"And the Master said, Simon, Simon,
behold! Satan asked for you, to sift you as wheat;
but I entreated concerning you, that your faith might not fail. And when
you have turned back, confirm your brothers.
And he said to Him, Master, I am ready to go both to prison and to death
with You.
And He said, Peter, I say to you, A cock will not crow today before you
will deny knowing Me three times." Luke 22:31-34
In this passage, Peter's intentions were good, but he did not know how weak he was at this time. Later he would become a true pillar in the Apostolic Assembly. Peter became a leader because he was able to overcome his weaknesses. If the called and chosen of Almighty Yahweh are to become a nation of priests and kings, they must learn to lead by example. The Savior Yahshua paved the way by giving us an exemplary example to follow.
"For you were called to this, for even
Messiah suffered on our behalf,
leaving behind an example for us, that you
should follow His steps;
"who did not sin, nor was guile found in His mouth;" [Isaiah. 53:9]
who, having been reviled, did not revile in return; suffering, He did not
threaten, but gave Himself up to Him who was judging righteously;
who "Himself carried up in His body our sins" onto the tree; that dying to
sins, we might live to righteousness, of whom "by His wounds you were healed."
For you were "as sheep going astray," but now you turned back to the
Shepherd and Overseer of your souls." [Isaiah. 53:4-6] 1Peter 2:21-25
So many times in our own lifetime, we have come across individuals who actually believe they do not need any leadership training. Is this true? What about some scriptural examples? Say, Moses for instance? Was Moses an ignorant individual who just got "the calling" in Exodus chapter 3? Until then perhaps you imagine that he was just bouncing around the Sinai Peninsula herding his Father-in-laws sheep? Perhaps this is what you want to believe, but; the Bible teaches otherwise.
"Now as the time of the promise was
drawing near, [about] which Elohim made an oath to Abraham, the people increased
and were multiplied in Egypt,
until which [time] 'a different king arose, who had not known Joseph.'
[Exodus 1:8]
"This [king] having cunningly taken advantage of our race, oppressed our
fathers to be making their infants exposed, for [them] not to be staying alive,
in which time Moses was born, and he was beautiful to Elohim, who was
brought up three months in the house of his father.
But being placed outside, the daughter of Pharaoh took him up and brought
him up as a son for herself.
And Moses was
educated in all [the] wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in words and
deeds." Acts 7:17-22
Moses was educated in Egypt for an eventual leadership position.
One of the failures of good leadership is the lack of training.
"One of the biggest reasons for failure on the
battlefield is not knowing what to do next... This is
the result of not having been trained thoroughly in
what to expect on the battlefield."
General Orlando Ward
A leader is one who
knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way. —John Maxwell
Josephus relates:
"...he came upon the Ethiopians before they expected him; and, joining battle
with them, he beat them, and deprived them of the hopes they had of success
against the Egyptians, and went on in overthrowing their cities, and indeed made
a great slaughter of these Ethiopians...the Ethiopians were in danger of being
reduced to slavery, and all sorts of destruction; and at length they retired to
SABA, which was a royal city of Ethiopia, which Cambyses afterward named MEROE,
after the name of his own sister. The place was to be besieged with very great
difficulty, since it was both encompassed by the Nile quite round, and the other
rivers..." (Ant., II, X, 2).
Antiquities Of The
Jews
By Flavius Josephus
BOOK 2 CHAPTER 10
HOW MOSES MADE WAR WITH THE ETHIOPIANS.
1. MOSES, therefore, when he was born, and brought up in the foregoing manner,
and came to the age of maturity, made his virtue manifest to the Egyptians; and
showed that he was born for the bringing them down, and raising the Israelites.
