CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
The Right Person for the Right Job
A problem encountered constantly in the business world is the quality of personnel employed. So often the wrong person is placed in a position, and even though he or she may be highly qualified, the work is never up to scratch.
In the book Judges, we find the Israelites settled in the land of Canaan, living in the promised land, the land of milk and honey, under the leadership of God, guided by the laws given to them through Moses, bound by covenant, a chosen people, a royal priesthood. God had fulfilled His promises to them, and now as His chosen people, they had to fulfill their obligations to Him.
Chosen they might be, but they were still people, and being people they were apt to forget their promises to God, and time and again they fell into sin and disobedience. They lost sight of their purpose and vision, wandered from the path of priesthood laid out for them, and followed the idolatrous ways of the nations that surrounded them, taking on their habits, customs and gods, and turning away from the one true God.
Each time this happened, God would bring an enemy against them who would enslave them, steal their possessions, their harvests, and use up their resources. The hardships would continue till the Israelites came to their senses and acknowledged their mistake, repented and called on God for help, and each time God would raise up a leader or judge, who would drive the enemy out and lead the people back to Him. Whenever this happened, God would have to seek out a leader who had the right attributes and skills for the job. One such judge was Ehud.
And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD: and the LORD strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the LORD.
And he gathered unto him the children of Ammon and Amalek, and went and smote Israel, and possessed the city of palm trees.
So the children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.
But when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised them up a deliverer, Ehud the son of Gera, a Benjamite, a man left-handed: and by him the children of Israel sent a present unto Eglon the king of Moab.(Jdg.3:12-15)
Ehud, of the tribe of Benjamin, became the right person for this particular job. The word Benjamin means ‘sons of the right hand’ but God needed a left-handed man to do the job and Ehud was left-handed. Ehud approached Eglon supposedly to give him a present but this was a ruse just to get close enough to the Moabite king so that he could be assassinated. When Eglon saw the dagger hanging on what he presumed to be the wrong side of the Benjamite (son of the right hand), he thought himself safe and allowed the assassin to approach and Ehud was able to kill the foreigner and lead Israel back to freedom.
Each judge chosen by God had traits that were needed for the task at hand. Ehud was left-handed, Shenger had strength, Deborah wisdom, Gideon a strong spirit, Jephthah was a mighty man of valor, and Samson was strong in body.
Few of them had great testimonials. Gideon doubted; Jephthah was the son of a harlot; Samson was arrogant and had a weakness for women.
Appearance had little to do with God’s choice. What was needed were people who shared the vision, who had a heart for His purpose, who could see what others could not, who could turn defeat into victory. What was needed was a ‘company’ person, a person who had the country and God in his heart.
We often hear of companies in trouble, and upon investigation we invariably find that the problem stems from within the organization, leaders who have lost sight of their purpose, leaders whose vision has become blurred, who have lost their reason to continue. When that happens usually bankruptcy, or a takeover, or some other calamity follows.
Once a company is taken over, it becomes a slave. Its produce, its equipment, it’s know how and its resources are used for the benefit of the new master. A new vision is enforced on the company, new rules, new expectations, new plans and new targets, all because of a loss of vision.
It is vitally important that the right people fill the right positions. Very often, and statistics show, the person who looks good or is acquainted with a person of position is selected, rather than the person who does good. Samuel, the prophet almost fell into the trap of allowing looks to deceive him. Instructed by God, he went to the house of Jesse, David’s father to anoint the next king as successor to Saul:
And it came to pass, when they were come, that he looked on Eliab, and said, Surely the LORD'S anointed is before him.
But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart(1Sam.16:6-7)
David, the least significant of the sons of Jesse was anointed king, and he became the ultimate ‘company’ man, prepared to die for what he believed, willing to accept blame for his faults, always out to improve the standing and status of his company, which were Israel and the kingdom of God. He used any means at his disposal to achieve his purpose, and whenever he stepped out of line, he would be brought back, sometimes violently.
While running from Saul, he had ample opportunity to kill the king, but did not, because the result would have been catastrophic. The country would have been torn in two, civil war would have followed, and the vision of a united people under one God would have been lost. While Saul served the ‘company’, David was prepared to wait until his time came.
