Commissioned to Lead
September 4th, 2009We’ve talked before about Moses not be allowed into the promised land. Today’s lesson scripture focuses on part of Moses’ reaction to this news:
15 Moses spoke to the Lord, saying,
16 ”Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint someone over the congregation
17 who shall go out before them and come in before them, who shall lead them out and bring them in, so that the congregation of the Lord may not be like sheep without a shepherd.”
18 So the Lord said to Moses, “Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay your hand upon him;
19 have him stand before Eleazar the priest and all the congregation, and commission him in their sight.
20 You shall give him some of your authority, so that all the congregation of the Israelites may obey.
21 But he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall inquire for him by the decision of the Urim before the Lord; at his word they shall go out, and at his word they shall come in, both he and all the Israelites with him, the whole congregation.”
22 So Moses did as the Lord commanded him. He took Joshua and had him stand before Eleazar the priest and the whole congregation;
23 he laid his hands on him and commissioned him—as the Lord had directed through Moses. Numbers 27:15-23 (NRSV)
Moses didn’t complain or question God – instead he humbled himself by asking God to choose someone else to lead the people across the Jordan. He didn’t tell God who he thought should lead, he waited on the Lord to tell him. That it was Joshua wasn’t a surprise, but sometimes we are surprised by God’s choice, aren’t we? Think of David. Think of Jesus!
In today’s lesson scripture Moses had Joshua “confirmed” with great ceremony and with recourse to the Urim (the Urim and Thummin were a kind of lots pulled from a pouch that the priests used to convey God’s answer to questions such as, “will Joshua lead us?” How was Jesus confirmed as the ultimate leader of the Church?
How do we discern God’s will today?
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