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Moses, The Leader Lacking

Leadership

By Andrew Noble

February 2, 2010

RS 112/JS 130

Student Number -

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Introduction

Was Moses a good political leader? The answer may never be established. The Biblical

texts surrounding Moses are many, but leave gaps. We are stuck wondering about his

childhood, his relations to his Hebrew family while in Egypt, and also his leadership qualities.

Moses may be one of the most influential political leaders of all time. He negotiated with

Pharaoh of Egypt, the equivalent of the President of the United States in our day. Religions

continue to look back to Moses as a leader of the religion. But is it deserved? Was Moses a

good leader?

Before I go into my impression of Moses’ leadership, it’s important to step back and ask

what makes a good leader. Many books have been written on leadership, and rely more on

opinion than fact. Two things seem consistent; leaders are formed by their circumstances, and

are established by their qualities. Specifically, two circumstances create leaders. One of those is

the growth through events, the other is having followers. Also, key Biblical leadership qualities

include courage and humility. Over the course of this paper, I will discuss Moses’ leadership on

the basis of these themes. I hope to reveal that Moses is a meek man with a lack of abilities,

used by God to lead Israel despite the circumstances surrounding him.

Circumstances - Events

Events that occur in a person’s life shape their characteristics, including their

leadership. Although we don’t have many events of Moses’ life to draw from, we can look at

Exodus 2 to pull out any pertaining information. Similar to the thoughts of Visotzky, we assume

that the storyteller of Exodus judges these details “relevant to Moses’ growth as the future

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leader of Israel” (Visotzky, pg 57). Moses has an odd childhood. He is born as part of Israel in

the house of Levi, and gets brought into the Pharaoh’s home at an early age (Exodus 2). Moses

becomes Pharaoh’s daughter’s son, but is also is an Israelite. This event gives Moses an ability

to view and judge both the Hebrews and the Egyptians. Moses obtains a duel identity, which

becomes a problem when he grows up.

When Moses grows up, he went out to “his people” and looked on their burdens, and

he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of “his people.” Although the storyteller of Exodus

notifies us that Moses became part of the royal family, Moses has identity with the Hebrews.

Moses kills the Egyptian, and hides him in the sand. The likely reason for this is because Moses

appears to be scared, and although seeking justice, he does so in a weak manner (more on

Moses’ courage and humility later). This event was not hidden enough, for the Hebrews knew

of it the next day which eventually led to a death sentence for Moses (Exodus 2:15). The

circumstance that Moses found himself in, was because of the event of his childhood. He

identified with two very distinct peoples, and looked to create justice in both of them (beatings

for striking, struggling for argument.) The problem does not appear to be with Moses, but the

people. Neither of them can see the world from both sides like Moses can. This event, creating

the circumstance of a duel identity, allows Moses to be a fair leader over the people. The

reading of Exodus 2:11-15 has the reader feeling sympathy for Moses, and not much for the

Hebrews or Egyptians. From an ethical standpoint, Moses is attempting to create equality. He

may not do this in the right manner according to a modern perspective, but according to the

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Torah, his bruise for bruise mentality aligns with the Sacred texts in Exodus 21:23-25. The event

of Moses’ upbringing allowed him to be a fair leader and judge.

But did this event really make Moses more of a leader? Upon further inspection, the

Hebrews said to Moses “Who made you a prince and a judge over us?”. Instead of having a duel

identity, Moses had no identity! With no Egyptian or Hebrew friends, he appeals to God later

and says “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”

(Exodus 3:11). Who is he? An Egyptian of the royal family? A humble Hebrew? I make this

counter-argument not to contradict my previous point, but to show how the event that could

have been used to become a good leader actually did the opposite. This is proven because no

one follows Moses into his journey. Without a following, you are not a leader.

Circumstances – Followers

First, people didn’t follow Moses when he killed the Egyptian and tried to sort out the

argument between the Hebrew men. Second, the people didn’t immediately follow Moses

when he came back to Egypt – “They did not listen to Moses” (Exodus 6:9). Third, the people

quickly turned away from Moses to a gold calf and Aaron (Exodus 32). Fourth, in the wilderness

the people want to chose their own leader and continually complain about Moses’ leadership

(Numbers 14:1-4). Moses was stuck leading a bunch of people who didn’t want to follow him.

A modern political leader in the western world must have the same desires as the

common-man. In the democratic world, the people get their say, and a good leader represents

the people’s opinion. This is like Aaron in Exodus 32, he works alongside the people. However,

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Wildavsky points out, “because he takes the people only where they would have gone anyways,

Aaron wields no power. (pg 107)” Moses does care for the people, and defends them against

the wrath of God, but the people don’t often see that. The Hebrews simply “do not know what

has become of [Moses]” (Exodus 32:1) so they create a golden calf with Aaron. Who’s fault is

this? The sin lies on the people, but where was Moses’ leadership? Wildavsky considers the

golden calf a “consequence of purely passive leadership. (110)” I would agree. Talking to God is

important, but solely talking to God and leaving His people is contradictory. Moses does

intercede for the people, but he fails to lead them well. His intercession had great potential for

successful leadership, but the lack of followers proved to show the lack of a leader and

leadership qualities.

