In Spiritual Leadership, Henry Blackaby and Richard Blackaby remind readers that the Bible reveals God’s pattern of working through successive generations. God gave his people specific instructions concerning how they were to train and prepare the emerging generation of leaders (Deut. 6:6-9; 20-25). In both Old and New Testament scripture, the message about succession is consistent: effective leaders plan ahead for the time when they can no longer lead, and they prayerfully prepare for that day. Consideration of biblical trends in succession planning may provide ancient insight into contemporary conditions.
Moses and Joshua
Moses. The mere mention of this ancient Hebrew leader’s name conjures a wide variety of images. For some, the
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Moses is well known for his leadership prowess. One of the lesser discussed, but extremely significant, truths about Moses is that his leadership was not solely characterized by the plans made and executed for Israel during his life, but also the plans developed and implemented after he was no longer able to lead. Moses planned for Israel’s continued success by developing a succession plan. Readers are first introduced to what may be considered his succession plan in Numbers 27:12-23:
The Lord said to Moses, “Go up this mountain of the Abram range, and see the land that I have given to the Israelites. 13 When you have seen it, you also shall be gathered to your people, as your brother Aaron was, 14 because you rebelled against my word in the wilderness of Zin when the congregation quarreled with me. You did not show my holiness before their eyes at the waters.” (These are the waters of Meribath-kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.) 15 Moses spoke to the Lord, saying, 16 “Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint someone over the congregation 17 who shall go out before them and come in before them, who shall lead them out and bring them in, so that the congregation of the Lord may not be like sheep without a shepherd.” 18 So the Lord said to Moses, “Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay your hand upon him; 19 have him stand before Eleazar the priest and all the congregation, and commission him in their sight. 20 You
God calls Moses to be the Israelites deliverer. This is a man who ran from Egypt because he killed an Egyptian and was content to spend his life as a shepherd. But God had different plans for Moses because the Lord uses the most imperfect people and empowers them to do his will. The Lord met with Moses and called him to deliver his people but Moses wanted to argue with God because Moses did not believe he was the right choice. Moses argued he was not the best choice because
Subsequently, in the books of Joshua and Judges the authors capture the tribulations of the Israelites in their attempts to conquer the Promised Land (Tullock & McEntire, 2012, p. 96). Additionally, in the first twelve chapters of the book of Joshua exhibit a decisive conquest through the entirety of the land of Canaan, which provides the initial impression of a seamless transition between the work of Moses and the leadership of Joshua (Tullock & McEntire,
In the sage’s judgment, lion, greyhound, he-goat, and king, all four were considered to be extraordinary, and the king, the goal of this number saying, was the most excellent of all. Yet, however amazing or even imponderable he might be for the sages, they were still able to affirm certain themes which were held in common with other bodies of Israelite literature.
Gene C. Wilkes, in his book Jesus on Leadership, does an excellent job in redefining leadership within the context of the Kingdom of God and he does so by pointing to Jesus who “taught and embodied leadership as service.” Wilkes’ point is that Jesus taught the world everything to know about leadership in the way that he served. Rather than leadership being top down, it should be bottom up as in the case of Jesus—the Savior of the World—washing his disciples feet. This means that leaders do not have people serve them, rather they chose to serve those they are leading. The clearest point and evidence that Wilkes utilizes is when Jesus says, “But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant.” This upside down kingdom idea is the most profound view of Wilkes on leadership and carries the most weight in applying to ministry leadership. Furthermore, two aspects deserve more attention here; which are: the importance of mission and the essentiality of equipping others. In addition, there was one element missing from the book—the people Wilkes has helped succeed through his own servant leadership.
Atkinson (2014) believes effective leadership displays, “No person is less divine than another, and therefore no person is less than another” (p. 145). Throughout the bible, there are many people in scripture that God placed in leadership roles. Jesus, David, Moses, Paul, Peter, Abraham and many others are some of those leaders. There are core attributes discussed in the lecture that personally reflect my opinion of what an effective leader of Christ needs such as, a shared vision, model of the way, empowerment of others, challenge of the process, and encouragement of the heart.
