“Standing in the Doorway of a New Promise” (Part Three)

Learning to Hear the Hearts of Men (Ex. 32)

We have been studying the training that God superintended in the life of Joshua before he took over leadership of the children of Israel. We began our exploration with the leadership lesson that Joshua gained at Rephidim in the conflict with the Amalekites. In the midst of trouble, we observed the significance of a leader learning the power that comes from Heavenly places in intercessory prayer. In a way, we could say Joshua learned to have the prayer KNEES of a leader. Next, we saw a leadership lesson of accountability at the mountain of the law in the setting of the banquet of the seventy elders. We noted that Godly leaders need to be accountable to other leaders. In that way, Joshua learned to have the ARMS of a leader, locked in the arms of others. As we continue in this series, there is a third lesson that God used to prepare Joshua to take up the mantle of leadership. Joshua needed to have the EARS of a leader, to hear the sounds of the people in the camp with greater sensitivity and understanding.

The Setting

Moses led the people to Sinai, and left the tribal leaders at the banquet we looked at in our last lesson to go up on to the higher parts of the mountain of the law. He remained away from the people forty days and nights and received the plans for the building of the Tabernacle. The people below observed a fire that engulfed the mountaintop (Ex. 24:17-18); which probably caused some to feel Moses was not returning to them (Ex. 32:1; 23). Aaron returned to the people during that time and succumbed to their pressure, allowing the creation of a "god visual" along with some celebrations of the deity in the camp (Ex. 32:23-25).

The choice of a god was likely that of the Egyptian deity "Hathor" - normally symbolized by a woman's body with a calf head in Egyptian records. Other representations were more basic, a calf or a woman with a horn arrangement on her head. The horn "flip" became so common a motif that archaeologists refer to household "gods" (teraphim) that have a flip in their hair as having "Hathor locks". The influence of Hathor was evidenced in the excavation at Timnah, the copper mining site near Eilat, in southern Israel. Several stone stelae (inscribed standing stones) were found, and at least one had the head of Hathor. The excavation included what appeared to be a Midianite shrine, as Hathor may have spread into their cultic practices as well. Several scholars have noted the relationship between the worship of Hathor and the peoples of the Sinai desert - the Midianites and the Egyptians. It is possible that she was the goddess of both slaves and journeys - and these were slaves on a journey. They probably chose the god image that suited the times. Their experience with the God of Abraham was quite limited, though He had brought the plagues upon Egypt (Ex. 6-12) and had parted the sea (Ex. 15). They knew His power, but not His tender care. They learned that as their generation experienced God in the desert heat.

The lesson of the calf in Exodus had many dimensions. The people learned the price of disobedience, as some of them were forced to drink ground gold dust in water (Ex. 32:20), while others were slaughtered because of the sexual sins carried on with the great celebration in the camp (Ex. 32:27-28). For the Levites, this was their first great blood-letting sacrifice, as they took their knives to their own cousins as an atonement for the debauchery. They learned the pain of intercession and judgment of sin in a graphic way. For Moses, the lesson was about the control of his emotional being (his flesh), as the tablets of stone that God hand carved for him lay broken on the ground. For Joshua, the lesson was something even greater - it was a lesson of discernment.

Before Moses and Joshua came down and discovered the sin in the camp, God revealed to Moses the fact that the people were in sin (Ex. 32:7ff) and that He wanted to wipe the people out and begin with the family of Moses to rebuild the children of Israel. Moses pleaded on behalf of the people, offering reminders about the nature of the eternal promise God made to Abraham (Ex. 32:13), and arguing that the Egyptians would not learn of God's love if He wiped out the children of Israel in the desert. Moses knew something was wrong in the camp, but only because God told him it was so. It does not appear in the text that Joshua was privy to this revelation of God.

Learning to Hear the Hearts of Men

Joshua, on the other hand, heard the commotion in the camp below - but did not perceive it properly (Ex. 32:17,18). He called to Moses in a concerned voice that the people were stirring as if they were under attack! Moses replied, "It is not the shout of those calling for leadership in the field of battle, nor is it the cry of those who are being slaughtered. This is the sound of singing that we hear!" To be fair, since Joshua had not been given the Divine insight of the sin that was going on in the camp, he was responding in the area of his strength, military leadership. This was (and is) the natural inclination of any leader.

The critical error of Joshua was to "satisfice", a term coined in the 1990s for when the first explanation that makes sense becomes the answer without any search for other facts. It was clear that without the correction of Moses, Joshua was bent on proceeding on a false notion because his assumption made sense to him. Yet, he needed to learn to move past his natural strengths, and begin to learn to hear the truth of the situation. In this test many a leader trusts his own intuition rather than carefully listening. This was a danger that a more experienced leader could avoid. Moses was not told the nature of that sin, but he had the ears of a leader. He knew the sounds of the people, and he knew their nature. He gently corrected Joshua, for Moses was a more seasoned leader. This was an opportunity for Joshua to grow.

Any true leader will attract followers; this is the nature of leadership. More mature leaders (like Moses) will have the opportunity to lead other leaders, an even more significant ministry! There is a danger for the leader who has not developed the sensitivity to hear the hearts of his followers in their spoken voices. Many followers cannot truly express what they are experiencing. In fact, many cannot understand what they are going through, that is why they need leadership in their lives! They need direction, help and understanding. The leader needs to be able to hear their needs even when the follower cannot properly express the needs. It is not unlike the experience of the young mother that hears an infant crying. The more experienced mom will perceive the sound of the "hungry" cry as distinct from the "wet" cry. She will know how to meet the need, often by the sound of the cry and its timing! How much like that mom Joshua needed to learn to be! He would need to be able to pick out the voices, know the times, sense the needs and respond.

