Numbers 27:18 And the LORD said unto Moses, Take thee Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay thine hand upon him
If you are reading the book of Numbers as I am, you read of Joshua, the son of Nun, the man who followed Moses. Who was Joshua? When you think of Joshua, what name springs to mind as to who he was or what he did? For instance, if you have a title for Joshua, would you call him Mr. Joshua, Dr. Joshua? What would you call him? Well, he was a general. We often think of General Joshua. If you think about the entirety of his life, you might remember him in his early days as Joshua the spy. If you go to Joshua 1:1 the Bible says that Joshua was Moses’ minister. He was Joshua the servant. So, was Joshua a general, a spy, or a servant? Yes, he was all this and much more. Numbers 27:18 says that Moses was to take “Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay thine hand upon him.” In short, Moses was to transfer his responsibilities and authority to Joshua.
There is a very important thing to remember when thinking about who is in charge. We must remember that authority belongs to God. Moses was an authority, but the authority didn’t belong to him; he simply stewarded it. Joshua then gained this authority that Moses stewarded and it became something that Joshua stewarded. Neither of these men owned authority because authority belongs to God.
We get authority by yielding to it. Speaking of Moses, verse 14 says, “For ye rebelled against my commandment in the desert of Zin, in the strife of the congregation, to sanctify me at the water before their eyes.” God is simply talking about how in a particular instance God had given instruction to Moses and Moses was overcome by his own emotion and acted on his own authority instead of the authority of God. Therefore, he really had no authority. He did not separate or show God Jehovah as special or holy before the people of Israel. So, you have God, who is the real source of authority, and you have Moses. Then, you have Joshua and others after that.
Look, we get authority by yielding to it. That means you don’t need to know what God knows; you need to know what God wants. If you knew everything God knows, would you ever make a mistake again? The answer is probably yes because you don’t need to know what God knows, you need to know what God wants. I may not know what God knows, but I can always know what God wants for me if I just follow God’s leading one step at a time. If I obey what God wants, my decisions will be based on something I cannot see, but God can see, all that God Himself knows. What power I have for my life when instead of asking what it is that God knows, I ask what is it that God wants. I act in obedience, confident that if I am doing what God wants, I am doing something in light of what God knows.
You see, God’s authority is timeless. It is across time and across human authorities. In verse 16 Moses spoke to the Lord, “Let the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation.” So, Moses came and went, but God remained. Later, Joshua came and went, but God remained. When Joshua was installed as leader he was called “a man in whom is the spirit.” Well, God is that spirit and God endures and transcends our problems and our authority structures. God transcends all. God is the authority, so we get authority by yielding to it because God is timeless across all human authorities.
Ultimately, the authority that we get is not something with which we have personal power. It is more of a personal responsibility. It is called a charge. For instance, in verse 19 it says that they sent Joshua “before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation” to give him a charge. What is a charge? It is a responsibility. We have responsibility to honor the authorities that actually answer to us. I don’t need to undermine the authority of someone that answers to me because when I undermine that authority, I undermine my own.
Verse 20 says that Moses was to put some of his own honor upon Joshua “that all the congregation of the children of Israel may be obedient.” So, Moses, who was in charge and had the main responsibility for this nation humanly speaking, was to honor Joshua in the sight of the people so that Israel might be obedient. A charge is simply a channel, a way that God’s authority is used to guide those of us who are His people.
For instance, in verse 21, Joshua was to stand before Eleazar the priest “who shall ask counsel for him after the judgment of Urim before the LORD: at his word they shall go out, and at his word they shall go in.” It wasn’t just Joshua making up answers as to what he thought they should do. He was to find from God that which he was to transfer to the children of Israel.
In verse 23 Moses “laid his hands upon him, and gave him a charge, as the LORD commanded by the hand of Moses.” So, it is God’s command and Moses’ word that transferred that to another person. I don’t know where you are in the chain of command today, but authority belongs to God. We get more of it by yielding to it. God is timeless. Our responsibility is something that is a charge. We are to honor the authorities below us and we are to channel the authority and guidance that God gives to us for the benefit of others.