But how can I bear your troubles, burdens, and disputes all by myself? But how can I bearThis phrase reflects Moses' expression of the overwhelming responsibility he felt as the leader of the Israelites. The Hebrew root for "bear" is "nasa," which means to lift, carry, or take. This word is often used in the context of carrying a heavy load, both physically and metaphorically. Moses is acknowledging the weight of leadership and the impossibility of managing it alone. This highlights the importance of shared leadership and the need for community support, a principle that resonates throughout the Bible. your troubles, burdens, and disputes
The Hebrew words for "troubles," "burdens," and "disputes" are "torach," "massa," and "riv," respectively. "Torach" refers to the weariness or toil that comes from dealing with the people's needs and complaints. "Massa" signifies a heavy load or burden, emphasizing the physical and emotional weight of leadership. "Riv" denotes legal disputes or controversies, pointing to the judicial responsibilities Moses had to manage. Together, these words paint a picture of the multifaceted challenges Moses faced, underscoring the complexity of leading a large, diverse group of people. This serves as a reminder of the need for wisdom, patience, and divine guidance in leadership roles. all by myself
The phrase "all by myself" emphasizes Moses' isolation in his leadership role. The Hebrew word "levadi" is used here, meaning "alone" or "by oneself." This highlights the human limitation and the necessity of delegation and shared responsibility. In the broader biblical narrative, this moment leads to the appointment of judges to assist Moses, illustrating the biblical principle of shared leadership and the importance of community in fulfilling God's purposes. It serves as an inspiration for leaders today to seek help and build teams to effectively manage responsibilities. Persons / Places / Events 1. MosesThe speaker of this verse, Moses is addressing the Israelites. He is expressing his inability to manage the people's issues alone. 2. IsraelitesThe people whom Moses is leading. They are numerous and have many disputes and burdens that need addressing. 3. WildernessThe setting of this discourse, where the Israelites are journeying towards the Promised Land. 4. Promised LandThe destination of the Israelites, a land promised by God to their ancestors. 5. Judges and LeadersLater in the chapter, Moses appoints leaders to help him manage the people's issues, a significant event in the governance of Israel. Teaching Points The Importance of DelegationMoses' acknowledgment of his limitations teaches us the importance of sharing responsibilities. In our lives, we should not hesitate to seek help and delegate tasks when overwhelmed. Community and SupportThe verse highlights the necessity of community support. Just as Moses needed others to help bear the burdens, we too should rely on our community for support and assistance. Leadership and HumilityMoses' humility in admitting his inability to manage alone is a model for leaders. True leadership involves recognizing one's limitations and empowering others. God's Provision in LeadershipGod provides solutions to our challenges, often through the people around us. We should be open to God's provision through others. The Role of Wisdom in Decision-MakingMoses' decision to appoint leaders was wise and necessary. We should seek wisdom in our decision-making processes, especially when dealing with complex issues. Bible Study Questions 1. How does Moses' experience in Deuteronomy 1:12 reflect the importance of community in handling life's burdens? 2. In what ways can we apply the principle of delegation in our personal and professional lives? 3. How does the appointment of leaders in Deuteronomy 1 relate to the New Testament practice of appointing deacons in Acts 6? 4. What can we learn from Moses' humility in admitting his limitations, and how can this be applied to modern leadership? 5. How does this passage encourage us to seek God's provision through the people He places in our lives? Connections to Other Scriptures Exodus 18This chapter describes how Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, advised him to appoint leaders to help judge the people, which is a direct precursor to the events in Deuteronomy 1:12. Numbers 11This passage recounts a similar situation where Moses expresses his inability to bear the burdens of the people alone, leading to the appointment of seventy elders. Acts 6In the New Testament, the apostles appoint deacons to help with the distribution of food, showing a similar delegation of responsibilities. People Amorites, Anakites, Caleb, Canaanites, Eshcol, Isaac, Israelites, Jacob, Jephunneh, Joshua, Laban, Moses, Nun, Og, Seir, SihonPlaces Arabah, Ashtaroth, Bashan, Dizahab, Edrei, Egypt, Euphrates River, Hazeroth, Heshbon, Horeb, Hormah, Jordan River, Kadesh-barnea, Laban, Lebanon, Moab, Mount Seir, Negeb, Paran, Seir, Suph, Tophel, Valley of EshcolTopics Alone, Arguments, Bear, Burden, Burdens, Cumbrance, Disputes, Encumbrance, Load, Myself, Possible, Pressure, Problems, Responsible, Strife, Sustain, Troubles, Undertake, Wear, WeightDictionary of Bible Themes Deuteronomy 1:9-15 5714 men Deuteronomy 1:12-13 5834 disagreement Library Foretastes of the Heavenly Life
Early in the year 1857. NOTE: This edition of this sermon is taken from an earlier published edition of Spurgeon's 1857 message. The sermon that appears in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, vol. 45, was edited and abbreviated somewhat. For edition we have restored the fuller text of the earlier published edition, while retaining a few of the editorial refinements of the Met Tab edition. "And they took of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down unto us, and brought us word again …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 45: 1899Preventive against Backsliding.
It is most instructive to note how exceedingly anxious the early Christians were, that, as soon as a man was converted, he should be "filled with the Holy Ghost." They knew no reason why weary wastes of disappointing years should stretch between Bethel and Peniel, between the Cross and Pentecost. They knew it was not God's will that forty years of wilderness wanderings should lie between Egypt and the Promised Land (Deut. i. 2). When Peter and John came to the Samaritans, and found that they were …
John MacNeil—The Spirit-Filled Life Afraid of Giants
'And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, Get you up this way southward, and go up into the mountain; 18. And see the land, what it is; and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many; 19. And what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad; and what cities they be that they dwell in, whether in tents, or in strong holds; 20. And what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein, or not. And be …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture Philo of Alexandria, the Rabbis, and the Gospels - the Final Development of Hellenism in Its Relation to Rabbinism and the Gospel According to St. John.
