Moses was an awful dad.
Moses, of course, is remembered most for hearing God’s call in the burning bush and leading the people of Israel out of Egypt by at God’s command.
But he was an awful father–at least based on what we know from the biblical evidence.
In Exodus, chapter 18, Moses is in the wilderness. Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, brings his wife and two sons to Moses in the wilderness. Presumably Moses had either temporarily or permanently abandoned them. Then, in the same chapter, Jethro lectures Moses on how he is going to collapse or implode if he continues in his leadership style.
Might these two realities be related? Does Moses’ abandonment of his family and his inability to lead have anything to do with each other?
I think they do.
Moses already knows he cannot do it (leadership) alone, show in the battle with the Amalekites in Exodus 17. He needs Aaron and Hur to hold up his arms. But by chapter 18, it is clear that the message has not stuck for Moses.
Enter Jethro, Zipporah, Gershom (means: “foreigner”) and Eliezer (“God is my helper”).
Moses cannot do this alone and he needs his father-in-law to set him straight. Note also that all of this is before the Sinai covenant is made and the Ten Commandments are received.
What are lessons we can learn from this story?
1. A leader cannot ignore his / her family. Leadership is never “apart from” the relationships God has called us into… instead leadership is shaped and defined by these relationships.
2. A leader never works alone. Leaders always need a community or a core team to hold them up, to keep them accountable, and to keep them focused on the work they are called to do?
3. Every leader needs a Jethro. Every leader needs someone “outside the system” to take an honest look at the system and show us how to course correct. We need someone like Jethro to tell us when our present course of action is not sustainable.
Around every Moses is a Zipporah, a Gershom, an Eliezer, an Aaron, a Hur and a Jethro. Who are yours?