Mosess Flaws

Despite being appointed as God’s chosen liberator of the Israelites, Moses is a person incapable of effectively leading his people. Moses’s lack of charisma, confidence, and determination are his greatest flaws as a leader which are demonstrated when he initially fails to stop his fellow Hebrews from fighting. His critical flaws as a leader initiates a chain of failures that will befall the Israelites during their journey and their eventual punishment of never reaching the Promised Land. One of Moses’s greatest shortcomings as a leader is his lack of charisma. He is unable to make the people naturally follow him and his words. An example is his first attempt of establishing authority on his fellow Hebrews. They do not listen to Moses and bitingly

His lack of confidence not only adds more to his incompetence as a leader, but also hinders him from gaining the faith of his people. His lack of self-confidence initially can be seen when God appoints him as the liberator of the Israelites from the Egyptians. During the conversation between Moses and God, Moses is reluctant to become the leader of the Israelites as he says, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt?” (Exodus 3:11). This statement expresses Moses’s doubts towards his ability to lead his people. He exhibits hesitation towards God, believing that he is a nobody and that he does not deserve to lead. Not only this statement highlights his lack of self-confidence, it also emphasizes his normality as an individual. Furthermore, Moses harbors the thought that his brother Aaron is more of a leader than he is. This portrays that his lack of confidence stems from his belief that Aaron deserves to be the leader of the Israelites instead of him. Moses claims, “O my Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor even now that you have spoken to your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” (Exodus 4:10) this portrays Moses’s desire to pass the responsibility of being the leader to his brother Aaron as he considers himself lesser in capabilities than Aaron. This makes God decide to make Aaron as Moses’s mediator to the

His reluctance to lead and his weak determination to fulfill his role as the guide of the Israelites to the Promised Land make him unworthy leader. He does not have a resolution of his own and he greatly relies on God for instructions. This in itself can be an indicator of Moses’s bad leadership because without God’s guidance, Moses is unable to properly lead his people. Moses relies greatly on God’s words, feeling lost without them. There are many instances throughout Moses’s journey towards the Promised Land where he asks God for instructions on how to lead his people. One such instance is when he is nearly stoned by the Israelites when they are on the verge of death because of thirst. Moses cries to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” (Exodus 17: 4) This reveals that Moses cannot control his people and he does not have confidence in himself to supervise them either. He overly relies on God to solve every problem he encounters, not believing himself to be able to solve them. His lack of drive and overdependence on God causes problems to arise again and again. The Israelites’ disobedience of God’s commands and their constant complaints about their conditions in their wilderness are such examples of Moses’s incompetence when it comes to exerting control over the Israelites. Although Moses is the one that leads them out of Egypt, he does not gain the hearts of the