Leadership and Community Building

Leadership and community building
Moses and the People of Israel

Stories and reframing the
Principle

Stories and the cognitive revolution
• 70 000 years ago ‘cognitive revolution’
• Maximum cooperation 150
• What changed?
– Language
• ― Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens: A Brief History of
Humankind

Christian hermeneutics of the Bible
• "The Scriptures should be read with the aim of
finding Christ in them. “- John Calvin
• As Christians standing within the light of New
Testament revelation and looking back on the Old
Testament, Christ himself acts as a hermeneutical
prism. Looking back through him, we see the white
light of the unity of the truth of Jesus Christ broken
down into its constituent colours in the pages of the
Old Testament.
• All the fathers read Scripture through the prism of
Christ’s incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and
ascension.

An example . . .
“And I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your seed and her seed; it shall bruise your
head, and you shall bruise his heel.” Genesis 3:16
The person spoken of is called the seed of the woman –
and not of the man - which can agree with no other than
the Messiah, who was to be born of a virgin, which was
afterwards more clearly revealed by Isaiah 7:14 ("Behold,
the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call
his name Immanuel"). This was fulfilled in Jesus, who was
truly the seed of the woman and of her only, being made
of a woman and not begotten by man. He was conceived
In the womb of the virgin by the power of the Holy Spirit.

DP follows the same hermeneutic
• 3 doves
– 1st (Adam), 2nd(Jesus), 3rd (LSA)
• Tablets
– True Parents
• Striking the rock
– Bad condition affecting Jesus
• Moses / Jesus parallels
• Model courses
– Jacob, Moses, Jesus, LSA

The structure of the Divine Principle
• Creation
• Fall
• Restoration
• Second advent

The Big Story of Scripture (Creation, Fall,
Redemption, Restoration)
• "In order to build a biblical-theological framework for
understanding God's mission, the church's mission,
and the church's mission to the nations, one must first
understand the unified biblical narrative, including its
four major plot movements -- creation, fall,
redemption, and restoration.”
David Nelson, "The Story of Mission: The Grand
Biblical Narrative”

The Divine Principle framework to
analyse history
• Foundation to receive the messiah
– Foundation of faith
– Foundation of substance (overcoming fallen
nature)
• Very narrow interpretation – AA – Adam relationships
– Foundation to receive the messiah
• Failure after failure with occasional success
stories
– Jacob and Esau

Pattern of restoration
Adam
Abraham
Noah Jacob
Jacob in
Haran Jacob to
Egypt
Isaac
Lord of
Second
Advent
Jesus
400120400 400 210 400
Slavery in
Egypt Judges
United
Kingdom
Divided
Kingdom
Babylonian
Captivity Preparation
Persecution
In Rome Patriarchs
United
Kingdom
Divided
Kingdom
Papal
Captivity Preparation
400120400 400 210 400
401201600 400 21 40
Brothers
divided
Conclusion

A different approach to the
stories of restoration
• Providential stories are to restore the four
great realms of heart
• Healing relationships
• Narrative as mode of understanding
– Man as a teller of stories
• Ethics as narrative – reveals the nuances
and complexity of human nature
– c.f. Kant’s categorical imperative etc.

Philosophy versus narrative
• Philosophy – abstract, rational, first
principles, idealistic
• Narrative – evolution, messy, contingent,
works
• To understand means to listen to a person
or a country’s story

Revisiting a couple of concepts

Lucifer tempts Eve
Lucifer
God
Adam
Eve
Wanted to experience
love and become like
God before time was ripe
When Eve responded to his
temptation, the angel felt
the stimulation of her love
to be deliciously enticing.
EDP, 64
Felt less love
Wanted to
rule humans
The fundamental motivation . . .
lay in the envy the Archangel felt
towards Adam, the beloved of God.
EDP, 72

Eve tempts Adam
Lucifer
Rid herself of guilt
and stand before God
God
Adam
Eve
Eve’s second fallen act was motivated
by her heartfelt longing to return to
God’s bosom. EDP, 162
Eve very needy. Vulnerable.
Hurt. Abused. Wanted to be
comforted and loved. Wanted
To receive love and comfort
from Adam who she realised
should be her spouse

What happened at the fall?
• Eve was traumatized by her relationship with
Lucifer
– Sexually, emotionally, psychologically damaged
– Sense of worthlessness and being needy
– Hurt, vulnerable, wanting to be loved
• Adam was damaged by his relationship with
Eve
– Inherited the archangelic nature
– Weak and hard to respect
• Influenced by malign spiritual forces

Lucifer
“Original Sin”
“Original Trauma”
Original damage
Evil elements
Descendants
Adam Eve
Children
Evil elements
Evil elements
Evil elements
All people affected by the fall
Original sin is transmitted
through the physical body.
EDP, 392

What happened at the fall?
• All the relationships of the Four Great Realms of
Heart were corrupted and distorted
– Man – woman
– Husband – wife
– Parents – children
– Sibling – sibling
• Restoration is putting all these relationships right

Fallen sexuality
• Men have inherited the fallen archangelic nature
to want to control and possess and have sexual
relationships with women for their own pleasure
and gratification. Lust, not love
• Droit du seigneur – ‘lord’s right’
• Sexual harassment and worse
• Women have inherited the tendency to be
seduced by powerful men and to be seductive

Loss of the three blessings . . .
• People struggle to attain mind-body unity
– Alcoholism, laziness, lying, identity crisis
• People struggle to achieve good relations
– Divorce, conflict, loneliness, ‘bad sex’
• People struggle to manage the ‘world’
– Finances, tidiness, pollution

What is restoration?
• Restoration occurs when you find yourself in a
similar position to Adam, Eve, the archangel, Cain
or Abel, or one of your ancestors etc.
• And you have to face the same temptation to
make the same mistake that they did and
continue the pattern of fallen history
• But you choose not to do so and instead of acting
out of your fallen nature you act according to your
original nature and follow your conscience. You
break the cycle of sin and abuse and pattern of
fallen history

Collective Sin
Original Sin
Personal Sin
Inherited Sin
Tree of sin

Stories of restoration
• Adam – Eve – Lucifer
– Abraham – Sarah - Pharaoh
• Lucifer – Adam
– Cain and Abel
– Esau and Jacob
– Joseph and his brothers
• Parent – child
– Noah - Ham
– Abraham and Isaac
– Rebecca and Jacob
• Husband and wife
– Isaac and Rebecca
• Sister – sister
– Rachel and Leah

Restoration through indemnity
• Indemnity is the process of restoring the original
position
• To restore something one must make the necessary
effort or pay the due price
• An indemnity condition is what has to be done to
restore something to its original position or state
• An indemnity condition is a reversal of the process
which led to the loss of the original position or state

What is necessary to create a
community where God can
dwell?