I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.” But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.” Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ “This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation. “Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to
The most important character in this unit is Moses, who is introduced in Exodus and leads the Israelites through their journey to the promised land until he dies in Deuteronomy. He not only was a leader for the Israelites, but he was a very religious and had a special connection with God. His accomplishments influence the Roman Catholicism today. He freed the Israelites from slavery in Egypt; he delivered them the Ten Commandments; he led them to the promised land of Canaan; on their journey, he protected, nourished, and sheltered the Israelites. As a leader of this Israelites, he guided them because most of them did not know anything but slavery. After the Moses died in Deuteronomy, the Israelites' population grew more powerful. In conclusion,
Joshua accompanied Moses partway up Mt. Sinai when he went to talk to God. He was given a position of prominence at the Tabernacle as Moses’ representative.
Linafelt described the Hebrew Bible as containing, “some of the finest literature that we have, and biblical literature has begun to take its place among the classics of world literature” (1). The Hebrew Bible, composed of prose narrative texts, poetry and intricate literary characters, examines and records the wavering relationship between God and humans. While the connection God has with many literary characters, from Noah to Job serve to illuminate the bond between divine and the mortal, no fellowship is more important than that between God and Moses. Moses, whose presence is made aware in the Book of Exodus, unequivocally is one of the first protagonist in the Hebrew Bible. While he demonstrates the qualities of a literary hero; triumph above inner contention and trepidation, it is his obedience and rapport with God that validates genuine character progression of both Moses and God. Moses’ relationship with God yields allusions that divinity is a composition of both theology and humanism, as divinity weakens without piety and commitment.
Biblical Leaders have faith in God, courage and wisdom to lead their people, however in a fallen world cultural influences greatly effect a leader’s worldview causing weakness in their life. All of the Biblical leaders we have looked at had 3 things in common. They all had Faith in God, Wisdom to lead God’s people and courage to handle what they had to do as leaders. Known of these great Biblical Leaders could have been successful without the help of God.
Leadership starts at the top, and the top is not the man, but the faith in God that flows out of him. There is, different types of leadership and many ways to display this quality. God is our ultimate leader, and He revealed ways on how to be an effective leader in the church, in the house and in life. Therefore, the focus of this paper will be the Pastor epistles and the type of leadership model that they share and put forth. Now, effective ways of leadership may manifest differently in each individual. God made us all unique and gave each of us a specific talent or gift. Therefore, this class has made me investigate and look at myself more in depth and see what type of leadership model I would follow, and feel is the best model.
Yahweh creates covenants with his people throughout the Bible. Two important covenants, that helped shape the rules and norms of society, were the Sinai covenant and the Royal or Davidic covenant. The Sinai covenant was given to Moses on Mt. Sinai. The Royal covenant was given to David and in it Yahweh promises to support the line of David (2 Sam 7:16). The Sinai and Royal covenants are similar, but are also unique and different from each other. Specifically, they are similar in their talk of blessings and a chosen people. They differ in the aspect that the Royal covenant seems to contradict some of the concepts presented in the Sinai covenant.
Paul and Timothy (1 Tim. 4:11-16) “11 Command and teach these things. 12 Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity. 13 Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. 14 Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through prophecy when the body of elders laid their hands on you.” Model behavior and Grass‐roots leadership could be grow in anyone regarding to the position and tide(see Horst Bergmann, Kathleen Hurson, Darlene Russ‐Eft;
Effective leadership approaches from a biblical perspective consist of God’s nature in his manifested character. Christian leaders are willing to pay the price to lead in Christ’s affliction. Paul said there is a price to pay in order to lead and Jesus reminded us, “Remember what I told you: 'A servant is not greater than his master. ' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also” (John 15:20, New International Version). Christian leaders need core attributes of God’s styles and approaches, support and linkage from scriptures, and knowledge of his leadership models of truth for effective leadership. However, these perspectives will gave me a better appreciation and insight of who God is and who I can be with his guidance.
The New Testament leaders are an example of how church leaders of today should also behave and work[8]. They ought to be able to teach, guide the believers in the way of God and nurture their spiritual gifts. The New Testament leaders had to boldly defend the word of God in case of any false teaching. Basing on this New Testament leadership, it is important to make sure that any believer appointed to the leadership office has the laid down qualifications[9].