Immature fruit can taste a little sharp. That’s true in gardening – it’s also true in the spiritual life. We’re all called to cultivate the fruit of the Spirit: but often in young believers those qualities which eventually prove to be wonderful assets for the kingdom can be a little, well, prickly.
Take Joshua, for example. Since we met him in Exodus, Joshua has had the enormous privilege of accompanying Moses up the mountain (at least some of the way) when Moses went to meet with God (Ex 24:13): a sure sign that already Joshua is more than just ‘one of the team’, he is effectively Moses’ protégé.
This is confirmed by the story in Exodus 33: Joshua is with Moses at the Tent of Meeting, where God meets with Moses on a regular basis. It says, tellingly, that even after Moses went back to the Israelites camp, Joshua ‘did not leave the tent’ (Ex 33:11). It’s not clear whether this is to defend it, or because Joshua is so desperate to grow in faith and intimacy with God that he’s going to take every chance he gets – it’s probably a bit of both. It would certainly explain why Moses saw that ‘spark’ of greatness in him.
But there’s a flip side to this zeal, too. In today’s passage Moses gathers 70 elders and together they all receive the anointing of God’s Spirit (v25), such that they are able to prophesy (i.e. receive and speak God’s word). This is a major step forward in the growth of God’s people: but there’s an unexpected postscript: two of these elders are able to prophesy not just at the Tent of Meeting – the appointed place for God to meet with human beings – but also in the main camp (v26).
As we’ve learned, Joshua is fiercely committed to, and protective of, this Tent: and he immediately goes to Moses and says: ‘Stop them!’ (v28). Rules are rules, Moses – it’s just not cricket!
But the wise old Moses sees it differently. To paraphrase his reply in v29: ‘Calm down, Joshua. This is a good thing: more encounters with God means more blessing. I wish our spiritual life as a people would get to the stage where everyone is intimate with God, and is able to receive and speak his word.’ That’s not a bad dream, is it? And it hints at a beautiful truth fully realised more than a thousand years later, after the Spirit is poured out at Pentecost…
Joshua’s zeal to ‘do things right’ meant he missed the wood for the trees. His motives were basically good: he wanted to do things God’s way – as he saw it. But his view of God was too small. He limited God in his imagination, and so failed to see the bigger picture: that God was increasing his blessing to more people, and spreading it in a way that could bear fruit.
There’s a great lesson here for us. God is always bigger, and sometimes his kingdom is at work in surprising ways. Think of the Magi (I know, I now, it’s September – far too early!): theologically suspect astrologers blessed by God to witness the birth of the Messiah. In other words, no-one is beyond the reach of God.
What surprising people do you know, in whom God is up to something? Pray for eyes to see, and a heart to bless, what our great big God is doing!