In the language of the Principle . . .
• Foundation of faith
– Spiritual community
– Life of prayer, study and worship
• Foundation of substance
– Freedom of thought and speech
– Rule of law
• Foundation for God to dwell

What was life like in Egypt?
• Jacob took family into
Egypt
• Prospered and
multiplied
• Now there arose a
new king over Egypt
who did not know
Joseph.
Ex. 1:8 Goshen where Hebrews thought
to have lived

Joseph and Pharaoh
 Joseph interprets
Pharaoh’s dream
 7 years of plenty
followed by 7 years
of famine
 Joseph appointed
Prime Minister of
Egypt when 30 years
old Joseph interprets Pharaoh’s dream

Joseph’s economic policy
• Joseph collected all the money in payment
for the grain they were buying.
• Joseph: “I will sell you food in exchange for
your livestock, since your money is gone.”
• People: “Exchange us and our land for food,
and we with our land will be in bondage to
Pharaoh.”
• The land became Pharaoh’s, and Joseph
reduced the people to servitude.
Genesis 47

Why did Pharaoh reduce the
people to slavery?
• The people of Israel were fruitful and increased
greatly; they multiplied and grew exceedingly
strong, so that the land was filled with them.
• Pharaoh: “Behold, the people of Israel are too
many and too mighty for us. Come, let us deal
shrewdly with them, in case they multiply, and, if
war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight
against us and escape from the land.”
Exodus 1:7.9.10

Origins of group hatred
• The hated group must be a minority or people
will fear to attack it.
• It must be successful or people will not envy it,
merely feel contempt for it.
• It must be conspicuous or people will not
notice it.
• Amy Chua, World on Fire, 2004

What was life like in Egypt?
• Employed Hebrews as
builders
• Forced labour
• Reduced to slavery
– Owned
• No freedom
– Arbitrary orders
– Obedience
• Building projects
– Ramses, Pithom
Making bricks in ancient Egypt:
The tomb of vizier Rekhimire, ca. 1450 BCE

How did Moses become the central
figure?
• Son of Amram and Jochebed
Moses rescue from the Nile

Brave women in Moses’ life
• Miriam – Moses’ sister
– Pleaded with father
• Jochebed – Moses’ mother
– Gave birth to Moses at risk of her life
– Told Moses the stories so he knew who he was
• Midwives – Shifra and Puah
– Conscience over conformity; justice over law
– Civil disobedience
• Pharaoh’s daughter – Bitya
– Out of compassion disobeyed her father the pharaoh
– Very courageous
– Gave Moses his name - child
• Zipporah – Moses’ wife
– Knew what to do to save him

How did Moses become the central
figure?
• In palace for 40 years
– Didn’t have a slave mentality
– Used to leadership
– Identity as Hebrew
• Wilderness for 40 years
Moses rescue from the Nile

What kind of person was Moses?
• Strong sense of justice
• Killed the Egyptian slave
driver
• Defended Jethro’s 7
daughters
• Argued with God to
defend the people
• Cared for people
• Identified with them
Defending Jethro’s daughters

Where is all this happening?
Ramses •
21 days route
Moses fled

How did Moses encounter God?
• Desert of Midian
• 40 years as shepherd
– Wilderness period
• Burning bush
“I am the God of Abraham, the
God of Isaac, and the God of
Jacob. I have seen the misery of
my people in Egypt. I have heard
them crying out because of their
slave drivers, and I am concerned
about their suffering.”
Exodus 3:6-7 There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in
flames of fire from within a bush

Moses’ discussion with God
• God: “I will send you to Pharaoh . . .”
• Moses: “Who am I . . .?”
• God: “But I will be with you . .”
• Moses: “They will ask, what is your name?”
• God: Yahweh: “I go on being as I go on being”
• Moses: “They will not believe me.”
– a leader does not need faith in himself, but he must
have faith in the people he is to lead.

So God gave Moses three signs
• Rod becomes a snake then a rod
– Edenic symbolism
• Hand in bosom becomes leprous then
wholesome
– Leprosy a punishment for derogatory speech
• Water from the Nile becomes blood
If you do not believe in the people eventually you will not believe in God.
You will think yourself superior to them and that is a corruption of the soul.

Moses turns down the offer
• Moses: “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent. I am slow
of speech and of tongue.”
• God: “I will be your mouth and teach you what
you shall speak.”
• Moses: “Oh, my Lord, send, I pray, some other
person.”
• Then the Lord’s anger burned against Moses and
he said, “What about your brother, Aaron the
Levite? I know he can speak well.”

Working together as a trinity
Moses
Aaron Miriam

Can’t change things by yourself
Moses and Aaron brought together all the
elders of the Israelites, and Aaron told them
everything the Lord had said to Moses. He also
performed the signs before the people, and
they believed. And when they heard that the
Lord was concerned about them and had seen
their misery, they bowed down and
worshipped.
Exodus 4:29-31

Moses meets Pharaoh - failure
Moses: “This is what the Lord, the God of
Israel, says: ‘Israel is my first born son, and I
told you, Let my son go, so he may worship
Me.’” Exodus 4:22
Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should
pay attention to him and let Israel go? I do not
know the Lord and I will not let Israel go.”
Exodus 5:1-2

How did the Hebrews react?
“May the Lord look upon you and judge you! You
have made us a stench to Pharaoh and his officials
and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.”
Moses returned to the Lord and said, “O Lord, why
have you brought trouble upon this people? Is this
why you sent me? Ever since I went to Pharaoh to
speak in your name, he has brought trouble upon this
people, and you have not rescued your people at all.”
Exodus 5:21-23

God to harden Pharaoh’s heart
“You are to say everything I command you,
and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let
the Israelites go out of his country. But I will
harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply
my signs and wonders in Egypt, he will not
listen to you.”
Exodus 7:2-4

Ten plagues
• Plague of blood
• Plague of frogs
• Plague of lice
• Plague of flies
• Plague of livestock death
• Plague of boils
• Plague of hail
• Plague of locusts
• Plague of darkness
• Death of the Egyptian first born
God hardened Pharaoh’s heart
 Did they happen?
 What about the ethical issues?

