A brief beginning of a genealogy of the children of Israel gets stopped in the middle of listing the descendants of Levi, the priestly clan of the Children of Israel. You see the immediate descendants of Levi, leading all the way down to Aaron and Moses. After naming Aaron’s sons, who would also be priests, the writer makes absolutely sure that the reader would recognize that this Moses and Aaron are the same Moses and Aaron who–in the passages before this and the passages after this–have and will address Pharaoh with God’s command to let the people of Israel go! Why is this lineage and genealogy important as a brief interlude in this spot?
I believe that it is important to understand that we do not need a leader that shows up out of nowhere and blows into town with enticing words of man’s wisdom. I believe that it is vitally important that we know those who lead. Leaders are not always the flashy person that wows the crowd with charisma and charm. Rather, we must needs know the people that we follow. The people knew Moses and Aaron. They had seen them grow up among them. They knew their families. They knew their lives. They knew their character. They were even reluctant to follow Moses and Aaron to begin with, because they did not see the results they hoped for in the beginning of their quest for Jewish freedom. But because they knew them, they trusted God and eventually saw their deliverance effected in a miraculous way.
However, knowing someone does not just mean that you have played golf with, eaten a meal with, watched a movie with, or even been on vacation with someone. It means you have seen that person’s life and can trust that he or she is a person of integrity, a person of faith, a person of holiness. Choose who you follow carefully, and follow true leaders as they follow Christ!
Devoted To You 