Moses: Have Your House in Order

A bishop then must be...one who rules his own house well,

having his children in submission with all reverence

(for if a man does not know how to rule his own house,

how will he take care of the church of God?);

1 Timothy 3:2, 4-5, NKJV

And it came to pass on the way, at the encampment,

that the LORD met [Moses] and sought to kill him...

Exodus 4:24, NKJV

To me, this is one of the stranger stories in the Bible.  God calls Moses to go to Egypt to deliver Israel out of slavery and the affliction of Pharaoh's hand.  Moses obeys, packs up his wife and kids, and starts down the road, but when they stop to camp for the night, God shows up intending to kill Moses.  Seeking to avert the disaster, Moses' wife Zipporah grabs a sharp rock and with it circumcises their son.  Hurling the bloody skin at Moses' feet, she declares, "You are a husband of blood!"  But God was satisfied by the action and turns His wrath away.

It's a story that has often left me scratching my head in bewilderment.  What was that all about?

Four hundred and some years earlier, God made a covenant with the patriarch Abraham, Moses' great-great-great-great grandfather.  God passed through the sacrifice of animals as a smoking furnace and a burning lamp, taking the responsibilities of upholding the covenant upon Himself.  As for Abraham, God instructed him thusly:  You, your sons, your servants and their sons, and all male children born to you from this time forth and forevermore will be circumcised.  This will be a sign in your flesh of the everlasting covenant. Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he cut his own flesh, and that of his sons and servants, but God's command was for this to be done to every infant boy on the eighth day after birth.  Failure to do so would be a breach of covenant and result in permanent separation from God.

Undoubtedly, Moses himself was circumcised on the eighth day by his father Amram.  As a descendant of Abraham, surely Jethro knew about and practiced the ritual circumcision.  It is possible that the Midianites were influenced by their kinsmen the Ishmaelites to circumcise at age thirteen--the age of Ishmael when he was cut into the covenant.  Or perhaps Zipporah had resisted the bloody ordinance.  Or maybe Moses had grown lax in his aged exile, or had not fully understood the implications of breaking the aged covenant of his people with their God.  Regardless of the reason, Moses had failed in his fatherly duties by leaving his son uncircumcised and therefore separated from that special covenant relationship with God.  When God shows up, Zipporah had to remedy the situation on her own, and it apparently made her mad to do so.  This also seems to be when Moses decided the trip was too much to take with his family and he sent them back to Jethro's tent while he continued on his way.  They would be reunited later, but for now this was to be a solitary journey.

So what's the point?

I think we find it illustrated throughout Scripture, but so plainly stated by the Apostle Paul in his instructions to Timothy regarding church leadership.  If a man wants to lead in the church, he must first have his own household in order.  Paul has a lot to say about a husband's love for his wife, a wife's submission to her husband, and children's obedience to their parents.  A man whose children are unruly and disrespectful, who won't correct them and teach them to do right, whose family life is in disarray, disqualifies himself from being able to lead others anywhere.

Moses was a great man of God, a great leader of God's people, a great prophet unequaled in Israel until Jesus came.  But at the beginning of his service to the Lord, there were some things that needed to be set in order.  He needed to obey the covenant instituted by God with his fathers, his people, and himself.  Circumcising his sons would have been an absolute necessity.  It's interesting to note that in spite of this little demonstration, during the forty years in the wilderness none of the boys born to the Children of Israel were circumcised.  It was something Joshua had to do en masse after they crossed the Jordan into Canaan.  Additionally, Moses' grandson Jonathan was partially responsible for Israel's initial idolatry during the time of the judges.  However great and good Moses was, it didn't transfer into everything he put his hand to, including his descendants.

But in this failure, Moses is not alone.

Adam and Eve raised Cain, the world's first murderer and an ungodly man.

Seth and Enos called on the name of the Lord, and Enoch walked with God, yet these righteous men were the progenitors of the people who perished in the flood.

Noah raised three sons, but Ham was a disrespectful fool who brought a curse upon his own descendants.

Lot was a just man vexed by the sins of Sodom, but his daughters were wretched heathens with no sense of decency or morality.

Isaac was the son of promise, but neither of his sons were saints.

Jacob wrestled with the Lord and prevailed, but raised a houseful of heathens who thought nothing of lying, stealing, fornicating, and murder.

Aaron, Moses' brother and the first High Priest of Israel, had four sons called into the priesthood with him, but two were struck dead for drunken revelry in the presence of the Lord.

Eli the Priest mentored Samuel into ministry, but failed with his own sons.

Samuel discipled two kings, but his own sons did not walk in his ways.

David was a man after God's own heart, but not one of his storied sons had the same relationship with the Lord.

Mary the mother of the Lord raised four other sons who did not believe...until after the Resurrection.

God used each of these people in spite of their wayward children, but that does not diminish the importance of ruling your own household well.  It doesn't negate the necessity of raising your children in the training and admonition of the Lord.  It doesn't allow us to abdicate our God-given responsibilities to teach our children right.  And even when parents do everything right, that magnum opus of ours still has a mind of his own, and oft times they will choose to do wrong when doing right would be best for them!  

Having your house in order is a must for the servant of God.  A slothful personal life, a lack of commitment to one's responsibilities, a failure to lead and shepherd one's family well...these will destroy a ministry.  A slack hand in raising and a refusal to discipline one's children will destroy a legacy.  And a child left to himself will bring shame upon his parents with his unchecked behavior.

So let the man and woman of God do their best with what has been entrusted to their care, tending to their family first, and after that the ministry.  If we are faithful and do our best, God will be faithful and do the rest.