It is strange how little we know of the personal history of the greatest of uninspired Jewish writers of old, though he occupied so prominent a position in his time. [173] Philo was born in Alexandria, about the year 20 before Christ. He was a descendant of Aaron, and belonged to one of the wealthiest and most influential families among the Jewish merchant-princes of Egypt. His brother was the political head of that community in Alexandria, and he himself on one occasion represented his co-religionists, …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah A Plain Description of the Essence and Attributes of God, Out of the Holy Scripture, So Far as Every Christian must Competently Know, and Necessarily Believe, that Will be Saves.
Although no creature can define what God is, because he is incomprehensible (Psal. cxliii. 3) and dwelling in inaccessible light (1 Tim. vi. 16); yet it has pleased his majesty to reveal himself to us in his word, so far as our weak capacity can best conceive him. Thus: God is that one spiritual and infinitely perfect essence, whose being is of himself eternally (Deut. i. 4; iv. 35; xxxii. 39; vi. 4; Isa. xlv. 5-8; 1 Cor. viii. 4; Eph. iv. 5, 6; 1 Tim. ii. 5; John iv. 24; 2 Cor. iii. 17; 1 Kings …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety The Mountainous Country of Judea.
"What is the mountainous country of Judea? It is the king's mountain." However Judea, here and there, doth swell out much with mountains, yet its chief swelling appears in that broad back of mountains, that runs from the utmost southern cost as far as Hebron, and almost as Jerusalem itself. Which the Holy Scripture called "The hill-country of Judah," Joshua 21:11; Luke 1:39. Unless I am very much mistaken,--the maps of Adricomus, Tirinius, and others, ought to be corrected, which have feigned to …
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica Kadesh. Rekam, and that Double. Inquiry is Made, Whether the Doubling it in the Maps is Well Done.
The readers of the eastern interpreters will observe, that Kadesh is rendered by all Rekam, or in a sound very near it. In the Chaldee, it is 'Rekam': in the Syriac, 'Rekem': in the Arabic, 'Rakim'... There are two places noted by the name Rekam in the very bounds of the land,--to wit, the southern and eastern: that is, a double Kadesh. I. Of Kadesh, or Rekam, in the south part, there is no doubt. II. Of it, in the eastern part, there is this mention: "From Rekam to the east, and Rekam is as the …
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica Barren Fig-Tree. Temple Cleansed.
(Road from Bethany and Jerusalem. Monday, April 4, a.d. 30.) ^A Matt. XXI. 18, 19, 12, 13; ^B Mark XI. 12-18; ^C Luke XIX. 45-48. ^b 12 And ^a 18 Now ^b on the morrow [on the Monday following the triumphal entry], ^a in the morning ^b when they were come out from Bethany, ^a as he returned to the city [Jerusalem], he hungered. [Breakfast with the Jews came late in the forenoon, and these closing days of our Lord's ministry were full of activity that did not have time to tarry at Bethany for it. Our …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel In the Temple at the Feast of Tabernacles.
(October, a.d. 29.) ^D John VII. 11-52. ^d 11 The Jews therefore sought him at the feast, and said, Where is he? [It was now eighteen months since Jesus had visited Jerusalem, at which time he had healed the impotent man at Bethesda. His fame and prolonged obscurity made his enemies anxious for him to again expose himself in their midst. John here used the word "Jews" as a designation for the Jerusalemites, who, as enemies of Christ, were to be distinguished from the multitudes who were in doubt …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel Moses and his Writings
[Illustration: (drop cap W) Clay letter tablet of Moses' time.] We now begin to understand a little of the very beginning of God's Book--of the times in which it was written, the materials used by its first author, and the different kinds of writing from which he had to choose; but we must go a step farther. How much did Moses know about the history of his forefathers, Abraham and Jacob, and of all the old nations and kings mentioned in Genesis, before God called him to the great work of writing …
Mildred Duff—The Bible in its Making Appendix ii. Philo of Alexandria and Rabbinic Theology.
(Ad. vol. i. p. 42, note 4.) In comparing the allegorical Canons of Philo with those of Jewish traditionalism, we think first of all of the seven exegetical canons which are ascribed to Hillel. These bear chiefly the character of logical deductions, and as such were largely applied in the Halakhah. These seven canons were next expanded by R. Ishmael (in the first century) into thirteen, by the analysis of one of them (the 5th) into six, and the addition of this sound exegetical rule, that where two …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah The Blessing of Jacob Upon Judah. (Gen. Xlix. 8-10. )
Ver. 8. "Judah, thou, thy brethren shall praise thee; thy hand shall be on the neck of thine enemies; before thee shall bow down the sons of thy father. Ver. 9. A lion's whelp is Judah; from the prey, my son, thou goest up; he stoopeth down, he coucheth as a lion, and as a full-grown lion, who shall rouse him up? Ver. 10. The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come, and unto Him the people shall adhere." Thus does dying Jacob, in announcing …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament Deuteronomy
Owing to the comparatively loose nature of the connection between consecutive passages in the legislative section, it is difficult to present an adequate summary of the book of Deuteronomy. In the first section, i.-iv. 40, Moses, after reviewing the recent history of the people, and showing how it reveals Jehovah's love for Israel, earnestly urges upon them the duty of keeping His laws, reminding them of His spirituality and absoluteness. Then follows the appointment, iv. 41-43--here irrelevant (cf. …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament Links Deuteronomy 1:12 NIVDeuteronomy 1:12 NLTDeuteronomy 1:12 ESVDeuteronomy 1:12 NASBDeuteronomy 1:12 KJV
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