1: 14 - You answered me, "What you propose to do is good."
This simple and often ignored sentence is, as we shall see, more important than meets the eyes.
It is also interesting in that the approval of the people that it records is not reported anywhere else in the Pentatuch. Exo 18:17, reporting the first appointment of leaders to help Moses, merely reports Jethro's observation that what Moses was doing—shouldering the responsibility for the people alone—was not good.
It encourages our hearts to read that the people responded with affirmation towards Moses' proposal. Unfortunately, Israel, as in the flock that Moses led, had not always been so encouraging of Moses. Sadly, the Christian church is not infrequently not unlike Israel. Leadership is always a lonely business, and our leaders—even if they do not always get things right—can all do with such affirmation and encouragement.
Low Chai Hok
©Alberith, rev., 2021