Learn to Lead Exodus 18:13-27

The story found in Exodus 18:13-27, tells one of the first times a formal system of leadership is found in the Bible.

Moses’ daily job in the Israelite camp was listen to and resolve the issues and problems of the Israelite congregation. When Jethro, his father-in-law, came for a visit, he witnessed the confusion Moses had with the masses of people and he offered a way to organize the congregation.

Jethro advised Moses to divide the issues and problems according to how bad they were. He was to train other men to serve as leaders (or judges) at the different levels. The issues were divided among the judges according to their severity, and as the issues become more complicated, they moved to a higher level. There were fewer judges for the more complicated problems because the judges at the lower levels were expected to take care of things before they got too bad.

Now, Moses only had to listen to
*the most severe cases
*the cases that caused the most problems
*the cases that could not be resolved at a lower level.

This provides an example of organizational structure and design, as well as organization function and leadership. A distribution of problems and issues as well as a division of labor to solve problems, resulted in orderly service to everyone.