Exodus 18:21, commentary and pictures

Jethro's counsel was to provide able, God-fearing, truthful men who hate covetousness and place them as rulers of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. They were to judge the people at all seasons, deciding every small matter themselves and bringing only every great and hard matter to Moses. It was given when Moses was sitting alone from morning to evening to judge a vast multitude until the burden became too heavy and was wearing him away. God does not design one man to carry all responsibilities alone, but to lighten the burden by associating qualified counsellors and judges with the chief leader so he can endure and the people can go to their place in peace. The same qualifications and careful choice govern selecting trustworthy leaders for positions of responsibility in the church, including counsellors, boards, conference officers, and workers in their appointed places.

Historical Setting and Counsel

Moses was sitting alone from morning to evening to judge a vast, ignorant and untrained multitude, with every dispute and matter of difficulty brought to him so that he might make known God's statutes and laws. Maintaining order and discipline and settling controversies in this way laid all the care upon him alone, and the burden became too heavy for him and was surely wearing him and his strength away. Jethro marked this condition and gave counsel to divide the work among able men, that they should bear the burden together with Moses so it would be easier for him, he would be able to endure, and all the people would go to their place in peace. The plan was to provide out of all the people able, capable men who fear God, are men of truth, and hate covetousness and selfish gain, and to place them in graded order as rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens to judge the people at all seasons and at all times, deciding every small and ordinary matter themselves and bringing only every great, hard and difficult matter to Moses.

Moses himself was to retain his central work of being for the people toward God, bringing causes to God, teaching ordinances and laws, and showing them the way wherein they must walk and the work they must do. In this he acted as Christ's agent, through whom God's words were received and declared and God's will made known, while ordinary cases were handled by the appointed leaders and difficult cases were brought to him. Moses hearkened to the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he said, choosing able men out of all Israel and making them heads over the people, and then letting his father-in-law depart to his own land. Though greatly exalted, with wonders wrought by his hand and chosen to instruct others, he was not above being instructed and did not reason that he needed no instruction, but gladly listened to the suggestions and adopted the plan as a wise arrangement, and its acceptance brought him relief and established more perfect order.

The counsel came after Moses' burdens and anxieties were wearing away his strength, a concern voiced in distress to her father by Moses' wife. His earlier years as a shepherd had helped prepare and humble him for leadership, and Jethro helped guide him toward a more correct faith. Jethro himself stands in this counsel as a witness from the Gentile world revealing principles of heaven, showing that God appoints agencies to serve and gives evidence that they are heaven-appointed and heaven-sent.

The arrangement belongs to Israel's orderly and simple system of government under God, in which Moses led the nation with elders and priests serving in other roles, chiefs ruling the tribes, captains appointed over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens, followed by officers for special duties. Capable, God-fearing, truthful men free from greed were thus appointed to help govern Israel and share the work Moses carried and to help bear the people's responsibilities in groups of different sizes. The later choosing of seventy elders to help Moses carry the burden of leadership followed Jethro's plan, and Aaron and Miriam resented that they had not been consulted about that appointment.

Qualifications and Organization

The men were to be provided out of all the people, drawn from among the nation itself rather than imposed from without. They were to be able men, meaning capable men with ability, sound judgment, and fitness to lead and to judge. That ability was the ground of their selection for judging and leading, so that responsibility could be shared instead of resting on one man alone.

They were to fear God, to be men of truth, and to hate covetousness. This meant reverence toward God, honesty and truthfulness, freedom from greed, selfish gain and dishonest gain, with moral integrity and discernment. Their trust further required loyalty and faithfulness, impartiality toward small and great alike, and decisions governed by equity. They were to refuse bribes and refuse to be intimidated by evil men, judging small and great alike without partiality or fear.

They were to be placed in graded order as rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens, so that authority was distributed at several levels. That distribution appointed qualified people over groups of different sizes to judge the people and share the work of leadership. They were to judge the people at all seasons and regularly, deciding every small and ordinary matter themselves. Only every great, hard and difficult matter was to be brought to Moses, with important matters passing upward to higher officers while ordinary disputes were handled at the lower levels. In this way the burden was borne together and made easier, the chief leader was able to endure, and order and system were established among the people.

Worthy, God-fearing men free from covetousness were thus selected to look after the people's secular concerns and affairs. They were to be truthful men chosen to manage secular business, while Moses attended to the religious interests of the host.

Principle of Shared Leadership

God does not intend one man to carry all responsibilities alone or to gather the burdens of His work upon himself. The provision is to take able men from among all the people, men who fear God, are truthful, and hate covetousness, and to place them over the people as rulers of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. They are to judge the people at all seasons, handling ordinary and small matters themselves while every great, hard and difficult matter is brought to the chief leader. In this way burdens are lightened by associating qualified counsellors and judges with the chief leader, the counsel for which came through Jethro to Moses.

This sharing means the burden is borne together and made easier, so the chief leader is relieved and enabled to endure. It preserves life, health and strength for continued service, requiring leaders to refuse to overload men, to make haste slowly, and to cherish entrusted health with due care. It establishes order and system, with ordinary disputes settled at lower levels, important matters passing to higher officers, and only the hardest cases reaching Moses. So arranged, the people are helped to go to their place in peace.

Attempting to manage a large work alone by grasping several lines of work and refusing to let others share them imperils health and life. It leaves many things undone or not done at the right time, brings loss to the cause, and deprives a man's family of needed care. As believers multiply, one man attempting the whole work alone will break down under the strain, and the work will suffer for lack of careful thought and firm maintenance of right principles.

