Time to Talk
Life in the wilderness is tough. The mood of the community reflects the topography of the environment. They have crashed into a brick wall, the project has failed and the world is collapsing round their ears. The leaders are divided, the troops in chaos. Unable to survive where they are it is time to move on but somebody has to get a grip on the situation. Time to talk. Leaders with the people, people and leaders with one another and everybody with God. Time also to count the costs.
Mutual recognition of what went wrong, and why, would be helpful provided it could be done without harking to the past, raking over the ashes or attributing blame. Some humility and acceptance of responsibility on all sides would be a positive move. More difficult might be the rebuilding of relationships. Crises like the one they have just gone through will have divided tribe from tribe, with further strife within tribes, and almost certainly tensions within families and friends, among winners and losers alike. Even a minor fracas can leave deep wounds that take time to heal.
Two positive steps were taken. One, to regain the confidence of the people the leadership had to be clearly defined. The budding of Aaron’s rod (vv 1-11) may seem a strange way of doing it to us but it worked for them. More important was the involvement of leaders from all the tribes. Leadership can never be claimed or assumed. It has to be gained and recognised. At this stage, the position of Moses seems not to be an issue and Aaron is now established as his number two.
Two, the role of the Levites who had always enjoyed something of a different, not to say privileged, position, needed clarification. Their authority was confined to the sanctuary as assistants to the priests, primarily responsible for the protection of the people from wrath. Nobody wanted the past few weeks all over again.
A solution maybe, but only till next time. How long that would be is anybody’s guess. What do you think? Hopefully important principles had been established from which lessons might be learned when similar situations cropped up in future.