Exodus 18:18, commentary and pictures

Moses sat alone from morning until evening to hear the people's matters, decide between them, and make known God's statutes and will. Continuing that solitary work would surely wear away both Moses and the people with him, because the burden was too heavy for him to bear by himself alone. The remedy is not to carry excessive responsibility alone but to share it with able, trustworthy, God-fearing men. The leader is to bring causes to God, teach the ordinances and laws, and attend to religious interests, while rulers over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens judge at all seasons. Those helpers are to be men of truth hating covetousness who settle every small matter themselves and bring every great and difficult matter to the leader, so the burden is borne together, the leader can endure, and the people go to their place in peace.

Moses Judging Alone

Moses sat alone to judge the people from morning until evening, hearing their matters, deciding between them, answering their questions, and making known God's statutes and laws and will. Continuing that solitary work would surely wear away both Moses and the people with him, because the thing was too heavy for him and he was not able to perform it by himself alone. Judging every case alone would exhaust the leader and those who depended on him, and if overtaxed he could not teach Israel God's word or ensure that others communicated it.

Moses was God's agent in redeeming Israel from bondage, but he was not the lawgiver. The Lord Jesus Christ was Israel's Redeemer and the source of the law, and Moses received Christ's words and declared them to the people.

Jethro was raised up as adviser and helper to tell Moses to divide the burdens with others. He recognized that the care of the people rested on Moses and advised him to attend to their religious interests while capable, trustworthy men handled their secular concerns. He is presented as a Gentile chosen to reveal principles of heaven, showing that God appoints and sends witnesses to make truth known. Moses' years as a shepherd trained and disciplined him, and Jethro helped him in many things as he worked toward a correct faith.

Zipporah saw that Moses' burdens as leader were wearing away his strength when she rejoined her husband in the wilderness and made her fears known to her father Jethro, who then suggested measures for his relief. The need for help was answered by the appointment of seventy elders to share the work of judging and governing Israel. Moses recognized the weight of his responsibility more fully than Aaron and Miriam, who had not felt and borne the same burdens and therefore failed to see the need.

Miriam, smarting under supposed neglect because she and Aaron were no longer taken into Moses' counsels as formerly, regarded Zipporah as the cause and concluded that her influence had shut them out. This was the chief reason for Miriam's antipathy to Zipporah.

Sharing Responsibility Wisely

No one person is to carry an excessive burden of responsibility alone, for trying to judge every case alone exhausts both the leader and the people served because the work is too heavy for one person to bear. The remedy is to share the burden with able, trustworthy, capable, God-fearing men who can help carry the work, so the leader can endure and the people's needs can be met. Such strain wears down both bearer and those affected by the work, and it is not required.

The leader's own part is to bring causes to God, teach the people ordinances and laws, show them the way to walk and the work to do, and attend to their religious interests. If overtaxed he cannot teach God's word nor ensure that elders communicate it, so responsibilities must be divided among qualified leaders that he may focus on his appointed work while others share the burden. Alongside this he is to provide rulers of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens to judge at all seasons.

Those subordinate leaders are to be able men such as fear God, men of truth hating covetousness. They are to handle every small and ordinary matter and secular concern themselves, judging every small matter themselves, while bringing every great and most difficult matter to the leader. In this way the burden is borne together.

This arrangement enables the leader to endure, to be relieved, and to focus on his appointed work. It brings order and system, meets the people's needs, and lets the people go to their place in peace. Sitting alone from morning until evening to judge is not good, for the Lord did not design one man to carry all responsibilities.

Care is required in choosing people for positions of responsibility. The right man must be in the right place, with knowledge of the work in his line, and heavy burdens must be divided and shared with counseling together, so things that ought to be done without delay are not left to drag and time and money are not lost. Young men are needed in different branches of the work and old men are needed as counsellors, each laboring in the part appointed to him on the right hand and on the left instead of choosing his own place. Linking a leader with someone who cannot give counsel and carry part of the load does not bring the needed relief.

Counsellors and boards of directors hold their true position only when they bear the burden with the leader instead of leaving him to do the work alone. Responsibilities are to be distributed among many competent, experienced people rather than placed on one person or a few. No one person or group is to have supreme authority over the whole field, but different sections and regions are to be able to meet their own needs and the work shaped to each region.

A burdened leader must let go of some responsibilities, take others by his side, teach them all he knows with practical knowledge and counsel, and guide them with advice and experience. They are thus to gain experience while instruction is still available, learn to bear responsibilities, and qualify for positions of trust, rather than later having to carry an unwieldy load without it. Keeping responsibility because others seem less capable exhausts the leader and leaves others unprepared.

Taking the counsel gains a twofold object: the leader is relieved and has a better chance for his life, and other men are trained. Without this, Israel learns to look to one man and trust in one man and think nothing can be done unless it comes before that one man. Carrying burdens beyond what one person can bear wears out brain and nerve power, shortens life, harms health, and leaves necessary things undone or neglected with loss of time and money. Workmen are to use reason and not sacrifice their lives by such strain.

Holding several lines of work and refusing to share them, as in the case of Brother Sharp, risks harming health, losing ability to do the work otherwise possible, leaving necessary things undone at the wrong time, and bringing suffering on the cause. Likewise, taking on many varied responsibilities that no one person was able or fitted to bear wears down both the bearer and those served. When a man gathers to himself responsibilities he cannot carry successfully he will surely wear away and loss will result, with mind and judgment overloaded so that many things are neglected.

When insufficient workers fail to advance their own part and cast their responsibilities on the president of the General Conference, an excessive load is placed on one man who cannot perform the whole work alone without being worn down, with the people with him. This imperils the cause, because if that one man's mind becomes warped or clouded a wrong mold is given to the entire work. That danger is especially great when surrounding committee and board members are leavened with a spirit that cannot be favored and leaven him, or when through dullness of comprehension he permits staunch faithful workers true to principle to leave him.