A scientific view of the plagues
Professor Sir Colin John
Humphreys, former
Goldsmiths’ Professor of
Materials Science at
University of Cambridge,
Professor of Experimental
Physics at the Royal
Institution in London

Was Pharaoh free?
• How can it be right to punish pharaoh and his
people for decisions not freely made?
• Freedom responsibility guilt
punishment
• No freedom without responsibility
• No responsibility without freedom

Pharaoh hardens his heart
• Pharaoh said, “Pray to the Lord to take the
frogs away from me and my people, and I will
let your people go to offer sacrifices to the
Lord.”
• But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief,
he hardened his heart and would not listen to
Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said.
Exodus 8:8,15

Ignores his advisors
Since the gnats were on people and animals
everywhere, the magicians said to Pharaoh,
“This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart
was hard and he would not listen, just as the
Lord had said.
Exodus 8:18-19

Abandonment of rationality
Flies: “But this time also Pharaoh hardened his
heart and would not let the people go.”
Exodus 8:28-32
Livestock: Yet his heart was unyielding and he
would not let the people go. Exodus 9:7
Hail: When Pharaoh saw that the hail had
stopped, he sinned again: He and his officials
hardened their hearts. Exodus 9:34
Einstein, “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over
again and expecting different results.”

The corruption of the soul
• Evil has two faces. The first – turned to the
outside world – is what it does to its victim.
The second – turned within – is what it does to
its perpetrator. Evil traps the evildoer in its
mesh. Slowly but surely he or she loses
freedom and becomes not evil’s master but its
slave.
– Jonathan Sacks

God hardens Pharaoh’s heart
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh,
for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of
his officials so that I may perform these signs of
mine among them that you may tell your children
and grandchildren how I dealt harshly with the
Egyptians and how I performed my signs among
them, and that you may know that I am the
Lord.”
Exodus 10:1-2

Ignores officials - obsessive
Pharaoh’s officials said to him, “How long will
this man be a snare to us? Let the people go, so
that they may worship the Lord their God. Do
you not yet realise that Egypt is ruined?”
Pharaoh said, “Go, worship the Lord your God,
but tell me who will be going.”
Pharaoh said, “No! Have only the men go and
worship the Lord.”
But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he
would not let the Israelites go.
Exodus 10:7,9,11

After the darkness
Pharaoh said, “Go, worship the Lord. Even your
women and children may go with you; only leave
your flocks and herds behind.”
But Moses said, “Our livestock too must go with
us; not a hoof is to be left behind.”
But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he
was not willing to let them go.
Exodus 10:24-27

Free or not free?
• Addiction – gradual loss of freedom
• Lying
– Personal
– Institutional cover ups
– Conformism
• Pharaoh became stubborn
– Trapped in obsession
– Like dictators
• Narrative as opposed to philosophical account of
freedom
• Who is mighty? Not one who can conquer his
enemies but one who can conquer himself

Death of the first born
God, “Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the
firstborn son of Pharaoh.”
During the night Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron
and said, “Leave my people, you and the Israelites!
Go, worship the Lord. Take your flocks and herds
and go. And also bless me.”
The Israelites asked the Egyptians for silver and
gold. The Lord had made the Egyptians favourably
disposed toward the people, and they gave them
what they asked for.
Exodus 11:5; 12:31,35-36

What is most important?
• “Listen, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord;
and you shall love the Lord your God with all your
heart, and with all your soul, and with all your
might. And these words which I command you
this day shall be upon your heart; and you shall
teach them diligently to your children, and you
shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and
when you walk by the way, and when you lie
down, and when you rise.”
Deuteronomy 6:4-9
Love God and teach your children

Role of the teacher
• “Respect and reverence for your teacher should be greater
even than respect and reverence for your parents, because
parents bring you into this world, while teachers give you
entrance to the world to come.” Rambam
• “If a city has made no provision for the education of the young,
its inhabitants are placed under a ban, until teachers have
been engaged. If they persistently neglect this duty, the city is
excommunicated, for the world only survives by the merit of
the breath of schoolchildren.”
• (Maimonides, Hilkhot Talmud Torah 2:1)
•

• There is an ancient oriental image of human life which
recognizes this account of our circumstances. In it the
child is understood to owe its physical life its parents, a
debt to be acknowledged with appropriate respect. But
initiation into the geistige Welt of human achievement is
owed to the Sage, the teacher: and this debt is to be
acknowledged with the profoundest reverence—for to
whom can a man be more deeply indebted than to the
one to whom he owes, not his mere existence, but his
participation in human life? It is the Sage, the teacher who
is the agent of civilization.
• Michael Oakeshott

What to teach?
• When the time comes and your son asks you, ‘What does this
mean?’ you tell him, ‘God brought us out of Egypt, out of a
house of slavery, with a powerful hand. Ex. 13;14
• “People can never find the path that leads to life without
understanding the particulars of the providence of restoration.
Herein lies the reason why we must study the Principle of
Restoration in detail.” (D.P. 187)
• “A person who does not know the history of the last 3,000
years wanders in the darkness of ignorance, unable to make
sense of the reality around him”. Goethe
• “The farther back you can look, the farther forward you are
likely to see.” Churchill

Confucius said . . .
“If your plan is for one year,
plant rice.
If your plan is for ten years,
plant trees.
If your plan is for one hundred years,
educate children. ”

God does everything
• 10 plagues
• Parting of the Sea
• Manna from heaven
• Water at Rephidim
• People in a state of dependency
• Always complaining

The first commandment
• Moses said, “Tomorrow is a day of rest, a holy Sabbath
to GOD. Whatever you plan to bake, bake today; and
whatever you plan to boil, boil today. Then set aside the
leftovers until morning.” “
• Gather the manna every day for six days, but the
seventh day is Sabbath; there won’t be any of it on the
ground.” GOD has given you the Sabbath. So on the
sixth day he gives you bread for two days. So, each of
you, stay home. Don’t leave home on the seventh day.”
• So the people quit working on the seventh day.
• Exodus 16

Significance of the Sabbath
“Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. For
six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day is a
Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord. The Israelites are to
observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the
generations to come as a lasting covenant. It will be a
sign between me and the Israelites forever, for in six
days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and
on the seventh day he abstained from work and
rested.”