Ultimately, his ascension to the throne was as a result of the death of Saul at the hands of the Philistines, and it left David unchallenged, blameless with the whole nation following him, and him following God.
From then on, the Israelites experienced unprecedented growth in military might, in acquisition of land, wealth and status. The company flourished, even though the man, David, would go through various trials and tribulations. His legacy was a viable, independent, unified country, adherent to God, the center of His kingdom on earth, subject to His guidance, willing, able, and ready to expand beyond its own frontiers.
What is interesting about Samuel, is that his own sons could not fill his shoes, and Samuel, to his credit as a man of God, as prophet and judge did not force them on the nation, but rather sought somebody who was able to do the job.
There is a manner of filling vacancies today called headhunting – seeking out those at other companies who are capable of doing the work and then ‘buying’ them. It has become a fashionable way of recruiting people, of bringing people in to do a specific job, which is all very well until you question the loyalties of these new employees. Most of them come as a result of money, and they will go as a result of money. The real danger is that while they are in your employ, under your roof so to speak, where do their loyalties lie? What are they up to?
In Joshua 6 Israel had finally got their act together and set out on the conquest of Canaan. Their first acquisition was to be Jericho but before they set out they received instructions aimed at the good of the whole nation:
And ye, in any wise keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest ye make yourselves accursed, when ye take of the accursed thing, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it.
But all the silver, and gold, and vessels of brass and iron, are consecrated unto the LORD: they shall come into the treasury of the LORD. (Josh.6:18-19)
The wealth of Jericho was for the Lord, in that way it became everyone’s wealth equally. Leaving the wealth to the Israelites to divide amongst themselves would have caused immense dissent and delayed the advance, and invariably, discontent would have set in, jeopardizing the vision. But a certain Achan had his own idea about wealth sharing, the vision of the nation was of no consequence to him and he stole a portion of Jericho’s wealth for himself. The result of this disobedience was defeat at the hands of the relatively weak inhabitants of Ai and the death of thirty six Israelites. The dream, the vision, the future was in danger of not being able to go forward. Before Israel could continue with their campaign to acquire the whole of Canaan the traitor had to be discovered and removed.
In 1 Samuel 5 we read how the Philistines defeated the Israelites and captured the Ark of the Covenant which they placed in ‘the house of Dagon’. Dagon was their principal god and had the body, arms and head of a man and the tail of a fish.
And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the LORD. And they took Dagon, and set him in his place again. (1Sam.5:3)
Lesson not learnt.
And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold; only the stump of Dagon was left to him.
Therefore neither the priests of Dagon, nor any that come into Dagon's house, tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod unto this day.
But the hand of the LORD was heavy upon them of Ashdod, and he destroyed them, and smote them with emerods, even Ashdod and the coasts thereof. (1Sam.5:4-6)
Lesson learnt.
They sent therefore and gathered all the lords of the Philistines unto them, and said, What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel? And they answered, Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried about unto Gath. And they carried the ark of the God of Israel about thither.(1Sam.5:8)
Unfortunately for the Philistines, the damage had been done and the plague continued amongst them even after the Ark had been removed. The Ark of the Covenant, as a trophy of war, looked good in Philistia, but as a part of their lives and their country, it was disaster. Going further back in the history of the Israelites, we read that each time the army of Moses and Joshua conquered a nation, they were instructed to destroy it, man, woman and child. The reason was quite simple - the vision of one nation under one God would be diluted with the infiltration of foreign beliefs and idols.
As a business, you can ill afford a disloyal employee, one who is out to get as much from you as possible. While you cater to his needs he will be of service, but the day will come when you are unable to feed the greed, and he will infect others with his dissension. You need people who share the same vision, same goals as you, people bought are people sold. Their purpose and vision is money, not the company.
In the New Testament the disciples of Jesus, were constantly vying for status and positions of power until the unifying flame of the Holy Spirit descended on them at Pentecost and they acquired the vision of world evangelism. Then the business of spreading the gospel throughout the world could go ahead with spectacular success.
Everybody should be heading in the same direction. People can be taught to operate a computer, do the books or fix a vehicle – loyalty, trustworthiness, camaraderie, devotion cannot be taught, but are priceless. Learn to hear the heart of those in your employ.
….for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. (Mat. 12:34b)
Listen to those in your employ, sooner or later they will reveal their true loyalties.