There has been a lot of speaking up when systems don’t work lately. As we mentioned, there were protests all over the US at the end of May and into early June over injustice and inequality. There have been protests in recent years over Brexit and climate change; even visiting international leaders have sparked protests. It is vital that we speak up when systems don’t work.

What I like about this particular story of Moses in Exodus 18 is that Jethro doesn’t stop at just saying it doesn’t work. Jethro is Moses’s father-in-law who is visiting the Israelites as they wander in the wilderness. He notices that Moses spends a significant portion of his day settling disputes between people and families and likely even businesses and he tells them the will of God in these things. Pretty much that is all Moses does, all day, every day. And there is a line of more disputes for him settle even when the workday is done.

Identify problem and offer solution

Jethro says that no man can do this alone and that it merely wears out everyone involved. Then he offers a solution! He takes it one step further than simply identifying a problem. He says that the people must be taught God’s decrees and instruction first. Then Moses must establish small groups of tens, fifties, hundreds, and thousands with men of authority over them to bring their disputes to. Anything too difficult they can bring to Moses to discern God’s will. Jethro recommends an appellate court system! (Was it the first appellate court system?)

Jethro saw something within a governing system that did not work, addressed it with the man of power and suggested a solution. We won’t always have the answer to conflicts, as Moses apparently did. But Moses did not let the power go to his head. He set aside his authority and listened to someone else, he heard the counsel of his brother-in-law and set up a council to handle the issues of the people.

Respite from the tension of conflict

I can only imagine the tension that these disputes brought into Moses’s daily life. But the solution was to listen to trusted counselors, to share the burden, to share the power and to teach God’s decrees. Disputes often make us forget what God has taught, makes us also not want to seek God’s will because we already know what it is. But in approaching God and his teachings, we always find the relief and respite we need for a solution, His solution.

There are so many characteristics of a peacemaker in this story. Which one sticks out to you? Drop a line below or email me!