Moses the Autocrat

Often times when we read the Bible we read it with the understanding of life that our upbringing has provided for us.  As we read we liken Abraham to being a born again believer who had the same knowledge of God that a guy from the Bible-belt has and when we consider Jesus’ 12 disciples we assume that they are like students with the mental capacity of future scholars in Southern Seminary.  When in reality the only thing Abraham probably knew about God was that He created the Heavens and the Earth along with whatever he heard God say to him in prayer and as for the disciples, they were ancient fisherman who likely couldn’t read.


No Senate, No Vote
We also read Mosaic Law coming from a background of Democracy and in a real way I think we miss much of the implications of what God was doing in that generation.  When Moses was leading Israel through the wilderness for those 40 years, he was doing so as an all-encompassing centralized autocratic leader.  When decisions were made that effected all the 1-3 million people that were wandering through the wilderness they weren’t written into petitions and taken before a parliament or a senate to be taken to a vote – they were entirely initiated and executed by Moses.  With the exception of the 10 Commandments (which God spoke audibly from a mountain), all the other Laws of Israel were given to Moses as God spoke to him privately.

Protests = Rebellion
Now don’t get me wrong here, Moses was only the figurehead leader of Israel, a mouthpiece who spoke directly for God; but that’s easy to see when we read that now, it was not as easy to see for the people who were wandering through the wilderness for 40 years.  In fact, there are numerous accounts of people who felt they had a say into the decisions that affected all the people – this happened in Numbers 12 with Aaron and Miriam, in Numbers 14 when the people were afraid of conquering Caanan and also in Numbers 16 with Korah.  And what is interesting is that in a Democracy these acts would simply be seen as the democratic process, where the people were expressing their will and hoping to influence governmental decisions by public protests, that God saw these deeds as heinous acts of rebellion.


Trusting God's Mouthpiece
In God’s mind He had created the autocracy of Moses.  He had found a man that He trusted.  A man who He trusted to implement His Will to the benefit of that generation and to lay down a Law that would be the government of that nation for many years.  To me the most profound thing that I gather from this is that while Democracy instructs us to trust our thoughts and feelings (as they are supposed to shape the government in every generation), the Bible teaches us that our thoughts and feelings may be wrong and that we should trust the mouthpiece of God.

That begets the obvious question: Who or what is the mouthpiece of God and how can we know that we can trust them?

The answer is one that requires the most basic faith in the most basic element of Christianity.  Trusting in the Goodness of God.  Specifically that God in His Goodness has left us a Book – a holy litmus by which we can discern the Nature and Will of God.  There is no greater darkness than the darkness of ignorance, an ignorance where we are left to our own devices, victims of the ever shifting, ever changing views of collective understanding.  Perspectives that depend on where and when you live would teach you in the 1930’s in Germany that certain people are so evil that it is the job of a government to exterminate them from the face of the earth, or consider the collective understanding of the People’s Republic of China in the 1960’s and 70’s where an entire generation didn’t pursue higher education because the rich and the educated were considered evil.  Consider the difference between the Western world's view of sex outside of marriage in the 1950's compared to today.  I find it interesting that most of philosophy is really only useful in an anthropological discussion because that’s all the insight it really provides.   The Nazi’s could and did make arguments and give reasons as to why the Jews should have been wiped from the face of the earth, but we look at these reasons separate from the spiritual influence on the mind that collective understanding brings and we see these concepts as foolish justifications for abominable wickedness.


The Stamp of Divine Witness
The Bible, like the autocracy of Moses, is not without Divine witness.  In the same way God established the seat of Moses by signs and wonders, so God validated the New Testament – by working many miracles and ultimately through effecting the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.  In simple, the religion that states that those who believe it will cause dead men to come back to life by the Voice of God, is one who’s Leader was dead and came back to life and such was witnessed by at least 500 people, many of those who were killed because they wouldn’t renounce what they had seen.

Yet even more than being validated by the Power of God in the generation that the New Testament was written, Jesus’ Words echo still today; shouting an invitation to all mankind – stating “My teaching is not My own.  It comes from Him who sent Me.  If anyone wishes to do God’s Will, he will find out whether My teaching comes from God or whether I speak on My own” (John 7:16-17).  The Word of God is one that is first received by faith and then later after experiencing God through faith, it becomes clear in your heart that this is indeed the very Word of God.

I would challenge all those who are deciding what the source of their thoughts will be – will you be a reflection of the thought impulses of your day – a mere indication of what everybody around you thinks; or will you seek the Wisdom from above – that which has been tested and tried for many generations and found to be the very foundation for which all prosperous life is based upon.