The turning point
• Battle against Amalek
• Joshua led army
• Moses on the hill
• No miracle
• Israel growing up
• Dependency
interdependency
Aaron, Moses and Hur
Not by might nor by power,
but by my spirit” Zechariah 4:6

The best leader
• The best leaders are those the people hardly know exist.
The next best is a leader who is loved and praised.
Next comes the one who is feared.
The worst one is the leader that is despised.
• The best leaders value their words,
and use them sparingly.
When he or she has accomplished their task,
the people say,
"Amazing: we did it, all by ourselves!”
Lao Tsu

Amalek and Egypt
Amalek
Then the LORD said to
Moses, “. . . I will utterly
blot out the memory of
Amalek from under
heaven.” And Moses said,
“A hand upon the throne of
the LORD! The LORD will
have war with Amalek from
generation to generation.”
Exodus
7:14,16
Egypt
“Do not abhor an
Egyptian, because you
were a stranger in his
land.”
Deuteronomy 23: 8
“The Israelites are
becoming too numerous
and strong for us”
Exodus 1: 9

The nature of Amalek
• “Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as
you came out of Egypt, how he attacked you on the
way when you were faint and weary, and cut off
your tail, those who were lagging behind you, and
he did not fear God. Therefore when the LORD your
God has given you rest from all your enemies
around you, in the land that the LORD your God is
giving you for an inheritance to possess, you shall
blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven;
you shall not forget.
Deuteronomy 25: 17-19

How did Moses rule?
• Moses has lunch with Jethro
• The next day Moses sat to judge the people, and the
people stood about Moses from morning till evening.
Jethro: “What are you doing? Why do you sit alone?”
“You will wear yourself out.”
– Represent the people before God
– Teach people the statutes and decisions
– Appoint honest people to judge small matters
• 1 per 1000, 100, 50, 10
– Set up an appeals system
– Only judge the hard cases
• If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to
stand the strain, and so too all these people will reach
their place in peace.” (Exodus 18:17-23)

Workshop at Sinai
God’s providence to establish the
kingdom of heaven

Noah’s time: freedom without order
• No government or law
– Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was
full of violence. God saw how corrupt the earth
had become, for all the people on earth had
corrupted their ways. So God said to Noah, “I am
going to put an end to all people, for the earth is
filled with violence because of them.” Genesis 6:11-
12
– Individual and tribal identities
– No law – no peace - violence
– THEM and US

The Tower of Babel
• Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As people
moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. They said to
each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used
brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build
ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make
a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole
earth.” But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were
building. The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have
begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for
them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not
understand each other.” So the Lord scattered them from there over all the
earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel—
because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there
the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth. Genesis 11:1-9

Babel: order without freedom
o After the Flood 70 nations
and languages
o Assyrian Empire
o Ashurbanipal – ‘made the
totality of all peoples speak
one speech’
o Imperialism
o Universalism
o Force THEM to become US
o Christianity, Islam
o Communism
o Individual humanism
Tower of Babel

The story of the Tower of Babel
• One imperial power conquered smaller nations and imposed
their language and culture on them, thus directly contravening
God’s wish that humans should respect the integrity of each
nation and each individual. When at the end of the Babel story
God “confuses the language” of the builders, He is not creating
a new state of affairs but restoring the old. Interpreted thus,
the story of Babel is a critique of the power of the collective
when it crushes individuality
• How to have peace?
• How to have unity while respecting diversity?

What is a covenant?
• A covenant is made when two or more people pledge
themselves in loyalty to one another to achieve
together that neither of them can achieve alone. A
covenant is not about solely me, it is about a me and
a you who become an us together. It creates a new
identity.
• Marriage is a covenant which is why the prophets
always compare the covenant between God and the
people of Israel to a marriage.

• “At that time you’ll address me, ‘Dear husband!’ Never again
will you call me, ‘My slave-master!’
I’ll wash your mouth out with soap, get rid of all the dirty false-
god names, not so much as a whisper of those names again.
At the same time I’ll make a peace treaty between you and wild
animals and birds and reptiles,
And get rid of all weapons of war. Think of it! Safe from beasts
and bullies!
And then I’ll marry you for good—forever!
I’ll marry you true and proper, in love and tenderness. Yes, I’ll
marry you and neither leave you nor let you go.
You’ll know me, GOD, for who I really am.
• Hosea 2:16-20

Two covenants
• Noahide Code - universal
– No blasphemy
– No murder
– No immoral sexual relations
– No stealing
– Don’t hurt animals
– Law courts for justice
• Mosaic covenant - particular

God woos the Hebrews
“You yourselves have seen what I did to the
Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles wings and
brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will
indeed hearken to my voice and keep my covenant,
you shall be my treasured possession among all
peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to
me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”
Exodus 19:4-6
Chosen nation. Not a master race
Defined by covenant
Chosen to spread knowledge of God and ethics

A nation of leaders
• Don’t ever think that leaders are different
from the rest of us. They aren’t . . . What
distinguishes leaders from a non-leader is not
position or office or role but rather a basic
attitude to life. Others wait for something to
happen: leaders help make something happen.
While others curse the darkness, a leader
lights a light.
– Jonathan Sacks

How did the people respond?
So Moses came and called the elders of the people
and set before them all these words that the Lord
had commanded him. All the people answered
together and said, “All that the Lord has spoken we
will do.” And Moses reported the words of the people
to the Lord. And the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I
am coming to you in a thick cloud, that the people
may hear when I speak with you, and may also
believe you for ever.”
Exodus 19:7-9

Words, words, words . . .
• 7 pictogram writing systems
– Elite hierarchical societies
• First alphabet was Semitic
– Equal society - literacy
– All descended from it
• Kingdom of priests
• Study word of God
– Equality before God & law
– Equality of access to law
Proto-Sinaitic script 1950 BC

How did the people prepare to receive
God?
• 3 days of purification
• Consecration - prayer
• Wash and clean clothes
• No marital relations
• Not to touch the
mountain
• Moses and Aaron go up
the mountain to receive
God’s Words
God descends on Mount Sinai
Exodus 19

How was the covenant made?
Then Moses wrote it all down, everything God had said. He got
up early the next morning and built an Altar at the foot of the
mountain using twelve pillar-stones for the twelve tribes of
Israel. Then he directed young Israelite men to offer sacrifices of
bulls. Moses took half the blood and put it in bowls; the other
half he threw against the Altar. Then he took the Book of the
Covenant and read it as the people listened. They said,
“Everything God said, we’ll do. Yes, we’ll obey.” Moses took the
rest of the blood and threw it out over the people, saying, “This
is the blood of the covenant which God has made with you out of
all these words I have spoken.” Exodus 24:4-8

