As Moses has been told by the Lord he will soon die, he
gives a valedictory address to the nation.
He begins by recounting their history, how they got where they are
today. He omits the exodus from Egypt
and begins with the constitution of the people as a nation with distinct laws
and regulations to the giving of the Law at the mountain. From that point forward they are
distinguishable as more than a family, they now have a way of life together and
they have a king whose people they are.
Moses doesn’t dwell on the particulars of their disobedience and moves
ahead to the choosing of tribal elders.
Why were they chosen and how were they chosen? They were chosen because Moses laid the
people down to the Lord, he said he couldn’t bear the burden any longer. They were chosen by the people but recall
that the Lord also chose two whom the people hadn’t chosen. Was this choosing of leaders by the people
the beginning of the ruination of the nation?
In it they moved from theocracy to democracy.
The leaders have not led according to God’s will. They are hypocrites, getting the letter of
the Law while completely missing the spirit of the Law. David was a man who committed adultery and
murder but was a man after God’s own heart.
He didn’t talk about his righteousness but he understood sin. Is the Law something to be performed
perfectly like an Olympic gymnast or is it the guidelines for pleasing God and
knowing Him. We often know Him better by
His grace and mercy for sinners than for those times when we have been
righteous because we too then forget the spirit and purpose of the Law. We need leaders who are not self-righteous
but who know their weaknesses and know the goodness and love of God for those
who have gone astray. Even though Jesus
was the only righteous man who ever lived, He had and has great compassion and
mercy for sinners.
Can we accuse God of unrighteousness with respect to
election? Paul refutes that argument by
speaking of sovereignty but I think he does so by relying on an argument that
is based also in mystery. It is not a
whim whereby God chose Jacob over Esau, there was some reason known only to Him
that caused that choice. We still want
to be the final arbiter of “good” and the reality is that we don’t know enough
to make that judgment, our knowledge is limited and God’s is not. The sovereignty of God, His omnipotence, must
be balanced by the omniscience of God if we are to say that He is not only
great but also good. We must make that
statement without reservation based on our own limited judgment. Let us believe what we know and lean on Him
for understanding of His ways. Isaiah
gives us the guidance, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the
heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my
thoughts than your thoughts.”
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