Gospel Order, Pt. 2

"The Church in the Wilderness"

The organization of "the church in the wilderness," the people of Israel under the exodus movement, provided for the distribution of responsibility, the sharing of burdens, and the unity of the whole. Individuals were associated together in the small group, the small groups were joined in larger, these into still larger associations, and the larger organizations were united in the general. Before the people of Israel came to Sinai, Jethro, priest of Midian, visited their camp and saw the burdens pressing upon Moses. He said to Moses: —

"Hearken now unto my voice, I will give thee counsel, and God shall be with thee. . . . Provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. And let them judge the people at all seasons: and it shall be that every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge: so shall it be easier for thyself, and they shall bear the burden with thee." Ex. 18:19-22.

The spirit that was in Moses, of wisdom and judgment and good sense, led him to accept plans that provided for organization of the work. As stated in "Patriarchs and Prophets:"—

The Lord had greatly honored Moses, and had wrought wonders by his hand; but the fact that he had been chosen to instruct others did not lead him to conclude that he himself needed no instruction. The chosen leader of Israel listened gladly to the suggestions of the godly priest of Midian, and adopted his plan as a wise arrangement.— Page 301.

At Sinai, under the Lord's direct instruction through his prophet, the organization was further perfected. As the work developed, showing need of additional features of organization, the Lord gave instruction that additional helpers should be chosen to discharge the duties of oversight that necessarily come wherever multitudes are associated in a common work. After departing from Sinai, Moses found the burdens too heavy, and begged for release. Then the Lord said: —

"Gather unto me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them unto the tabernacle of the congregation, that they may stand there with thee. And I will come down and talk with thee there: and I will take of the spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it not thyself alone." Num. 11: 16, 17.

Wherever the Lord has called men to a sacred work, he has given them the spirit to organize their forces for the greatest efficiency and harmony of effort. Of these features in Israel the following paragraph gives the briefest summary : —

The government of Israel was characterized by the most thorough organization, wonderful alike for its completeness and its simplicity. The order so strikingly displayed in the perfection and arrangement of all God's created works was manifest in the Hebrew economy. God was the center of authority and government, the sovereign of Israel. Moses stood as their visible leader, by God's appointment, to administer the laws in his name. From the elders of the tribes a council of seventy was afterward chosen to assist Moses in the general affairs of the nation. Next came the priests, who consulted the Lord in the sanctuary. Chiefs, or princes, ruled over the tribes. Under these were "captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, and captains over fifties, and captains over tens;" and, lastly, officers who might be employed for special duties.—"Patriarchs and Prophets," page 374.

This is a divinely set object-lesson of the importance of the orderly arrangement of the affairs of the cause of God in these last days: —

The travels of the children of Israel are faithfully described; the deliverance which the Lord wrought for them, their perfect organization and special order, their sin in murmuring against Moses and thus against God, their transgressions, their rebellions, their punishments, their carcasses strewn in the wilderness because of their unwillingness to submit to God's wise arrangements,— this faithful picture is hung up before us as a warning lest we follow their example of disobedience, and fall like them. . . .

"Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples; and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall." Has God changed from a God of order ? — No; he is the same in the present dispensation as in the former. Paul says, "God is not the author of confusion, but of peace." He is as particular now as then. And he designs that we should learn lessons of order and organization from the perfect order instituted in the days of Moses, for the benefit of the children of Israel.—"Testimonies for the Church," Vol. I, pages 652, 653.

Often in Israel men rose in rebellion against the manner in which the Lord led his people forward. The disaffection led by Korah, Dathan, and Abiram illustrates the basis on which elements of opposition, seeking supremacy to carry out their own ideas, have often made complaints against order. Those chosen to the responsibility of leading, whether in local or general organizations, hold no position as a matter of lordship over others, but rather as servants of all, under the Lord. It is the Lord's arrangement for maintaining the orderly conduct of his work.

Though Moses and Aaron had assumed nothing of themselves, the cry was raised by Korah, Dathan, and Abiram that they were usurping authority. The charge was, "Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the Lord?" Num. 16: 3. They preached an individualism and independence that ignored the divine principles of fellowship and mutual relationships in the church of God. Every discordant element in the camp was organized under the leadership of these men to strike at the divinely approved organization which stood in the way of their efforts to secure control of the movement and divert it from God's purpose. If these men could not have their own way, they were determined to wreck the movement. The Lord vindicated his truth and his servants, and saved his people, though many perished in apostasy.

W. A. Spicer

(Review and Herald, April 1, 1909)