Friday, March 18, 2016

Numbers 11

 "So the Lord said to Moses: “Gather to Me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them; bring them to the tabernacle of meeting, that they may stand there with you.  Then I will come down and talk with you there. I will take of the Spirit that is upon you and will put the same upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, that you may not bear it yourself alone." vv.16-17

Read chapter 11

We remember back in the book of Exodus that Moses' father-in-law gave him the advice to appoint leaders over 10,000s, 1,000s, 100s, 10s which created a huge leadership team.  Yet later here in Numbers we see "the burdens that Moses still had to bear became so heavy that he took his complaint to God. The Lord responded by telling him to gather seventy men out of the elders of Israel and bring them unto the tabernacle of the congregation that they might stand with him there...So it was that these seventy men had a position which was out of Moses. He was in them. They partook of what he was - his position, his substance, his very essence. This is what Stephen was talking about when He said of Moses: "This is he, that was in the ekklesia in the wilderness" (Acts 7 :38). He was telling them that Moses was in the seventy, for in fact they were the body of Moses, or his substance, which is what the word body means. And it is my understanding that this is what the dispute was about when Michael the archangel contended with Satan over "the body of Moses" (Jude 1:9). Satan was most eager to seize control of the seventy men" (Otis Q. Sellers, Bible Teacher).
Are you in a place of leadership to heavy to bear your own?  How can you delegate other leaders to help carry the load while still being able "to stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together"(Philippians 1:27)?
  

No comments:

Post a Comment