The division has a twofold object: to give Moses a better chance for life and health, and to teach men to bear responsibility and qualify them for positions of trust. It keeps Israel from looking to and trusting in one man as if nothing could be done for them unless it came before him. This requires an experienced leader to let go of some responsibilities and give others opportunity to take hold and obtain practical knowledge of everything essential under his counsel and instruction. He is not to demand that they first meet his exact measurement in all particulars before he will take them by his side and teach them, nor to wait for someone fully competent to appear only after he is gone without benefit of his counsel and experience.

Those chosen must be capable counsellors who can counsel with the leader and carry a portion of the load, not merely subordinate workers who can only act under direction. An unwise choice of helpers leaves the leader without the relief intended. God assigns men to positions of responsibility, and choosing them requires care and wise judgment, with each choice brought before God in earnest prayer asking Him to choose. With far fewer resolutions and more earnest prayer, the Lord guides in judgment and makes known who is qualified, for those entrusted with sacred responsibilities must not betray their trusts.

Applications to Church Governance

The qualifications of capable men who revere God, are truthful, and hate covetousness and selfish gain apply to the selection of people for positions of responsibility in the church, including counsellors, boards of directors, conference officers, and workers young and old in the different branches of the work in the place appointed for them. Those leaders are to be provided from among the people and placed in graded order over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens to judge at all seasons, deciding smaller and ordinary matters themselves and bringing only great, hard, and difficult matters to the chief leader, so the burden is borne together and made easier, the chief leader can endure, and the people can go forward in peace. This instruction remains binding on men in places of holy trust, and keeping as counsellors men who disregard reproof, walk contrary to light, and reject messages of warning spreads unbelief and removes the expectation of divine favor. It is the kind of men who should be chosen to carry forward the work of God when the charge is too heavy for one man alone, and those carrying heavy responsibilities must learn its lessons.

The same measurement governs the choice of counsellors for the presidency of the General Conference and the presidents of the several conferences, for burdens in God's work are not to be gathered upon one man to take up what God has not laid on him, which cannot then be done wisely and well. Connecting with men entirely opposite in character and principle to what God specified spreads unbelief and removes the expectation of divine favor, and many conference presidents do not answer this measurement. Counsellors must not be chosen by the president's own inclinations and must not include his son or other relatives as counsellor or judge, because a family tie brings temptation to leave decisions unquestioned and to carry things in a wrong way away from truth and righteousness. His associates must be trusted, chosen men who have the confidence of the people, selected for principle, clear discernment, and firmness as a rock to right, staunch men who will not swerve from right principles and will neither sway nor be swayed in wrong directions, whom he can trust and rely upon.

A newly chosen president is not at liberty to follow his own individual judgment alone in deciding who shall stand as his helpers, so changes in membership are essential. Those chosen must be capable, reverent toward God, truthful, and free from greed, meaning unselfish, God-fearing men who know how to control and discipline themselves, having the faith and humility of Christ and proving as true as steel to the work they are called to perform. A hasty, passionate, impulsive person who is not under the rule of God must never have a place in such office, and it is better to have fewer men than to place in office those who block the wheels of progress by hereditary and cultivated tendencies to evil. Such counsellors keep the way of the Lord, preserve clear, sharp discernment by cultivating home religion, command their children and household after them to keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment, and are safe counsellors, while the president should have the privilege of deciding who shall stand by his side, expressing his preferences, and discerning between him that serves God and him that serves Him not.

The verse gives God's rule for choosing men to judge at all seasons and for auditing accounts and fixing remuneration: those placed over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens must be able men who fear God, are truthful, and hate covetousness, carefully selected for moral perception and practical acquaintance with ministerial work, so their decisions are careful, just, and free from greed. Men with no experimental knowledge of that work must never be called to the auditing committee. God is present in all council meetings and auditing of accounts, knows just how every person is dealt with, and keeps a record of it, because all souls are His, and His sacred work must not be handled as common or done just as men choose.

The same measurement requires school managers to add business ability, humility before God, guidance by the Holy Spirit, and willingness to seek counsel from prayerful fellow believers. It requires those who accept responsibilities in the office of publication to be men of faith, humble, pious, and of deep experience, connected with responsible men who fear God. It requires workers for responsible places, especially important and foreign fields, to be chosen with the greatest care as able, God-fearing men who realize the importance of prayer and have fitness to form plans, devise methods, and carry decisions into execution as managers, since placing unfit men leaves work uncertain and slipshod, causes resolutions to fail for lack of execution, and makes the work doubly hard for successors. Positions of trust belong only to experienced, God-fearing, proved men who will bear the message of reproof sent by God and give full proof of ability to fulfill weighty trusts in a proper way, not to young, inexperienced men, for all human planning comes to nothing when unchristlike attitudes are woven into the work, and responsibility is to place the right person in the right work so necessary work is not neglected. Righteous representatives honor God by keeping His commandments, lead wisely and truthfully at different levels of responsibility, and show through careful conduct what loyalty to God means.

Its counsel applies to managing God's work by refusing to concentrate supreme authority over the whole field in one person or small group. The work should be carried by capable, God-directed people of integrity, with responsibilities distributed among many competent leaders at different levels rather than overloaded onto one person. Leadership arrangements should account for and be suited to the distinct needs of each region.