This thing which you are doing is not good. Both you and these people who are about you will surely wear yourselves out, for the task is too heavy for you; you are not able to perform it by yourself alone. Now hearken to me, I will give you good counsel, so that God will be with you: You be the people’s advocate with God, and bring the cases to God, and you make known to them the statutes and the decisions, and show them the way wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do. Moreover you must provide out of all the people able, God-fearing, reliable men, hating unjust gain; and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens; and let them judge the people at all times. Only every great matter let them bring to you; but every small matter let them decide themselves; so it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you. If you do this thing—and God command you so—then you will be able to endure, and all these people also will go back to their places satisfied. So Moses hearkened to the advice of his father-in-law, and did all that he had said. And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties and rulers of tens. And they judged the people at all times; the difficult cases they brought to Moses, but every small matter they decided themselves. Then Moses let his father-in-law depart, and he went his way to his own land.
5. Making of the tent of meeting. And Jehovah said to Moses, Say to the Israelites, ‘Ye are a wilful people; if I go up into the midst of thee for one moment, I shall consume thee; therefore put off thy ornaments from thee, that I may know what to do to thee.’ So the Israelites despoiled themselves of their ornaments from Mount Horeb onward, and with these Moses made a tent....
6. Jehovah’s revelation through Moses. Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp at some distance from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. And whenever any one wished to consult Jehovah, he would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp. And whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would rise and stand, every man at his tent door, and look after Moses until he had gone into the tent. And when Moses had entered into the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend, and stand at the door of the tent, while Jehovah spoke with Moses. And whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the door of the tent, all the people stood up and worshipped, every man at his tent door. Thus Jehovah used to speak with Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. Then he would return to the camp; but his attendant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, did not leave the tent.
I.Moses’s Activity as Tribal Judge. The present section is found for the most part in the Northern Israelite prophetic group of narratives.
It is, therefore, one of the older sources in the Pentateuch, and throws clear light upon the vexed question of Moses’s relation to Hebrew legislation. Its background is Mount Sinai, at the period immediately following the establishment of the covenant between Jehovah and the nation. As they are encamped at the foot of the sacred mountain, Moses’s father- in-law, the priest of Midian and worshipper of Jehovah, the God of Sinai, visits Moses. It is significant that he, not Moses, takes the initiative in offering the sacrifices to the common God worshipped by the Hebrews and their Kenite kinsmen. In the ancient East the duty of deciding questions of dispute between tribes and individual members of the tribes, always fell to the civil authorities. Even in ancient Babylon there does not appear to have been a distinct class of judges, but instead, every man in authority was called upon to discharge at certain times judicial, as well as administrative functions. The historical basis of this characteristically oriental usage is found in the customs of the desert. Then, as to-day, the head of the tribe was the one to whom all questions of dispute were referred. While he had no absolute authority to execute his decisions, he was accepted by both parties to the dispute as their arbiter, and his renderings were accepted as final. These decisions were in accordance with oral or customary law. Unusual and difficult cases, however, were necessarily decided according to the judgment of the arbiter. Thus, a great opportunity was given for each individual judge to establish new precedents and to contribute to the ever-growing body of customary law. As the acknowledged leader of the different Hebrew tribes, it was inevitable that many legal cases would be referred to Moses. That this was so is definitely stated in the present narrative. Jethro, recognizing that Moses was overwhelmed by his judicial duties, wisely counselled that he should appoint certain reliable men as judges. These were to decide ordinary questions in accordance with the established precedents and customs. The difficult cases, presenting new problems, were still to be laid before Moses.
II.Moses’s Relation to Hebrew Legislation. In this simple, definite way Moses made known to the Israelites the laws and principles which they were to observe. It illustrates very definitely Moses’s relation to Hebrew legislation as a whole. The precedents, which he thus established, were based upon the divine principles which he, as Jehovah’s prophet, was endeavoring to impress upon the conscience of his race. They were thus constantly held up before the eyes of the people, not in abstract but in concrete and permanent form. The precedents in time inevitably developed into fixed customs which regulated the life of the nation. As new needs arose, the principles underlying these customary laws were applied, and the resulting decisions supplemented still further the constantly growing body of customary law. Their present literary form indicates that in time the more important customary laws crystallized into decalogues, each containing ten short words, which were originally treasured in the memory of succeeding generations. When these decalogues and customary laws became so numerous that they could not easily be remembered, and when the Hebrews learned the art of writing, these laws were naturally put into written form. It is evident, however, that the development of written codes was one of the later stages in the history of Hebrew law.
It is unimportant whether or not Moses ever wrote down any of the laws found in the Old Testament. On this point the earliest writers have little to say beyond the statement that Moses inscribed the terms of the original covenant between Jehovah and the nation upon two tablets of stone. If Moses never wrote down a single statute, the claim that he was the father of Hebrew law is attested by the earliest Hebrew records and the evidence of later traditions. The prophet always precedes the lawgiver; the principle is enunciated before the detailed regulation appears, which formulates and applies the principle to the needs of the age. As Jehovah’s prophet, Moses proclaimed those germinal principles which underlie the Old Testament laws. As judge, he formulated these principles in definite decisions, which in time grew into customary law, and then by slow stages were expanded into the evergrowing body of legislation. The process of growth was so gradual and the connection with Moses so close that each succeeding generation naturally and inevitably regarded Moses as the author of each and every code.
III.The Tent of Meeting. The early Judean narratives, in their present form, contain no references to the tent of meeting or dwelling. In the Northern Israelite history is found a very brief account of the making of this tent of meeting. Originally this account was evidently much fuller, but it has been curtailed to make way for the later priestly account of the dwelling or tabernacle. The earliest account states that the tent of meeting was made from the ornaments which the Israelites contributed. It was apparently a simple tent of goats’ hair and was pitched at a little distance outside the camp. Thither the people went, as did the ancient Arabs to the kahin or seer, to receive from Moses the divine teaching or decisions which he, as Jehovah’s prophet, stood ready to give them. This simple story has been expanded by the later priestly writers into the elaborate plan and description of the tabernacle, to which the later part of the book of Exodus is largely devoted.
IV. Moses’sTrue Prophetic Character. In this oldest form of the story of the tent of meeting is recorded the all-important fact that Moses was recognized by his own and later generations, as not only a judge and therefore a lawgiver, but above all as a prophet. Jehovah declares, in the ancient poem found in Numbers 12, that through the early prophet he made known his will by means of the vision or dream, but “Not so with my servant Moses; In all my house he is faithful.
Mouth to mouth do I speak with him, Plainly and not in enigmas, And the form of Jehovah doth he behold.” Not through the various devices used by the ancient seers and augurs, but directly, as the spirit of Jehovah touched the spirit of Moses, came that message which made him the great prophetic leader and teacher of his race. The character of his message and nature of his work confirm the testimony of this ancient poem: in the method in which he saw the truth, in his sense of the imminent presence of God, and in his practical grasp of the existing conditions and forces, Moses stands side by side with the great prophets of the later age, such as Amos, Isaiah and Jeremiah. Although his conception of the character of God and of the truth was by no means as complete, as that of the later prophets, his unique relation to his race and their peculiar needs gave him an opportunity, shared by no other prophet in Hebrew history, to impress his personality and message upon his nation. His was the privilege not only of proclaiming but of executing. The experiences in Egypt and of the exodus and the grim life of the desert turned the eyes of his followers toward him as their God-given and divinely commissioned leader. In their need they looked to him for counsel and deliverance. Not only once, but throughout the years of the wilderness sojourn, he was able in public and in private, by word and by symbol, by command and by act, to impress upon his race the few fundamental truths that constitute the essence of his divine message.