And the occasion he laid hold of was this: - The Ethiopians, who are next
neighbors to the Egyptians, made an inroad into their country, which they seized
upon, and carried off the effects of the Egyptians, who, in their rage, fought
against them, and revenged the affronts they had received from them; but being
overcome in battle, some of them were slain, and the rest ran away in a shameful
manner, and by that means saved themselves; whereupon the Ethiopians followed
after them in the pursuit, and thinking that it would be a mark of cowardice if
they did not subdue all Egypt, they went on to subdue the rest with greater
vehemence; and when they had tasted the sweets of the country, they never left
off the prosecution of the war: and as the nearest parts had not courage enough
at first to fight with them, they proceeded as far as Memphis, and the sea
itself, while not one of the cities was able to oppose them. The Egyptians,
under this sad oppression, betook themselves to their oracles and prophecies;
and when G-d had given them this counsel, to make use of Moses the Hebrew, and
take his assistance, the king commanded his daughter to produce him, that he
might be the general (22) of their army. Upon which, when she had made him swear
he would do him no harm, she delivered him to the king, and supposed his
assistance would be of great advantage to them. She withal reproached the
priest, who, when they had before admonished the Egyptians to kill him, was not
ashamed now to own their want of his help.
2. So Moses, at the persuasion both of Thermuthis and the king himself,
cheerfully undertook the business: and the sacred scribes of both nations were
glad; those of the Egyptians, that they should at once overcome their enemies by
his valor, and that by the same piece of management Moses would be slain; but
those of the Hebrews, that they should escape from the Egyptians, because Moses
was to be their general. But Moses prevented the enemies, and took and led his
army before those enemies were apprized of his attacking them; for he did not
march by the river, but by land, where he gave a wonderful demonstration of his
sagacity; for when the ground was difficult to be passed over, because of the
multitude of serpents, (which it produces in vast numbers, and, indeed, is
singular in some of those productions, which other countries do not breed, and
yet such as are worse than others in power and mischief, and an unusual
fierceness of sight, some of which ascend out of the ground unseen, and also fly
in the air, and so come upon men at unawares, and do them a mischief,) Moses
invented a wonderful stratagem to preserve the army safe, and without hurt; for
he made baskets, like unto arks, of sedge, and filled them with ibes, (23) and
carried them along with them; which animal is the greatest enemy to serpents
imaginable, for they fly from them when they come near them; and as they fly
they are caught and devoured by them, as if it were done by the harts; but the
ibes are tame creatures, and only enemies to the serpentine kind: but about
these ibes I say no more at present, since the Greeks themselves are not
unacquainted with this sort of bird. As soon, therefore, as Moses was come to
the land which was the breeder of these serpents, he let loose the ibes, and by
their means repelled the serpentine kind, and used them for his assistants
before the army came upon that ground. When he had therefore proceeded thus on
his journey, he came upon the Ethiopians before they expected him; and, joining
battle with them, he beat them, and deprived them of the hopes they had of
success against the Egyptians, and went on in overthrowing their cities, and
indeed made a great slaughter of these Ethiopians. Now when the Egyptian army
had once tasted of this prosperous success, by the means of Moses, they did not
slacken their diligence, insomuch that the Ethiopians were in danger of being
reduced to slavery, and all sorts of destruction; and at length they retired to
Saba, which was a royal city of Ethiopia, which Cambyses afterwards named Mero,
after the name of his own sister. The place was to be besieged with very great
difficulty, since it was both encompassed by the Nile quite round, and the other
rivers, Astapus and Astaboras, made it a very difficult thing for such as
attempted to pass over them; for the city was situate in a retired place, and
was inhabited after the manner of an island, being encompassed with a strong
wall, and having the rivers to guard them from their enemies, and having great
ramparts between the wall and the rivers, insomuch, that when the waters come
with the greatest violence, it can never be drowned; which ramparts make it next
to impossible for even such as are gotten over the rivers to take the city.
However, while Moses was uneasy at the army's lying idle, (for the enemies durst
not come to a battle,) this accident happened: - Tharbis was the daughter of the
king of the Ethiopians: she happened to see Moses as he led the army near the
walls, and fought with great courage; and admiring the subtility of his
undertakings, and believing him to be the author of the Egyptians' success, when
they had before despaired of recovering their liberty, and to be the occasion of
the great danger the Ethiopians were in, when they had before boasted of their
great achievements, she fell deeply in love with him; and upon the prevalency of
that passion, sent to him the most faithful of all her servants to discourse
with him about their marriage. He thereupon accepted the offer, on condition she
would procure the delivering up of the city; and gave her the assurance of an
oath to take her to his wife; and that when he had once taken possession of the
city, he would not break his oath to her. No sooner was the agreement made, but
it took effect immediately; and when Moses had cut off the Ethiopians, he gave
thanks to G-d, and consummated his marriage, and led the Egyptians back to their
own land.
