ABLE is the second civic leadership expectation that Jethro gives to Moses. CHAYIL is the Hebrew word used for “able”. I had always read that word as synonymous with “competent”, in other words, “people who could do the job” or “an experienced person”. These concepts may certainly be derived from CHAYIL, but the better sense is “courageous”. Willing to fight for and stand for what is right. It has military overtones. Like David’s mighty men, these are people of valor, willing and fearless to lay their life down for the righteous cause.
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Exodus 18:21 Part 4
“Why fixate on these four qualities when God can use anybody He chooses.”
It is true. God can indeed USE anybody. To be consistent one must stipulate that if God can use anybody that includes not only your partisan candidate preference of questionable character, but also the even more questionable candidate of the other party. If God can USE anybody, then why is the Lord bound to your pragmatic choice of the lesser evil (in your eyes) rather than the paradoxical choice of the greater evil?
Exodus 18:21 Part 3 (Be sure to read previous posts)
“Why should a standard be expected from a civic leader since no one is perfect?”
There are 4 minimum expectations or standards that are presented in the Scripture for civic leadership. There are actually three locations for these qualifications (Exodus 18:21; Deuteronomy 1:13, 16:18-20) in much the same way there are two locations for elder qualifications for the church. These are not standards (necessarily) for salvation status, but would obviously be most easily demonstrated in a regenerate person. In much the same way the character qualifications of an elder (I Timothy 3, Titus 1) do not necessarily define a nascent Christian, however they certainly provide a maturity standard which demonstrates the reality of salvation and a life a sanctification.
Exodus 18:21 Part 2 (Be sure to read previous post)
“Are we not always selecting the lesser of 2 evils since there is none righteous and everyone sins?” (Romans 3:10, 23)
Before we can get to the biblical standard of life for the civic official it’s important to tackle the question of exactly how much unrighteousness might disqualify a civic leader from serving. How much sin is too much sin? And since we are all “sinners”, is the standard even valid?
Is Exodus 18:21 A Suggestion?
The E18 principle of selecting civic leaders has been rejected by numerous Christian conservative activists on the basis of, “it was a suggestion to Moses to run an Israelite theocracy and not a binding principle for a constitutional republic.”