Celebrating the covenant
Moses and Aaron, and the
seventy elders of Israel went up
and saw the God of Israel.
Under his feet was something
like a pavement made of
sapphire, clear as the sky itself.
But God did not raise his hand
against these leaders of the
Israelites; they saw God, and
they ate and drank.
Exodus 24:9-11
The elders before the throne of God

What was change of lineage?
• Change of identity to the people of God
• Change from Satan’s way of life to God’s way
of life

What is Satan’s way of life?
• False sense of identity
• Things are purpose of life
• Bad language
• Workaholic or fun loving
• Disrespecting parents

What is Satan’s way of life?
• Violence and murder
• Promiscuity
• Stealing
• Lying
• Envy

The Ten Words challenge Satan’s
tradition and
establish the structure of a good
society

1. I am the Lord your God. You shall have
no other gods before me
• Right order, get priorities right - Put God first
• Identity - Most fundamental identity from
relationship with the divine
• Football fan and/or fan of God
• PS3 or HDH
• Not nationalism but patriotism
• Worship ever more deeply in your own religion: let
God as you see him or her challenge your whole life

2. You shall not make any graven image
• God is invisible
• God is infinite, eternal, absolute, mysterious,
transcendent, awesome, living, dynamic
• All images of God are finite, relative, temporal, static,
lifeless
• Worshipping the self, making relative absolute
• No expectations, preconceptions
• Idealism is idolatry

3. You shall not take the Lord’s name in
vain
• Words are powerful, creative
– Blessing or curse
• Don’t misuse language
– Rectification of names
• Sacred words become swear words
• Priest craft
– Misusing God’s name
• Using religion for political purposes

The rectification of names
• Zi-lu said, "The ruler of Wei has been waiting for
you, in order with you to administer the
government. What will you consider the first
thing to be done?"
• The Master replied, ”It is necessary to rectify
names."

• If names be not correct, language is not in
accordance with the truth of things.
• If language be not in accordance with the truth of
things, affairs cannot be carried on to success.
• When affairs cannot be carried on to success, art
and music do not flourish.
• When art and music do not flourish, punishments
will not be properly awarded.
• When punishments are not properly awarded, the
people do not know how to move hand or foot.

• Therefore a superior man considers it necessary
that the names he uses may be spoken
appropriately, and also that what he speaks may
be carried out appropriately. What the superior
man requires is just that in his words there may
be nothing incorrect."
• Confucius, Analects XIII, 3

4. You shall observe the Sabbath
• Sabbath most holy day for Jews. What makes
Jews who they are
• Time for God and family
• More to life than work
• More to life than fun
• Rest when you are weary: spiritual
refreshment can be found with nature, friends,
music, worship and solitude

5. You shall honour your father and
mother
• Father and mother
– Equal value of men and women
• Lineage is important
• Filial piety
– Different visions of filial piety
• Vertical - lineage, tradition, wisdom

6. You shall not murder
• Life is precious
• Love life
• Murder versus killing
• Self-defence justified

7. You shall not commit adultery
• Protect marriage
• Love is precious
• Adultery destroys love, trust & family

8. You shall not steal
• Respect ownership
• Things extension of self
• Love people, never steal
• Tithing

9. You shall not bear false witness
• Love the truth - never lie
• Truth -> perception of reality
• Support justice

10. You shall not covet
• Happiness commandment
• The grass isn’t greener on the other side of the
hill
• Be happy when others are successful
• Be happy when others are rich
– Don’t be like Lucifer
• Be sad when others suffer
• Love others

How to categorise them?
• Two groups of five – vertical and horizontal
• Three groups of three
– Israelites defined as ‘one people under God’
– Limits to the autonomous life
– Three institutions society needs

Israelites defined as ‘one people under
God’
• Divine sovereignty
– Transcends all other loyalties
• God is living
– Not abstract power
• Reverence for God
– Establishes moral limits to power

Limits to an autonomous life
• Shabbat
– All human activities and hierarchies suspended
• Parents
– We are created, the result of other’s choices
• Murder
– People are created by God so murder is a crime
against God

Three institutions society needs
• Marriage
– Sacredness of relationships
– faithfulness
• Private property
– Safeguard against tyranny
– Basis of free society
• Justice
– Law courts
– Honesty
– No freedom without justice

Challenge to the root of sin
• Envy
– The greatest challenge of any society is how to contain the
universal phenomenon of envy: the desire to have what
belongs to someone else. Rene Girard, in Violence and the
Sacred, argued that the primary driver of human violence is
mimetic desire, that is, the desire to have what someone
else has, which is ultimately the desire to be what someone
else is. Envy can lead to breaking many of the other
commands: it can move people to adultery, theft, false
testimony and even murder.

Love is the basis of the moral life
• Love the Lord your God
• Love your neighbour
• Love yourself
• Love the stranger
• “Love is a flame lit in marriage and the family.
Morality is the love between husband and wife,
parent and child, extended outward to the world.”
Jonathan Sacks

Development of the moral life
“You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress
him, for you were strangers in the land of
Egypt.” Exodus 22:20
Earliest appearance of empathy in ancient world
Empathy and compassion the basis of morality

What is the Biblical attitude to the law?
I rejoice in following your statutes
as one rejoices in great riches.
I shall walk at liberty,
for I have sought out your precepts.
How sweet are your words to my taste,
sweeter than honey to my mouth!
Your statutes are wonderful;
therefore I keep them.
Streams of tears flow from my eyes,
for your law is not followed.
Psalm 119

Freedom and the Principle
• What is true freedom?
– Free will followed by free action
• Inner freedom
• “The truth will set you free.” John 8:32
– Freedom = free within the Principle
• Outer freedom - free environment
• “The perfect law…gives freedom.” James 1:25
• Create boundaries. Safe
– No freedom without responsibility
• No responsibility without freedom
• Responsible for consequences of actions
• Adam and Eve lost freedom when denied responsibility
– No freedom without accomplishments.
• Freedom for original mind to pursue beauty, truth and goodness
• Strive to complete purpose of creation – 3 blessings
• Bring joy to God

What is freedom?
• Freedom is to have a standing Rule to live by,
common to every one of that Society, and made by
the Legislative Power erected in it; A Liberty to follow
my own Will in all things, where the Rule prescribes
not; and not to be subject to the inconstant,
uncertain, unknown, Arbitrary Will of another Man.
• John Locke, "The Second Treatise on Government

Why be good? Why follow the law?
Ring of Gyges
• If you had an invisibility ring would you be
good? Would you follow your conscience?

