Religion: The Opposition Of The Children Of Israel

In Exodus 17: 9-16, The first opposition of the children of Israel, while wandering in the desert was from the Amalekites, a group of nomadic raiders, as they attacked the children of Israel. Moses had Joshua led the troops into battle, Moses, along with Aaron and Hur, watched the battle from a nearby hill. Exodus 17:11, "So it came about when Moses held his hand up, the warfare position with his staff, we see that Israel prevailed, and when he let his hand down, Amalek prevailed." Eventually, Moses became tired, Aaron and Hur responded by holding up his arms in the warfare position. There was one on each side of Moses. By doing this, the Israelites were able to finally defeat the Amalekites. Moses' leadership is on display here as he is willing to accept the assistance of others.

Oftentimes prophetic leaders like Moses find it downright difficult to trust others. We have our insecurities and doubts that we feel will compromise our integrity as leaders if we allow people to do certain things. We all have these tendencies, in our cultural ethic of self-reliance, loneliness and isolation that will ultimately handicap our effectiveness especially in prophetic ministry. To truly grow as prophets, we must, like Moses, be willing to embrace the support of trusted friends and advisers. Let us all take self-inventory.

Prophetic Leaders should consider good advice or help regardless of who offers it. Did you know that Jethro was not part of Moses’ inner circus? He was not even among the people of Israel freed from slavery in Egypt, this man was a foreigner from another country. He clearly seemed to have a prophetic nature. Leaders should learn to embrace ideas and help from all legitimate sources, including sources outside their inner circles. Good advice often comes from those perceived to be outsiders many times they have a non-biased