Able men

Moreover you shall select from all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. – Exodus 18v21

It looks like Moses was something of a workaholic. He also appears to think that he was the only one who could do the job of leading the people. When his father-in-law asked him why he was doing it, his response was ‘The people need me.’

Jethro was old enough and wise enough to know that what Moses was doing was not wise. He knew that something had to be done to get some kind of organisation or Moses would destroy himself. On top of this God was preparing His people for the Law and that would take massive organisation.

So Jethro had a plan. Organise some men into organised levels. He had to set men up at various levels to handle various issues. This type of organisation has had a tremendous impact on governments and organisations ever since.

For our purposes however I want to examine the character of the men chosen for the responsibility. Those chosen needed to be able, qualified men. They needed to have a fear of God. They needed to be truthful men. They needed to hate covetousness.

I personally think these are good things for us to watch for today when we are looking for leaders. Obviously we are not always going to find them among secular leaders, but I think they are good guidelines even in the secular world.

We can however apply these principles to leaders in our churches. We need to be careful when we seek out and choose our leaders. They must have ability, the must be godly, they must be honest, and they must not covet.

It is interesting that covetousness is on that list. But when you think about it how many problems in leadership could be solved if there were no covetousness? Most poor leadership comes about when leaders themselves cover either prestige or possessions.

Able men. Men who fear God. Truthful men. Men who hate covetousness. The list makes these guys sound a lot like the ‘faithful men’ that Paul instructs Timothy to teach so that they can teach others.

Character counts.