Leadership Qualities – Courage

Martin Luther King had a dream, Moses had a vision. Star Trek goes where no man has

gone before, Moses does what no Hebrew thought would happen. Obama promises change

you can believe in, Moses promises a God who preserves His covenant. Leaders are intrinsically

tied to casting a courageous vision. They have courage and unashamedly pursue their goals.

Moses stands up for justice in Exodus 2, and stands up to the King of Egypt saying “Let my

people go.” Inspiring vision right? Wrong. This is just another example of a seemingly good

leadership quality gone wrong. Moses lacks courage, we often see him scared. Casting vision?

Moses can barely complete sentences.

Imagine President Obama, or Martin Luther King with a stutter. It just doesn’t fit.

Courageous leaders over the years normally speak well; God spoke the world into existence

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(Genesis 1), Ezra preached the Law (Nehemiah 8), Jeremiah was given words for the people

(Jeremiah 1:9), Jesus Christ proclaimed “the gospel of God” (Matthew 1:15), Ghandi inspired

unity with his “Quit India” speech, and Martin Luther King brought change with the words “I

have a dream.” All these courageous leaders were great speakers. Moses however wasn’t

eloquent, and was slow of speech and of tongue (Exodus 4:10). After God insists Moses to still

go to Egypt, Moses again pleads with God cowardly “Please send someone else” (Exodus 4:13).

Moses was also cowardly when he first grew up in Egypt. He has the guts to kill a man,

but does so with no one watching and hides the body. He becomes scared when other people

find out and runs away in fear. It’s important to note that Moses may have confidence when

not in crowds; like killing the man, speaking to the Hebrews, and approaching the burning bush.

But Moses becomes scared when it comes to being around and leading other people. Not only is

Moses not a courageous leader, but he doesn’t want to be one either!

Leadership Quality – Humility

Although our modern culture may not esteem humility as an important quality of a

leader, the Hebrew Bible does. God guides the humble (Psalm 25:9), and forgives the sin of the

humble (2 Chronicles 7:14). Humility comes with wisdom (Proverbs 11:2), is honoured

(Proverbs 18:12, 29:23). Moses was apparently very meek (some translations “humble”), more

than any of the man on the earth (Numbers 12:3). Now on this basis it does appear to be a quality

that God would want to raise up.

Along with Moses’ lack of courage, comes humility. Although it appears like much of

Moses’ so called humility can be traced back to his fear and lack of courage, he still shows that

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he thinks lowly of himself. He considers himself God’s servant alongside his inability to speak

(Exodus 4:10). However, Moses still stands up to God and tells God to relent of his action

(Exodus 32). Moses doesn’t simply accept God’s will, he wants to change it. However, the

conversation in Exodus 32 shapes a basis for Moses later on. Knowing how angry God was, he

gets angry with the people later. It seems like God could have been putting Moses through a

teaching phase. A teaching phase required because God needs to work through Moses’ humility

to give glory to Himself.

The God of the Hebrew Bible is concerned with His reputation. His reputation is one of

the reasons that God decides to relent from the disaster. The storyline seems to want a big God,

and a small man. This is why the storytelling makes Moses so humble and meek. This is

precisely what the God character would want to use. A humble man won’t take credit and glory,

but hand it over to God.

Conclusion

God wants to use the lowly to make Himself higher. Moses’ leadership qualities can be

interpreted a number of ways, because of the lack of information. But I believe that Moses needs

to be trained into a leader rather than simply become one. God needs to talk to him, help him,

remind him, and do miracles for Moses as time goes on and God turns Moses into a better leader.

However the training doesn’t produce desired results, and God continues to get frustrated over

the Hebrews. The enter the promised land, but it’s only a matter of a few generations until they

are excelled under Solomon.

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Moses appeared to have beneficial leadership qualities. He appeared to be given two

identities – Hebrew and Egyptians – in order to give him the grounds of fairness to release the

Hebrews. However this led to Moses lacking any identity, forcing him to run away as a

sojourner. Moses didn’t have faithful followers despite his many acts of redeeming Israel. The

recurring theme of being a “stiff-necked people” is what Moses receives – instead of followers.

Additionally, Moses is a coward who runs away but also a humble man who obeys God’s

commands (normally). Moses is unwillingly to do the task, but humbly empties himself in order

to be honoured by God. He runs away from men, but cannot run away from God, and therefore

runs back to redeem the men.

The point of the story of Moses is not to see Moses, it is to see God working through an

intercessor to rescue and discipline His people. God works through humble Moses, and Moses

accepts God’s laws and cares for God’s people – even if from a distance. Moses is not the ideal

leader, and he’s not a good leader. But he is the right leader for the job, not because of his

circumstances and courage, but despite his circumstances and courage. It was not some ancient

form of leadership, but rather a humble man, along with a powerful God.

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References

Visotzky, B., “The Fugitive” from The Road to Redemption, Pp. 55-65, Crown Publishing Group, 1998.

Wildavsky, A., “A dialogue against death” from The nursing father: Moses as a political leader, Pp. 99 115, U Alabama Press, 1984.