Scripture Daily

Context No. 3145 of 4322 · Numbers

Context · Reflection

Numbers 27:12-17: in context

12The LORD said to Moses, “Go up into this mountain of Abarim, and see the land which I have given to the children of Israel. 13When you have seen it, you also shall be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother was gathered; 14because in the strife of the congregation, you rebelled against my word in the wilderness of Zin, to honor me as holy at the waters before their eyes.” (These are the waters of Meribah of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.) 15Moses spoke to the LORD, saying, 16“Let the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation, 17who may go out before them, and who may come in before them, and who may lead them out, and who may bring them in, that the congregation of the LORD may not be as sheep which have no shepherd.”

God tells Moses to climb the mountain and see the promised land, for he will die there without entering it, because of the rebellion at the waters of Meribah. And Moses' response is not self-pity but concern for the people. Let the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation, he prays, to lead them out and bring them in, so that the congregation of the LORD may not be as sheep without a shepherd.

This is the mark of a true leader. Told he will die and not enter the land he had longed for all his life, Moses' first thought is not himself but the people: who will shepherd them when I am gone? He asks God to appoint a successor so that Israel will not be left like sheep without a shepherd. Selfless to the end, he cares more that the flock be tended than that his own hopes be met. And that very phrase, sheep without a shepherd, is what would later move Jesus with compassion for the crowds, the true Shepherd every under-shepherd points toward.

When my own hopes are disappointed, is my concern still for the good of those I am responsible for, rather than only for myself?

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