ENDNOTES
(22) This history of Moses, as general of the Egyptians against the Ethiopians,
is wholly omitted in our Bibles; but is thus by Irenaeus, from Josephus, and
that soon after his own age: - "Josephus says, that when Moses was nourished in
the palace, he was appointed general of the army against the Ethiopians, and
conquered them, when he married that king's daughter; because, out of her
affection for him, she delivered the city up to him." See the Fragments of
Irenaeus. ap. edit. Grab. p. 472. Nor perhaps did St. Stephen refer to any thing
else when he said of Moses, before he was sent by Yahweh to the Israelites, that
he was not only learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, but was also mighty
in words and in deeds, Act_7:22.
(23) Pliny speaks of these birds called ibes; and says, "The Egyptians invoked
them against the serpents," Hist. Nat. B. X. ch. 28. Strabo speaks of this
island Meroe, and these rivers Astapus and Astaboras, B. XVI. p. 771, 786; and B
XVII. p. 82].
The aforementioned information by Josephus has been cause for examination and argument in scholarly circles for some time. Some have contended that Moses never really consummated the marriage to the Ethiopian Princess. Scholars do not usually disagree where Moses military prowess is concerned. He was a great military leader in Egypt. The Elders (Pliny, Origen, et. al.) say that he was also educated into the Priesthood at Heliopolis and On. This would be credible because of the contest (so to speak) between the Magicians of Egypt (Jannes and Jambres) and Yahweh's representatives, Moses and Aaron.
JANNES AND JAMBRES
By : Kaufmann Kohler
Names of two legendary wizards of Pharaoh "who withstood Moses" (II Tim. iii. 8)
by imitating "with their enchantments" the works of Moses and Aaron, though they
were defeated (Ex. vii. 11, viii. 7). According to rabbinical tradition they
were the two chiefs of the magicians at the court of Pharaoh who foretold the
birth of Moses, "the destroyer of the land of Egypt," thereby causing the cruel
edicts of Pharaoh (Soṭah 11a; Sanh. 106a). They said to Moses when he performed
his miracles with the water and the rod: "Dost thou wish to introduce magic into
Egypt, the native land of the magic art?" (Men. 85a). According to Midrash
Yelammedenu, Ki Tissa (Ex. xxxii.), they were among "the mixed multitude that
went up with Israel from Egypt" (Ex. xii. 38) and aided in the making of the
golden calf. They were the "two youths" (A. and R. V. "servants") that
accompanied Balaam on his travels when commissioned to curse Israel (Targ. i. to
Num. xxii. 22). They flew up into the air before the sword of Phinehas and made
themselves invisible, until, by the power of the Ineffable Name, they were
caught and slain (Zohar, Balaḳ, 194; comp. Targ. Yer. to Num. xxxi. 8).Numenius
the Pythagorean, quoted by Eusebius ("Præparatio Evangelica," ix. 8), relates
after Artapanus (see Freudenthal, "Alexander Polyhistor," 1875, p. 173) that "Jannes
and Jambres, the most powerful Egyptian magicians, dispersed the plagues which
Moses (Musæus) had brought upon Egypt." In the third century the tomb of Jannes
and Jambres was shown in Egypt; Chr--tian saints knew it as a place where the
evil demons could be consulted for magic purposes (see the story of Macarius in
Palladius, "Historia Lausiaca"; Fabricius, "Codex Pseudepigraphus Vet. Test." i.
