OF RULERS AND LEADERS  (Part 4 of 5)

Of David it was said, that he “led Israel out and brought them in,” like the shepherd that he was.  He did not lead them “out” and leave them there to wolves and other hazards.  He brought them back “in.”  He was a starter and finisher.  Of course, the speaker in our primary text was referring to how David led the armies out to war and back in triumph, but the remark was emblematic of the shepherd roles of David – the shepherd who often led the sheep out to feed and ‘back home’ to the safety of the sheepfold.

Being a feeder is an offshoot of the leader’s nature as a giver rather than a taker.  Mark that man in whose season the people are begging for bread: he is a ruler, not a leader, no matter how much the dubious media seeks to polish him so.  Mark the man that the media is desperate to rubbish, and is often targeted by the ruler’s malicious javelins; the man to whom the masses flow without coercion.  He is a leader, and probably a messiah too.

David transitioned from being a shepherd of animals to being the shepherd of a nation; from a feeder to a leader.  In our primary text, the Lord said to him, “You shall shepherd My people Israel” (1 Chronicles 10:2).  The King James Version actually says, “Thou shalt feed my people Israel.”  From being “the one who led” and fed, he was going to be their Shepherd, their king.

Any people will happily give their throne and themselves to who feeds them, who cares about them.  In other words, not only are leaders feeders, but feeders usually become leaders.  It happened in Egypt.  As Joseph fed the famished nation, they submitted themselves to him, saying, “Buy us and our land in exchange for food; we offer our land and ourselves as slaves” (Genesis 47:19, New Living Translation).  Even animals respond kindly to who feeds them.

Elimelech and family travelled far to Moab because there was bread there.  Christians travel to distant countries to attend church programmes where they are sure to find bread of a kind that they do not get at home.  Feed the flock, and they shall serve you.  Have bread to give, and they shall come to you even from afar.  “The LORD is my Shepherd, I shall not want…” (Psalm 23:1).

Like David, Moses also transitioned from being a shepherd of animals to being the shepherd of an entire exodus population some of whose stubbornness was like the animals he used to lead (Exodus 3:1, 10).  It was as if his trainings with animals for forty years in the wilderness was the preparation for leading humans some of whom were going to be like those beasts.  Beyond his pampered training in the palace of Pharaoh, he needed that retraining in the wilderness.  Leaders are made, not born.  Sadly, sometimes, they are also unmade in the same way as they are made.

Moses emerged on the leadership scene first as a powerful and proud ruler from the esteemed palace of Pharoah; as a prince and a judge; but the people wanted a leader, not a ruler, so they rejected him promptly and “thrust him away,” querying, “Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us?” (Exodus 3:27; Acts 7:27).  Those Jews were right.  Rulers are often also judges, presiding themselves “over” others, regardless of whether they are wanted or not.

Something more: “… a ruler over us.”  That is how rulers often posture themselves, “over” everyone else.  That was how Moses perceived and presented himself: the mighty deliverer of those ‘helpless slaves’ who should “have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them” (Acts 7:24-29).  But they wanted someone to stand with them, not over them anymore, so they “thrust him away.”  They had had enough overlords.  That man did not resemble whom that season awaited.  Even God did not need “his hand.”

When they rejected the ruler and judge in him, “Then fled Moses” into the desert where God began to work on him for the next forty years, until the leader emerged in him.  The next announcement of him was unique: “very humble – more humble than any other person on earth.”  Hallelujah (Numbers 12:3, New Living Translation).  The proud prince and judge, who sought to be a ruler “over” others had become a leader.  He “led” them “out” of Egypt’s bondage.  Even when they sinned so much that God was going to wipe them out and raise him as replacement, he stood with the people, pleading that God would spare them.  When they were thirsty, when they were hungry, he was there for them, to the point that he even lost his chance to enter the promised land, all on their account.  What a sacrifice. Today, that leader is still being celebrated by his people and many others.  He was made (or remade) in the tough backsides of the desert, in contrast to his tender pamperings in the palace of Pharaoh.

Rulers always put themselves “over” rather than with the people.  In their conceited view, they are stronger than, better than, superior to the people.  The people should be thankful that they were gracious enough to have shown up to save them.  That was the first Moses.  They look ‘down’ at others from their perceived upper place; self-conscious as “learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians,” and “mighty in words and in deeds.” From such heights, they see themselves as the exceptional ‘defender’ of the “oppressed” who should be grateful to have them.

Moses had reason to expect that, given his royal status and their opposite slave condition, they should understand “that God by HIS HAND would deliver them” (Acts 7:22-25).  When eventually those slaves got out of Egypt, it was not by his hand; it was “by a mighty hand” – the Hand of God (Exodus 3:19; Deuteronomy 5:15).  God has humours too.

Moses’ initial perspective of himself and others seemed to lack modesty.  Those slaves had seen enough slavery, and didn’t want another slave master of a ruler “over us” in the name of a deliverer.  They rejected him.  He fled, into the refining pot of the wilderness from where he emerged in a fitter mould for his future roles: a leader.  The wilderness might be dry, but it still transforms.

 11. Sought by the Oil