So it was that the morning after, that Moses sat down to
judge the people; and the people stood before him all day, from morning to
night.
Seeing
this, Jethro asked Moses, “why is it that you have to sit alone in judgment all
day?” And Moses told him it was
necessary, because the people came before him to enquire of God. Also when they have a dispute they come to
him and he rendered judgment and also let them know the laws and statutes of
the Lord.
Jethro did
not like the procedure and told Moses so.
“Surely,” Jethro counseled Moses; “this matter of your sitting all day
hearing complaints and the people standing before you all day is tiresome and
will eventually wear both you and the people out.”
“Teach the
people,” Jethro advised Moses, “to know the laws and statutes of the Lord and
show them how they should act and walk.
In addition, select good men out of the congregation; men that love and
fear God; men who can be trusted to do justice; men who are not greedy and
covetous, and set them over the people to rule over the people by thousands, by
hundreds and be tens. And let them judge
the people at all times, referring only the grave matters to you.”
What Jethro
recommend to Moses made great sense, and so Moses adopted Jethro’s counsel and divided
up the people by tens, and by hundreds and by thousands, and set rulers over
them to judge the day to day matters, reserving only the more severe matters
for himself.
After
the new judicial system was set up, Jethro took his leave of Moses and departed
to his own land. www.chaberbooks.com
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