181, ii. 106-111). Jannes and Jambres are the subjects of many legendary tales,
one of which is presented in a Greek work entitled "Pœnitentia Jannis et Mambre,"
counted among the Apocrypha in Pope Gelasius' "Decretum," and referred to by
Origen (to Matt. xxvii. 9). These legends seem to have been known also to such
pagan writers as Pliny and Apuleius; Pliny ("Historia Naturalis," xxxi. 11)
mentions Moses, Jannes, and Jotape (Rotape?) among the Jewish magicians, and
Apuleius ("Apologia," xc.) mentions Moses and Jannes among the world's great
magicians.Regarding the names, various etymologies have been proposed. Ewald ("Gesch."
i., pt. ii. 128), Lauth ("Moses der Hebräer," p. 77), and Freudenthal (l.c.)
believe them to have been derived from the Egyptian; Steiner (Schenkel, "Bibel-Lexicon")
attempts to find for them a Hebrew origin; Geiger ("Urschrift," p. 474)
considers the sons of Jambri as Amorites (comp. I Macc. ix. 36; see Kohut, "Aruch
Completum"). Jastrow ("Dict.") and Levy ("Neuhebr. Wörterb.") each offer equally
untenable explanations. The fact that a demon belonging to the class of Lilith,
or a sorceress named Yoḥane bat Reṭibi (), was greatly dreaded in Talmudical
times (Soṭah 22a), and that Abraham's concubine Keturah (believed to have been
familiar with magic) was also known as "Yoḥane" (Zeb. 62b; but see Bacher, "Ag.
Tan." i. 357; 2d ed., p. 350), seems to throw some light upon the names "Jannes"
and "Jotape" in Pliny; while the name "Mambre" appears to be correctly
identified with (= "the rebel"; Levy, l.c.).Bibliography: Schürer, Gesch. iii.
292 et seq., where all the literature to date is given; to this may now be added
Israel Abrahams, in Cheyne, Encyc. Bibl.K.
I cannot subscribe to all of the information in Mr. Kohler's article, but the historical aspect is tangible. When you research the background of someone the caliber of Moses, you are inundated with information and opinions. Some of the information can be relied on as absolute, while the opinions can be called into question. What I am trying to show in this article is this; leadership requires some form of education and training. Another great example of this can be found in:
"And observing the confidence of Peter and John, and having perceived that
they are uneducated and untrained men, they began marveling, and they were
recognizing them that they were with Yahshua.
Then seeing the man having stood with them, the one having been healed,
they had nothing to say against [them].
But having commanded them to go away outside of the High Council [or,
Sanhedrin, and throughout book], they began conferring with one another,
saying, "What will we do to these men? For indeed, that a recognizable
sign has taken place through them [is] evident to all the ones living in
Jerusalem, and we are not able to deny [it]." Acts 4:13-16
Yahshua called His Apostles, He trained them, and then He sent them forth on a mission. The Apostles and the chosen Elders of Yahshua's time were educated into Yahshua's way of thinking and doing. Another good example of an individual receiving the necessary training, was Paul, the replacement Apostle. [He was chosen by Yahshua to replace Judas Iscariot.]
"But I make known to you*, brothers [and sisters], the
Evangel, the one having been proclaimed by me, that it is not according to
humanity [or, human [standards]].
For neither did _I_ receive it from humanity [or, human [origins], nor was
I taught [it], _but_ [I received it] through a revelation of Yahshua the
Messiah.
For you heard of my former conduct in Judaism, that I was excessively
persecuting the Assembly of Yahweh and trying to destroy it.
And I was advancing in Judaism above many contemporaries [or, beyond many
of my own age] among my race, being far more a zealot for the handed down
teachings [or, traditions] of my forefathers.
But when Yahweh, the One having separated [or, appointed] me from [the]
womb of my mother and having called [me] by His grace, was well pleased
to reveal His Son in me, so that I should be proclaiming the Evangel [of]
Him among the nations, I did not immediately confer with [or, ask advice from]
flesh and blood [fig., any human being];
nor did I go up to Jerusalem to the [ones who were] apostles before me,
_but_ I went away to Arabia and returned again to Damascus.
Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit with Peter and
stayed with him fifteen days." Galatians 1:11-18
Paul was educated in Judaism above and beyond his peers. He was chosen and converted by Yahshua the Messiah personally. He had to be re-trained into Yahshua's way of teaching the Biblical truths He had taught the other Apostles.
More on this subject later.
"Leadership is the capacity and will to rally men and women to a common purpose and the character which inspires confidence."
Bernard Montgomery
British Field Marshal
Yours in Yahshua, Hawke
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