How does Moses know "the statutes of God and his
laws"? The people are coming to
Moses to have him judge between them not based on the laws and statutes of
Egypt but based on God's laws, he says they are inquiring of God when they come
to him. Moses believes he knows God's
will and so do the people so they come to him for adjudication of their
disputes. Jethro is the first consultant
in Scripture, he sizes up the situation, determines it is "not good"
(where have we heard that before and how does he know good from not good) and
then gives a solution to the problem.
Had Moses said it was a problem?
Jethro's advice is similar to what Paul tells Timothy and Titus in their
leadership, divide the load, but find men with certain qualifications to share
the burden with, not just anyone, men of proven character. Should we presume that Moses did what Paul
told Timothy to do in 2 Tim. 2:2 - "what you have heard from me in the
presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach
others also." There are some in
Judaism who believe that this was not God's will, God was working through Moses
and had not given this work over to others and so laid the predicate for
sending spies out rather than trusting Moses' word. We are told that Moses obeyed the voice of
his father-in-law. Do a little search
and see where, to this point that formulation occurs and you might be more
amenable to such an interpretation.
The line from which Jesus comes includes some odd
characters, particularly women, including Tamar, the wife of Judah's son who
died, who pretended to be a prostitute and slept with her father-in-law in
order to have a child and was judged more righteous than he in the
situation. It includes also a prostitute
in Jericho, Rahab, a Moabite woman (who were thought to be immoral) named Ruth, and "the wife of Uriah." These women don't belong in such a genealogy
because they would be seen to tarnish the line but they all add something to
the story, they are outsiders who, through their righteous choices, aligned
themselves with God's people and were not only accepted but became important
links in the chain of the king, David, and also in the line of Messiah. There is a way in for all people. The way in was the way John preached,
repentance. The same way into the
kingdom for all people.
We don't know to whom particularly Peter is writing this
epistle but it is clear that he is writing to a shepherd about how to carry out
that work. Peter has written that we are
a priesthood of believers though so it is well to be unspecific for we are all,
at some level, intended to be shepherds.
Priests have parishes in our world, can you identify yours? It would include family first and also all
those among whom you are placed. The
priest's job is to make God known to all.
You must know the word and preach it at all times, if necessary use
words to do so. Peter is right to remind
us that we have "an" enemy, not many enemies, one, the devil and we
must be prepared for battle with him if only for a while before he gives up the
fight. Readiness is always based in knowing
and preparing for battle. Let us know
the word of God that all might come to us for wisdom.
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