This paper examines the story of Moses and Jethro in Exodus 18 as a foundational model for legal delegation and organizational governance. It traces how Jethro's advice to Moses — to delegate judicial authority across tiers of capable leaders — mirrors the hierarchical structure of the modern American court system, from local courts up to the Supreme Court. The paper further argues that the original Mosaic model reflects a "rule of law" philosophy, and uses this framework to critique contemporary judicial activism, which the author contends undermines constitutional fidelity in favor of judicial self-empowerment.
As Moses led the children of Israel across the desert toward the Promised Land, he had earned the position of leader and head lawgiver for an entire nation. Moses had stood before Pharaoh and, with God's help, delivered millions of people from slavery into freedom. Now, as they departed Sinai carrying a set of commandments along with traditions and customs handed down from God himself, the children of Israel faced a long and difficult transformation. They had to build a new collective identity. The Israelites needed to develop a sense of self-governance after spending four hundred years in Egypt as slaves, during which their every move had been dictated for them.
The transformation required an entirely new mindset, and the process would not be easy (Lewin, 1951). Rather than looking to an authority figure to direct their actions, choices, and personal purpose, they were now saddled with the task of developing those identities and an organizational culture all their own. The process was bound to create turmoil, and as their leader, Moses faced one of the most subtle yet powerful personal transitions of his career — one that would shape the next forty years of his leadership.
Moses the lawgiver, judge, and leader had to become Moses the delegator, administrator, and leader. Sometimes when God appears to his people, he does so from a fiery mountain. Sometimes he comes in the power of plagues. Yet at other times, God deals with his people through wise counsel and guidance from a trusted friend. In the case of Moses and Israel's cultural transformation, God chose to use the latter method. The story is recorded in the book of Exodus. Moses had finished giving the law to the people and was engaged in training them to follow it, while still maintaining his position as spiritual leader of the nation. As disputes arose, Moses chose to serve as the sole arbiter for every civil, religious, and legal matter.
Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, heard of the nation's exodus from Egypt and came to celebrate with Moses. On the morning he planned to leave, Jethro stood back and watched his son-in-law mediate the needs of the people. The biblical account describes the scene:
"And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses sat to judge the people: and the people stood by Moses from the morning unto the evening. And when Moses' father in law saw all that he did to the people, he said, What is this thing that thou doest to the people? why sittest thou thyself alone, and all the people stand by thee from morning unto even? And Moses said unto his father in law, Because the people come unto me to inquire of God: When they have a matter, they come unto me; and I judge between one and another, and I do make them know the statutes of God, and his laws. And Moses' father in law said unto him, The thing that thou doest is not good. Thou wilt surely wear away, both thou, and this people that is with thee: for this thing is too heavy for thee; thou art not able to perform it thyself alone. Hearken now unto my voice, I will give thee counsel, and God shall be with thee: Be thou for the people to God-ward, that thou mayest bring the causes unto God: And thou shalt teach them ordinances and laws, and shalt show them the way wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do. Moreover thou shalt 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. If thou shalt do this thing, and God command thee so, then thou shalt be able to endure, and all this people shall also go to their place in peace. So Moses hearkened to the voice of his father in law, and did all that he had said." (Exodus 18:13–24, KJV)
Jethro was, in effect, the first organizational management specialist to recommend delegation as a source of strength for Moses and his new nation. He understood that although Moses was, at that moment, the only person fully qualified to judge the people, keeping that responsibility entirely to himself would be his undoing. Jethro's instruction was to train capable subordinates, delegate authority to them, and reserve only the most difficult matters for personal handling. Delegation skills were imperative for Moses' survival, and his choices in this regard would affect the health of the entire organization (Nyberg, 1999).
The national court system of the United States is built on precisely this model. Local courts judge local matters; unresolved disputes give rise to an appeals process that leads to the district court, then the appellate courts, and ultimately the Supreme Court if the matter must be addressed at the national level. According to Article III of the Constitution, "The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish" (Columbia Encyclopedia, 2000). This tiered judicial structure was drawn directly from the legal system designed through the counsel of Jethro, Moses, and God's people.
In light of the purpose of the court system under Moses and the parallel purpose of the U.S. court system, the concept of judicial activism deserves significant reconsideration. The responsibility of those who judged the children of Israel was not to create law or to bend it according to the prevailing social mores of the day. Their responsibility was to accurately understand the law as given to them, and to interpret what had been written in order to fairly adjudicate the cases brought before them. This concept is defined as the rule of law — the principle that men are not to create law to fit or justify their actions, but rather to guide their actions by established laws. This principle has been undermined in modern America by the practice of judicial activism.
Judges with a liberal interpretive philosophy who believe the Constitution is a "living document" — one that must be reinterpreted for each successive social generation — have, in this view, departed from the meaning of their calling to uphold the rule of law, and have moved away from the example set by the Mosaic legal tradition.
According to Clinton (1999), three of the nation's leading constitutional thinkers have observed:
"Judicial activism undermines constitutional rule-of-law principles"
Instead, Moses heeded wise counsel, delegated faithfully, and preserved the integrity of the law for those he served. The lesson of Exodus 18 remains instructive: those entrusted with judicial authority are stewards of the law, not its masters, and the health of any nation depends upon leaders who govern for the wellbeing of the people rather than for their own benefit.
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