What was the holiness code?
• “Consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am the
Lord your God. Keep my decrees and follow them. I
am the Lord, who makes you holy.”
• “Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to
them: 'Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am
holy.’”
– Many laws on sexual relations, sexual purity
– Justice, animal welfare, etc.
– Good diet and healthy lifestyle

Why be good? Why follow the law?
• Become like God – Keeping the Sabbath
• All life becomes holy and every act meaningful
• Makes us better people which influences society and
thus the world
• Strengthens good spiritual forces
• Tikkun olam
– “Repairing the world” or “perfecting the world.”

Why all these laws?
• To translate vision into reality
– Abraham and Isaac
• Historical experience into legislation
– Slavery – Exodus - Canaan
• Behind every law a narrative
– “If you buy a Hebrew slave, he is to serve you for 6 years,
but in the 7th year he shall go free”
• Slavery temporary not a matter of birth
• If doesn’t want freedom awl through ear
– “Anyone who beats their slave must be punished if the
slave dies as a result”
• Slaves are not property and have a right to life
– On Sabbath your slave is not to work
• Breathe the air of freedom

Receiving the law
The Lord said to Moses, “Come
up to me on the mountain and
stay here, and I will give you the
tablets of stone, with the law
and commands I have written
for their instruction.”
On the seventh day he called
Moses.
Exodus 24:12
Moses receiving the tablets

Making the golden calf
“Do something. Make gods for
us who will lead us. That Moses,
the man who got us out of
Egypt—who knows what’s
happened to him?”
Aaron took the gold from their
hands and cast it in the form of
a calf, shaping it with an
engraving tool.
Exodus 32:1-4
Worshipping the golden calf

How did God react?
God spoke to Moses, “Go! Get down there! Your people
whom you brought up from the land of Egypt have fallen to
pieces. In no time at all they’ve turned away from the way I
commanded them: They made a molten calf and worshiped
it. They’ve sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are the gods, O
Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt!’” God
said to Moses, “I look at this people—oh! what a stubborn,
hard-headed people! Let me alone now, give my anger free
reign to burst into flames and incinerate them. But I’ll make
a great nation out of you.”
Exodus 32:7-10

What did Moses say to God?
• Moses tried to calm God down. He said, “Why, God, would you
lose your temper with your people? Why, you brought them out
of Egypt in a tremendous demonstration of power and strength.
Why let the Egyptians say, ‘He had it in for them—he brought
them out so he could kill them in the mountains, wipe them right
off the face of the Earth.’ Stop your anger. Think twice about
bringing evil against your people! Think of Abraham, Isaac, and
Israel, your servants to whom you gave your word, telling them ‘I
will give you many children, as many as the stars in the sky, and
I’ll give this land to your children as their land forever.’” And God
did think twice. He decided not to do the evil he had threatened
against his people.
• Exodus 32:11-14

What did Moses do next?
• Moses approached the camp and saw
the calf and people running wild
dancing, his anger burned and he threw
the tablets out of his hands breaking
them. He then told the Levites, “GOD’s
orders are: ‘Strap on your swords and
go to work. Cross the camp from one
end to the other: Kill brother, friend,
neighbour.’” Three thousand of the
people were killed that day.
Exodus 32:19-20
Moses breaking tablets

What about Aaron?
• “Do not be angry, my lord. You know how prone these
people are to evil. They said to me, 'Make an oracle to
lead us, since we do not know what happened to
Moses, the man who took us out of Egypt.' So I told
them, ‘Who-ever has any gold jewellery, take it off.’
Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the
fire, and out came this calf!” Exodus
32: 22-24

Moses love for the people
The next day Moses said to the people, “You have
sinned a great sin. And now I will go up to the
LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your
sin.” So Moses returned to the LORD and said,
“Alas, this people has sinned a great sin. They
have made for themselves gods of gold. But now,
if you will forgive their sin—but if not, please blot
me out of your book that you have written.”
Exodus 32:32

Enoch who walked with God
• When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered
Methuselah. Enoch walked with God after he
fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons
and daughters. Thus all the days of Enoch were 365
years. Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for
God took him. Genesis 5:19-21
– Focused on personal spiritual development
– Didn’t affect the world

Noah who saved his family
• These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous
man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God. And
Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Now the earth
was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with
violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was
corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the
earth. And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an
end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through
them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make
yourself an ark of gopher wood. Genesis 6

Abraham the hospitable
• And the Lord appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat
at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. He lifted up his
eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing in
front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to
meet them and bowed himself to the earth and said, “O
Lord, if I have found favour in your sight, do not pass by your
servant.
• Then the men set out from there, and they looked down
toward Sodom. And Abraham went with them to set them on
their way. The Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am
about to do,

Abraham who challenged God
• So the men turned from there and went toward Sodom, but
Abraham still stood before the Lord. Then Abraham drew near
and said, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the
wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will
you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty
righteous who are in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing, to
put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous
fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of
all the earth do what is just?” And the Lord said, “If I find at
Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for
their sake.”

Moses who loved unconditionally
The next day Moses said to the people, “You have
sinned a great sin. And now I will go up to the
LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your
sin.” So Moses returned to the LORD and said,
“Alas, this people has sinned a great sin. They
have made for themselves gods of gold. But now,
if you will forgive their sin—but if not, please blot
me out of your book that you have written.”
Exodus 32:32

Four stages of being religious
• Enoch – “walked with God”
• Noah – no one joined him. Witnessed out of
duty
• Abraham – loved people because he wanted
to save them
• Moses – loved people as they were. Asked God
to forgive unconditionally

Getting the tablets again
• “Cut two tablets of stone
like the first and I will
write upon the tablets
the words that were in
the first tablets, which
you broke.”
Exodus 34:1
Moses receives the tablets

God of compassion and justice
The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD,
the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger,
and abounding in steadfast love and
faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands,
forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will
by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the
fathers on the children and the children's children, to
the third and the fourth generation.”
Exodus 34:6-7

How does that work?
• A world without Divine justice would be one where there is more
resentment, punishment and crime, and less public-spiritedness and
forgiveness, even among religious believers. The more we believe
that God punishes the guilty, the more forgiving we become. The
less we believe that God punishes the guilty, the more resentful and
punitive we become. This is a totally counterintuitive truth, yet one
that finally allows us to see the profound wisdom of the Torah in
helping us create a humane and compassionate society.
• Rules create boundaries. People challenge rules. Need to be
enforced – predictable consequences. Know where stand.
• Not about retribution or revenge but fairness or justice and
maintaining freedom. Enforcing boundary