Sometimes the leader needs to be able to pick out the words of the follower from their intent. In the case of the discouraged worker, the leader will need to lift up the follower by helping them see the larger vision of the work. General George Patton, in his book War As I Knew It, offered the insight: "Never assess the battle from the words of a wounded soldier!" What an insight! It is important that leaders hear past the words, and listen with understanding to the heart! The reports from the field are filtered by the lives of the followers; we must remember that!

Other dangers lurk in the words of the followers. Some will share what we want to hear, not what is truly on their heart! The opportunities arise for a leader to be praised by their followers. This can be a dangerous time if the leader cannot hear past the words and perceive the hearts of followers. Some flatter with words to gain some significance in the eyes of the leader. Yet, Proverbs 27 warns the greatest help is not in flattery, but in the truthful words of a friend (even if those words are hurtful, 27:6). Joshua needed to learn early the true nature of the people. He needed to be able to hear their voices - but gauge their needs beyond the sounds!

Movie Sequels

There is another dimension to this story (and another reason it was relayed by the Spirit into the eternal text of God's Word!) that should be recalled to truly understand what God's people were to learn from the discipline and tragedy from the sin in the camp. The Bible is a library, but its writers often presupposed that you knew earlier stories when they shared later ones. This story has a sequel found in the Christian Scriptures that is built on its foundation, and helps open our eyes to the incredible events at the mountain of the law. Carefully examining both stories adds a dimension of understanding the spiritual lessons that cannot be found another way.

Trying to understand a sequel to a movie is much easier if you have seen and can recall the original movie. Most of the time, when a sequel is released, the original movie begins to air again so people can recall the characters. Catching up on the plot, and the interplay between characters is much more difficult if the first movie was forgotten. In the same way, we need to recall the events at Sinai to understand what the Biblical author in the early church thought we would remember when reading the Christian Scriptures (New Testament).

In the case of our story, it is essential for any Bible student of the Book of Acts to understand the background of the giving of the Law at Sinai to truly understand the coming of the Spirit to the Apostles. The key to this reminder is in the beginning of Acts 2:1, "Now when the day of Pentecost had fully come…" What was the writer reminding us about? What should that day have recalled in our minds? How could the time of the year enhance our knowledge of the event?

Our story at the mountain of the law is set at the earliest "Shavuot" (later called in Greek, Pentecost). The story of the coming of the Spirit in Acts 2:1ff is set at the same time of year - thousands of years later. The Acts setting is, in a real sense, the "movie sequel" to the original events at the mountain of the law. The meaning of the second great Pentecost event (the "sequel") is clear only when we grasp the illusions to the event at Sinai, set at the same time of the year. Let me explain: As Moses and the people came into the area of the "Mountain of the Law," God instructed the leadership to restrict the access to the mountain for the people by gathering them in one place (Ex. 19:12). After they were in one place, strange weather descended onto the mountain (19:16). The holy fire of God descended from heaven onto the mountain and filled the area with smoke (19:18) and there was a rumbling of an earthquake. The scene eventually settled, and more than a month later, Moses emerged with the tablets to find 3000 people caught up in the debauchery scene described above. He ordered the Levites to have them killed (32:28).

Now look at the "sequel" events at the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost in Acts 2. Note the comparisons: the people were in "one accord in one place" (Acts 2:1), there was the "sound of a mighty rushing wind" (Acts 2:2), there was the "appearance of fire" (2:3) and there were "3000 people" (2:41). The similarity is intentional, and the meaning clear. With the coming of the Torah (the Law) at Shavuot (the original scene in Exodus) came the knowledge of our sin and the clarity of why we die. With the coming of the Spirit (the Torah "written in the hearts of men"- the sequel in Acts) came the internal understanding of our sin (note: "their hearts were broken", Acts 3:37-38) and the salvation of those who repented! The writer intentionally highlighted the second Shavuot (Pentecost) event details to match the first, to point to a sequel! What a tragedy that many of us study the later Christian stories and avoid the older foundational stories that make its setting come alive!

Hearing it wrong

Though Joshua misheard the people, God used Moses to correct him, and gently move him another step in his leadership learning curve. This is one of only two missteps of Joshua ever recorded in the Bible. He got most answers right, but this was a hard lesson. How many great leaders are sidelined because they have believed the things which followers told them of themselves. I think about the insightful words of Charles Haddon Spurgeon:

The story was related by Spurgeon that after one night of exceptional preaching at a local church, a young and beautiful woman came to the preacher as he descended moved toward the rear door of the hall. She called out to him, "Oh, brother Spurgeon, that was truly a great message from God! What a man of God you are!" He replied softly in an uncharacteristic moment, "I know, madam! For the devil told me the very same thing when I came down the stairs!"

The aging preacher new better than to listen to what he wanted to hear. He knew enough to hear the words with the sensitive ears of one that is accustomed to the Master's voice, not the roar of the crowds. Learning to hear past the noise, and listen with ears attuned to the hearts of men and the agenda of God is an essential part of the training process. Failure to do so will destroy the leadership and testimony of both men and ministries. This was an important lesson, but there was yet more to learn. Next we will focus on the HEART of the leader as we see what Joshua learned to cherish more than anything else!

(End of Part 3 -tbc)