Followership …

Not everyone is a leader.

Indeed, not everyone is intended to be a leader.

Being a a great follower is an important responsibility, and one of the best lessons on Godly “followership” can be found in Joshua 6 regarding the story of the battle of Jericho.

Moses had led the griping, grumbling people of Israel for 40 years through the wilderness to the edge of the Promised Land, and then died. Replacing him as leader of the people was his handy apprentice, Joshua, who we will later see is quite a capable leader himself.

But the task at hand … taking the walled city of Jericho … seemed to be impossible. The city was heavily fortified, and just breaching the outer fortifications to enter the city appeared to be beyond human ability. However, the people of Israel wouldn’t have to rely on human capacity! God tells Joshua at the start of this story that He had given the city, it’s king, and all it’s strong warriors to him already! And then He lays out for Joshua how he and the people of Israel should acquire this victory that God had already ordained for them.

Now imagine being in the audience as Joshua announces this plan … “Ok folks, here’s what we’re going to do … seven priests will walk in front of the ark, each with a horn, and they will lead a march around the city. We’ll do that for seven days …” ok, people are already getting concerned about this plan, then Joshua adds, “But on the seventh day, we’ll march around the city seven times, then the priests will blow their horns, everyone will shout, and the walls will fall down!”

Uh, not likely Joshua!

You see, Jericho didn’t have just any simple wall around it. Look below at the detail about the fortifications of Jericho as provided by answersingenesis.org:

The mound, or “tell” of Jericho was surrounded by a great earthen rampart, or embankment, with a stone retaining wall at its base. The retaining wall was some four to five meters (12–15 feet) high. On top of that was a mudbrick wall two meters (six feet) thick and about six to eight meters (20–26 feet) high. At the crest of the embankment was a similar mudbrick wall whose base was roughly 14 meters (46 feet) above the ground level outside the retaining wall (see diagram). This is what loomed high above the Israelites as they marched around the city each day for seven days. Humanly speaking, it was impossible for the Israelites to penetrate the impregnable bastion of Jericho.

Within the upper wall was an area of approximately six acres, while the total area of the upper city and fortification system was 50 percent larger, or about nine acres. Based on the archaeologist’s rule of thumb of 200 persons per acre, the population of the upper city would have been about 1,200. However, from excavations carried out by a German team in the first decade of this century, we know that people were also living on the embankment between the upper and lower city walls. In addition, those Canaanites living in surrounding villages would have fled to Jericho for safety. Thus, we can assume that there were several thousand people inside the walls when the Israelites came against the city.”

Looking at the city’s defenses, and then listening to Joshua’s plan for victory probably didn’t result in a lot of confidence! Except you have to remember it wasn’t Joshua’s plan at all … it was God’s plan, given to Joshua to be carried out by the people.

Knowing how the people were, Joshua, in his wisdom as a leader, gave a rather interesting and unique instruction that hits at the heart of followership. Look at Joshua 6:9-10, “Some of the armed men marched in front of the priests with the horns and some behind the Ark, with the priests continually blowing the horns. ‘Do not shout; do not even talk,’ Joshua commanded. ‘Not a single word from any of you until I tell you to shout. Then shout!’”

Basically, what Joshua said was, “Shut up!” He tells the people not to utter a word until he gives the command to shout. Have you ever wondered why Joshua told the people to keep their mouths shut?

Could it be that after many years of seeing how these people muttered against his former boss, Moses, and even against God, that Joshua thought if they didn’t keep quiet, they would likely start complaining about this plan as well …

“How do you like this new guy?! He says the walls will just fall down!”

“Yeah, Joshua has been out in the sun too long!”

“Don’t forget to bring your horns, we have to blow them right before the walls fall down!”

And so would go the skepticism … and so would spread the cancer of doubting God and lacking faith.

So, Joshua simply tells them, “Shut up!”

For the people of God to get to where He wants them to be, God gives direction to leaders. Those leaders share that direction with the body at large, and all of us carry out God’s plan together. The fastest way to fail God is to begin doubting Him and the leadership He has established; to question the direction provided by God, to think there are better ways, and to lessen the ability of a leader by mutterings against the plans God has provided.

If you’re a follower, you have a very important responsibility: be quiet! Listen to the plan God provides and then carry it out. If you don’t like it, take it up with God directly, but do not mutter against His plan or His leaders. To do so can tear down the faith of other followers by sowing seeds of skepticism and doubt you have no right to plant. If you have questions, ask them directly of God and the leadership He has installed, but do not undermine the work of God with whispering, questioning, and a spewing of your lack of faith onto others.

Just be quiet!

Remember that the church is not, never has been, and was not designed to be a democracy (hard to fathom if you’re an American!). The idea of every member having an equal vote or equal voice in the early church would have been unheard of. From the earliest of days, God has led His people through godly men who would provide servant leadership to His people. Being a cooperative follower moves forward the work, way, and will of God … a much better experience than wandering and dying off in a desert over 40 years for lack of followership!

Trust God. Encourage, pray for, and support the leaders He raises up to lead you, and then follow. If you have questions, bring them to God and ask them of your leaders. If you can’t get past them, then just be quiet and keep following God!

Scotty