Moses not happy
• God: “You led the people out of the land of
Egypt. Now get ready to lead them to the land
of I promised their ancestors Abraham. Isaac
and Jacob. I will send an angel before you but I
will not go up among you, or I would consume
you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked
people.”
Exodus 33:1-3

“Build me a tabernacle”
• “Let them make for me a
sanctuary and I will dwell among
them” (Ex. 25: 8) Why?
• ‘Tell the Israelites to bring Me an
offering. You are to receive the
offering for Me from everyone
whose heart moves them to give.’
Exodus 35:5
• Why?
– It is not what does for us that
transforms us but what we do for
God
– Recipients creators
Ark of the
Covenant

Where does God dwell?
• Solomon: “Behold the heavens and the heavens of the
heavens cannot encompass You, how much less this house?”
• Isaiah: “The heavens are My throne and the earth My foot-
stool. What house shall you build for Me, where can My resting
place be?”
• Wealth and honour come from you; you are the ruler of all
things … Who am I, and who are my people, that we should be
able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you,
and we have given you only what comes from your hand. I
Chronicles 29: 12, 14

Why build the tabernacle?
• God gave the people the chance to give something back
• Through building the tabernacle together the people learned to
work together
– Team building – 12 tribes became one people
• Moving from dependent to independent to inter-dependent
• To lead is to give people chance to contribute
• Becoming co-creators, dignity
• To exercise self-restraint and allow others to take initiative
– If the leader is good people say the leader did it. If the leader is great
people say we did it ourselves
– Moses name not mentioned in the chapter

• When a central power be it God or the State
does everything on behalf of the people they
remain in a state of arrested development.
They complain instead of taking responsibility.
Sit back instead of taking the initiative
• Solution – get people to be co-architects or co-
authors. To build something together

Where did God speak to Moses?
“The cherubim shall
spread their wings above,
over the mercy seat with
their faces one to another.
There I will meet with you,
from above the mercy
seat, from between the
two cherubim I will speak
with you.”
Exodus 25:20-24
Cherubim represent True Parents

Setting out for Canaan
On the twentieth day of the
second month of the second
year, the cloud lifted from
above the tabernacle of the
testimony. Then the Israelites
set out from the Desert of Sinai
and travelled from place to
place until the cloud came to
rest in the Desert of Paran. They
set out, this first time, at the
Lord's command through
Moses.
Numbers 10:11-13
The Israelites passing through the
wilderness preceded by the
pillar of clouds

Satan invades
Now the people complained about their hardships in the
hearing of the Lord, and when he heard them his anger was
aroused. Then fire from the Lord burned among them and
consumed some of the outskirts of the camp. When the
people cried out to Moses, he prayed to the Lord and the fire
died down.
The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the
Israelites started wailing and said, “If only we had meat to eat!
We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the
cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. But now we have
lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!”
Numbers 11:1-2, 4-6

Moses complains to God
“Why have you brought this trouble on Your servant? What have
I done to displease You that You put the burden of all these
people on me? Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them
birth? Why do You tell me to carry them in my arms, as a nurse
carries an infant, to the land You promised on oath to their
ancestors? Where can I get meat for all these people? They keep
wailing to me, ‘Give us meat to eat!’ I cannot carry all these
people by myself; the burden is too heavy for me. If this is how
You are going to treat me, please go ahead and kill me —if I have
found favour in Your eyes—and do not let me face my own ruin.”
Numbers 11:11-15

What’s the problem here?
• Leader as parent – followers as children
– Tries to do it all
• Followers remain dependent
– Don’t become responsible
• Burn out
• Build a team
– 70 elders
• Delegate and decentralise

God gives them quail
“Now the Lord will give you meat, and you will eat it.
You will not eat it for just one day, or two days, or
five, ten or twenty days, but for a whole month—
until it comes out of your nostrils and you loathe it—
because you have rejected the Lord, who is among
you, and have wailed before him, saying, ‘Why did we
ever leave Egypt?’”
Now a wind went out from the Lord and drove quail
in from the sea.
Numbers 11:18-20, 31

Remember you make a difference
• So Moses went out and told the people what the
Lord had said. He brought together seventy of their
elders and had them stand around the tent. Then the
Lord came down in the cloud and spoke with him,
and he took some of the power of the Spirit that was
on him and put it on the seventy elders. When the
Spirit rested on them, they prophesied—but did not
do so again. Num. 11: 24-25

Prophet, priest and king
• Separation of functions and powers
– For the Lord is our judge; the Lord is our law-giver; the Lord is our
king; he will save us. (Isaiah 33:22)
– Judiciary, legislature, executive
• King and Priest
– Separation of state and religion
• Innovative in ancient world where king was divine
• Separation of Priest and Prophet
– Dynastic vs. charismatic
– Robes of office vs. no uniform
– Different senses of time – routine vs. spontaneous
– Different vocabulary
• Purity, sacred vs. justice, compassion
– Religious establishment vs. social critics
– Sacred order vs. voice of God

Need all three
• Team work
• Inspiration and routine

Critical followership
• Do not hate your brother in your heart. Reprove [or reason
with] your neighbour frankly so you will not bear sin because of
him. Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone
among your people, but love your neighbour as yourself. I am
the Lord. (Lev. 19: 17-18)
– Someone harms you
– You see someone doing something wrong – Nathan
– God chooses people who will challenge him
– Uncritical followership -> corruption & disaster
• A disciple may criticise his teacher; a child may challenge a parent; a
prophet may challenge a king; and all of us, simply by bearing the name
Israel, are summoned to wrestle with God and our fellow humans in the
name of the right and the good. – Conscience first

On the edge of Canaan
Are they ready to enter Canaan?
Have they made the necessary
psychological, social, cultural and political
transformation?

