Moses, the first exemplary shepherd

This month Christ Community is seeking to raise awareness and understanding of the offices that the New Testament prescribes for churches: elder and deacon. To that end, I’ll be posting sections in order from a wonderful survey of shepherding, the task of elders, on this blog in the coming days.

You can also read the entire article in one shot.

To nominate men for the office of elder and deacon, fill out a form on Sunday morning, or email name(s) and designate office(s) to info AT christcommunity church DOT com.

second excerpt from Lessons in Shepherding

MOSES – THE FIRST EXEMPLARY SHEPHERD

Let’s turn then to those whom God appoints as shepherds over his people, and begin with Moses.

Now Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush (Ex. 3:1-2a).

Interestingly, Moses was actually a shepherd when God called him to lead Israel out of Egypt. And upon God’s call he remained a shepherd, but now of a much larger flock: “You led Your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron” (Ps 77:20). God did the leading, but he lead by the hand of Moses and Aaron. Moses’ leadership was an extension of God’s leadership. As Tim Laniak puts it, “Moses is the extension of God’s rule in their lives, the means of their provision, and the agent of their deliverance….[his hand] became an extension of the ‘hand of God’ leading his people.’”[1]

Hosea 12:13 makes the same point: “By a prophet the Lord brought Israel from Egypt, and by a prophet he was kept [or ‘cared for’].” Moses threw the branch in the bitter waters of Marah, but it was God who made the desert waters drinkable for his flock (Ex. 15). Moses struck the rock at Massah with his staff, but it was God who caused the water to gush forth for his sheep to drink (Ex. 17).

Moses as Prophet

As the shepherd of God’s people, Moses was also a prophet: “The Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend” (Ex 33:11). He was the one who went up to Mount Sinai on behalf of the people to receive the law. And when God spoke in their hearing at Sinai, the people said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen; but let not God speak to us, or we will die” (Ex. 20:19).

As the paradigm shepherd and prophet of Israel, Moses was the voice of God to the people. They were to follow his voice.

Moses as Priest

Moses was also the voice of the people to God. He interceded with God on their behalf. Notice the change in Moses’ willingness to identify himself with the people of Israel that occurs in his prayers between chapters 17 and 34 of Exodus.

So Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, ‘What shall I do to this people? A little more and they will stone me” (Ex 17:4).

Then Moses returned to the Lord, and said, ‘Alas, this people has committed a great sin and they have made a god of gold for themselves. But now, if You will, forgive their sin – and if not, please blot me out from Your book which You have written! (Ex 32:31).

If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, I pray, let the Lord go along in our midst, even though the people are so obstinate, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as Your own possession (Ex. 34:9).

Moses moves from “this people” and “their sin” to “us” and “our sin.”[2] Such identification was primarily a function of Moses’ priestly role, but it was not unrelated to his shepherding role. God wants his under-shepherds to identify with the plight of his sheep, which is exactly what we see the Chief Shepherd, Jesus Christ, doing at his incarnation and all through his earthly ministry.

When Jesus went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things” (Mark 6:34).

Where is Jesus getting that reference to “sheep without a shepherd”?

Moses as Leader

Jesus’ allusion in Mark 6 to “sheep without a shepherd” comes from the book of Numbers.

Then Moses spoke to the LORD, saying, “May the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation, who will go out and come in before them, and who will lead them out and bring them in, so that the congregation of the LORD will not be like sheep which have no shepherd.” So the LORD said to Moses, “Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him; and have him stand before Eleazar the priest and before all the congregation, and commission him in their sight. You shall put some of your authority on him, in order that all the congregation of the sons of Israel may obey him (Num 27:15-20).

What’s the one character trait that God told Moses to look for in Joshua? The Spirit was in him.

What particular aspect of shepherding is noted here? Leadership – leading them out and bringing them in.

Why would Joshua need the Spirit to do that kind of work? Because leading God’s people in and out was really an exercise in helping them to follow God as the ultimate Shepherd of Israel. As Laniak sums it up, “Human leader[ship] of God’s people is nothing other than God leading his own people through an anointed servant.” That doesn’t make the human leader infallible or unable to be corrected. But it does make him the human instrument by which God shepherds his flock.

excerpted from Lessons in Shepherding