So things are developing rapidly within Israel. All the while that they were in Egypt, they were under the government of Egypt, but now they are on their own, and a government has to be formed. We get to Exodus 18 and Moses was the only visible form of government. Now we are talking here about 2-2½ million people. I mean, you can have a lot of trouble for one man to try to reach judgments on. You know how much trouble we have in our families, and there are only less than five or six in most cases. Can you imagine how many cases, how many situations, Moses had to hear?
Jethro saw a problem, and he proposed a solution. I want you to notice here that Jethro did not try to force it on Moses but, rather, made the suggestion that Moses use it only if God was pleased with the advise. "I will give you counsel," he says in verse 19, "and God will be with you."
God was pleased with the advice, and it is obvious that God accepted it. God did permit these men to now join the structure to govern. And they are called here a "judge." Let us remember that this was a carnal nation. I do not know how many people were converted, as we would view conversion—Moses, Aaron, Joshua, and Caleb, maybe others as well. But we are talking here about a carnal nation. But I want you also to notice that the extent of the judges' authority, the limit of their authority, is not given. It is only given that they are to judge—that is, render decisions that are based on the law of God.
Now, this may surprise you, but neither God nor Moses directly appointed these men. The people chose them, and Moses confirmed their choices. How do I know that? This is very interesting, because it begins to give one maybe a hint of what we might consider to be democracy. Were the people to have a voice in whom it is who is going to rule over them? Is that a possibility?
The time setting of this was while they were still at Sinai. Horeb is the general name of the area. Sinai is the name of one particular mountain in that area. So, this was while they were in Horeb.
An interesting insight into a function of the government of God is that it received the counsel of the governed as to who was going to rule over them as a judge. And then, God's government, through Moses, exercised its authority and passed on these men. It is entirely possible that Moses was given quite a list of people, and that, from that, he then selected those he considered to be the most capable for fulfilling this responsibility.
So they were set up in a military type of organization.
So what we see here is the delegation of responsibility in the administration of the government of God. The government of God? Yes. Notice verse 17, where it says, "The judgment is God's." Even though the men would be doing the actual judging, God is seen, we would say, as being 'in the loop.' He is part of the process.
I also want to interject at this time that He is not insuring the quality of the decision. Rather, this is instruction to the judges to be aware and careful because they are going to have to give account to God for their judgments. It was a way of putting the fear of God into them.
Notice, again, verse 18. Moses said, "And I commanded you at that time. . ." It means that he authoritatively taught them their responsibilities. Moses, then, performed his function in the government by providing guidance in these civil affairs that were, undoubtedly, undergirded by God's spiritual law. So again we see the function of education that God's government is taking.
In researching this subject, it is interesting that one commentary said that what this amounted to was a leadership class. Moses was to authoritatively instruct the people chosen as judges in the way of God. That is, he was to lay down commands and explain to them the purposes of God—the law of God—that they might understand it.
Again, we are focusing here on the function of a leader in God's … . . .
