Exodus 18:14-23 - Homiletics

The unwisdom of a monopoly of power.

The principle of the division of labour, which is essential to progress in the arts, was well known in Egypt, and was applied there, not to the arts only, but also to government and administration. Moses, who had resided forty years at the court of a Pharaoh ( Acts 7:23 ), must have been thoroughly acquainted with the fact that, in a well-ordered community, judicial functions were separated kern legislative and administrative, and entrusted to a large number of persons, not monopolised by a single individual. But it had appeared to him that the condition of his own people was exceptional. Just released from the cruel bondage of a hard and pitiless slavery, without education, without habits of command or self-control, without any knowledge of the principles of law or experience in the practice of courts, they seemed to him unfit for the exercise of the judicial office—especially as he understood it. For his view was, that each particular decision should be made an occasion of educating the people in the principles of law and justice ( Exodus 18:16 ), and upon these it was his habit to descant in connection with each judgment that he delivered. As he felt that he alone among all the Israelites was equal to this task, he had undertaken to discharge singly the office of judge in a community consisting of above two millions of persons. Jethro, on visiting him, was struck with the unwisdom of such an attempt, and honestly gave expression to his feelings. Jethro saw—

I. THAT TO MONOPOLISE THE JUDICIAL FUNCTION IN SO LARGE A COMMUNITY WAS UNWISE , AS AN UNDUE STRAIN UPON THE MENTAL AND PHYSICAL POWERS OF THE MONOPOLISER . SO numerous were the causes brought before him that Moses had to sit "from morning to evening"—probably from early dawn until the dusk of the evening twilight—hearing them. At eighty years of age, or more ( Exodus 7:7 ), his physical strength was not equal to this exertion. Our physical powers have to be considered. No one is justified in overtaxing them unnecessarily. The body needs change of attitude and employment, air, gentle exercise, freedom from restraint, confinement, tension. No one could habitually sit at any one task for twelve hours continuously without its telling on his bodily frame and injuring his constitution. Again, the mental strain must have been injurious to him, and if not actually impairing his faculties, must have interfered with their due exercise and rendered him unfit to perform the delicate duties of a judge late in the day. Had necessity been laid upon him, had God appointed him to be the sole judge of the people, or had there actually been no one else among the Israelites competent to the performance of any part of the work, he would have been right in acting as he did, for health is not the first consideration; but this was not so. God had not spoken upon the point; and there was an abundance of men in the congregation, quite competent to perform raider judicial functions, as Jethro clearly perceived, and as he himself also saw when it was pointed out to him. Thus he was exhausting himself unnecessarily, a proceeding which cannot be justified.

II. THAT IT WAS ALSO UNWISE , AS UNDULY TAXING THE PATIENCE OF THE PEOPLE . One man could not keep pace with the number of constantly arising causes, which must have tended to accumulate, whence would arise a delay of justice. It was inconvenient enough to have to wait from the morning until the evening before obtaining a hearing; but probably the ease was not uncommon of a cause being put off to the next court-day, which, if the people were on the march, might be several days distant. The convenience of suitors is an important consideration in the administration of justice, which should be prompt as well as sure, to content men's natural sense of what is fitting.

III. THAT , FURTHER , IT TENDED TO CRAMP THE EXERCISE BY THE PEOPLE OF POWERS WHICH THEY POSSESSED , AND THE EMPLOYMENT OF WHICH WOULD HAVE ELEVATED THEM . There were in Israel and will always be in every community, "able men," well fitted to take part in the decision of causes. Such men will commonly be very numerous; and if they have no part in the administration of justice, a large section of the community will at once be dissatisfied with the slight passed upon them, and debarred from an employment which would have tended to their moral education and elevation. The jury system of modern states is a recognition of the fact, that judicial capacity is widely spread, and that society ought to provide a field for its exercise. It is important to utilise the powers possessed by all members of the community, both for their own contentation and for the general welfare of the community itself. The world is over-full of despots and monopolists, persons who desire to grasp as much power as possible, and are unwilling to share their office with others. We may acquit Moses of such selfishness; but we cannot acquit all those who follow in his footsteps. It would be well if persons in positions of authority nowadays sought generally to associate others in their work—to call out latent talent, exercise it, and so educate its possessors.