What is Canaan? What is Cheong Il Guk?
• The realm of the family pledge
– Owner of CIG
– 4. Our family, pledges to . . . perfect the world of
freedom, peace, unity and happiness, by centring
on true love.
– 8. Our family, the owner of Cheon Il Guk, pledges .
. . absolute faith, absolute love and absolute
obedience, and to perfect the realm of liberation
and complete freedom in the Kingdom of God on
earth and in heaven, by centring on true love.
•

• Slavery to freedom
• Obedience to responsibility
• Life of conscience
• God is the king

How much faith do people have?
• 40 days scouting by 12
spies representing 12
tribes
Moses sends out 12 spies

How mature are they?
“We came to the land. It
flows with milk and honey,
and this is its fruit. Yet the
people who dwell in the
land are strong, and the
cities are fortified.”
Caleb said, “Let us go up at
once and occupy; for we are
well able to overcome it.”
Numbers 13:27-30

They don’t have confidence
• “We are not able to go up against the people; for they are
stronger than we.” So they brought to the people of Israel
an evil report.”
• People lamented
• “Let us choose a captain and return to Egypt.”
• Only 2 spies, Joshua and Caleb, argue against them

Moses pleads with God
God: “How long will this people despise me? I will
strike them and disinherit them, and I will make of
you a nation greater and mightier than they.”
Moses replied: “The Egyptians will hear of it.”
Moses reminded God of what he had said,
“The Lord is slow to anger, and abounding in
steadfast love, forgiving iniquity . . . Pardon the
iniquity of this people.”
Numbers 14:11-13, 18-19

40 days becomes 40 years
“According to the number of days in which you spied
out the land, forty days, for every day a year, you
shall bear your iniquity, forty years, and you shall
know my displeasure.”
Numbers 14:34
• All those over 20 years old to die in the wilderness
• Some decide to enter Canaan immediately
– Defeated

Korah’s rebellion
• Korah rose up against Moses with 250 Israelite leaders. They
said to Moses and Aaron, “You have gone too far! The whole
community is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is with
them. Why then do you set yourselves above the Lord’s
assembly?” Isn’t it enough that you have brought us up out of
a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness?
And now you also want to lord it over us! Numbers 16
– Earth swallowed them up
– Challenge of leadership as power
– Moses modelled leadership as service

• Not all of us have power, but we all have influence. That is why
we can each be leaders. The most important forms of
leadership come not with position, title or robes of office, not
with prestige and power, but with the willingness to work with
others to achieve what we cannot do alone; to speak, to listen,
to teach, to learn, to treat other people’s views with respect
even if they disagree with us, to explain patiently and cogently
why we believe what we believe and do what we do; to
encourage others, praise their best endeavours and challenge
them to do better still. Always choose influence rather than
power. It helps change people into people who can change the
world.

Starting out from Kadesh
In the first month the whole
Israelite community arrived at
the Desert of Zin, and they
stayed at Kadesh. There Miriam
died and was buried. Now there
was no water for the
congregation; and they
assembled themselves against
Moses and Aaron. The Lord said
to Moses, “Take the rod and tell
the rock before their eyes to
yield its water.”
Numbers 20:1,2,8
Moses strikes the rock

Moses makes a mistake
“Hear now, you rebels; shall we bring forth water for
you out of this rock?” And Moses lifted up his hand
and struck the rock with his rod twice; and water came
forth.
And the Lord said, “Because you did not believe in me
to sanctify me in the eyes of the people, you shall not
bring this assembly into the land I have given them.”
Numbers 20:10-12

Moses finding an inheritor
Moses said to GOD: “Let GOD, the God of the spirits of
everyone living, set a man over this community to lead
them, to show the way ahead and bring them back home
so GOD’s community will not be like sheep without a
shepherd.” So the Lord said to Moses, “Take Joshua, a man
in whom is the spirit, and lay your hand on him. Have him
stand before the priest and the entire assembly and
commission him in their presence. Give him some of your
authority so the whole Israelite community will listen to
him.”
Numbers 27:18-20

Conflict resolution
• Reuben and Gad want to settle on east bank of
the Jordan (Numbers 32)
• Two tribes putting own interests above that of
the nation as a whole
– Moses: “Should your fellow Israelites go to war
while you sit here?
• Compromise
– Reuben and Gad leave cattle but men go to fight
until land conquered

Successful negotiation
• Separate people from the problem
– Previous episode of spies
• Focus on interests not positions
– God will punish the whole people
• Invent options for mutual gain
– Leave cattle and families and men fight
• Insist on objective criteria
– R&G only return after all other tribes settled

Moses the leader as teacher
• It was on the first day of the eleventh month
of the fortieth year when Moses addressed the
People of Israel, telling them
everything GOD had commanded him
concerning them.
– Deuteronomy 1
• Scripture
– Teaching in context

Teachers create the future
• Moses knew that some of his greatest achievements
would not last forever. The people he had rescued
would one day suffer exile and persecution again. The
next time, though, they would not have a Moses to
do miracles. So he planted a vision in their minds,
hope in their hearts, a discipline in their deeds and a
strength in their souls that would never fade. When
leaders become educators they change lives.
– Jonathan Sacks

God commissions Joshua
After the death of Moses the Lord said to Joshua: “Moses my
servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to
cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to the
people of Israel. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will
never leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and courageous,
because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to
their forefathers to give them. Be careful to keep all the laws my
servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the
left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Do not let this
Book of the Torah depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and
night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it.
Then you will be prosperous and successful.”
Joshua 1:2, 5-6

The people unite with Joshua
Then they answered Joshua, “All that you have
commanded us we will do, and wherever you
send us we will go. Just as we listened to
Moses in all things, so we will listen to you.
Only may the Lord your God be with you as he
was with Moses! Only be strong and of good
courage.”
Joshua 1:16-18

Spying out Jericho
• Two spies go to Jericho
• Rahab the prostitute
hides them
• They report back:
“Truly the Lord has given all
the land into our hands; and
moreover the inhabitants of
the land are fainthearted
because of us.”
Joshua 2:24
Rahab and the spies

Setting out for Canaan
• 3 days before Jordan
• Ark crossed the river
• Took 12 stones
• Built altar
• Circumcised people
• Celebrated Passover
• Met commander of the
army of the Lord
Crossing the River Jordan
with the Ark of the Covenant

Capture of Jericho
• 40,000 soldiers
• 7 priests blowing
trumpets
• 6 times circled city
• 7th day shouted
• Walls came down
• Defeated 31 kings Circling Jericho with trumpets and Ark

“The government of the Israelites was a federation,
held together by no political authority, but by the unity
of race and faith, and founded, not on physical force,
but on a voluntary covenant. The principle of self-
government was carried out not only in each tribe,
but in every group of at least 120 families; and there
was neither privilege of rank, nor inequality before
the law. Monarchy was so alien to the primitive spirit
of the community that it was resisted by Samuel.”
The History of Freedom and Other Essays
by John Acton

The national level foundation
was established

What lessons can we learn from
Moses’ course?
• The pattern for subjugating Satan on national
level
• Outcome depends on responsibility
– Responses that are made to situations
– Need to be adaptable and flexible
• God acts on results
• Mission is inherited
• Greater the mission, the greater the test

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