The last request of Moses found in Numbers 27 shows, not only his submission to Jehovah’s sovereign will, but also seems to savor of that love of which God Himself is the source and which makes channels for itself to flow into the hearts of His people.
Moses was released from the service of God before the Israelites crossed the Jordan on their way to the promised land, and the One that gave him his release was the One to whom he appealed at the time with a heart burdened with desire for the welfare of His people, for whom he made the following request:
“Moses spake unto the Lord, saying, Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation, which may go out before them, and which may go in before them, and which may lead them out, and which may bring them in; that the congregation of the Lord be not as sheep which have no shepherd” (vss. 15-17).
Affection for the People
It would have been difficult for Moses to give a stronger proof of his affection for the people of God than that which is conveyed in this prayer, and the readiness with which it was responded to on the part of God was an evidence of His goodwill towards one that had sufficient interest in His people to make their future happiness his chief concern — even at the time when he himself was about to be set aside. His concern for them was so great that he could not die in peace and leave them in the wilderness “as sheep which have no shepherd.”
“The Lord said unto Moses, Take thee Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay thine hand upon him, and set him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation; and give him a charge in their sight. ... And Moses did as the Lord commanded him” (vss. 18-22).
The request of Moses is in perfect keeping with the purpose of God and the blessing of His people. Therefore, in making the request he showed his regard for God and His people by requesting a man that would both lead them out and bring them in. He not only looked for power to be exercised in their behalf to this end, but requested of God that the personal presence of their leader might be known in the midst of His people by going out before them and by going in before them.
Moses, after he fled to Midian, had “kept the flock of Jethro his father-in-law.” He was thus trained for his future mission, for, while he was so engaged, the Lord appeared to him and sent him back into Egypt as His messenger to Pharaoh and to become the leader and shepherd of His people in their exodus from the land of their bondage and in their journey through the wilderness.
Characteristics of
a Faithful Shepherd
We may learn from the example of Moses what are the leading characteristics of a faithful shepherd. Failure there may be, and surely was, in his case, but love there must be, whether the saints appreciate it, or whether there is no response, as was seen in the case of the Israelites, and also in the case of the Corinthians towards the Apostle Paul, compelling him to say, “The more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved” (2 Cor. 12:15).
A true shepherd lives for his sheep, studies their comfort, suffers in serving them, and seeks by every means to shield them from ill. If this be true in ordinary life, it is much more so with respect to the faithful shepherd of God’s sheep. And beautiful it is to see the devotedness of men like Moses and the Apostle Paul, who faced the worst of dangers, and even death itself, in order to serve and deliver the objects of their love. All this, we well know, is attributable to the grace of God. And the request of Moses, with respect to His people, was but a feeble reflection of what was in the mind of God respecting them, and it was used of Him as a means of giving us to know how tenderly He cared for His people.
H. H., adapted