The conversation between God and Moses at the Burning Bush is the beginning of a revolution of the spirit. God leads a people from slavery to freedom, proving that no nation can enslave another and survive.

Yet, this revolution of the spirit starts humbly. After God has begun instructing Moses, Moses pauses and asks a seemingly simple question. He asks, “Who am I?” It is seemingly simple because Moses knows who he is. He is a shepherd being asked by God to undertake a tremendous mission. 

Yet, the question hints at a deeper tension in Moses that needs resolution. He is not sure he is up to the task God has given him. He expresses this tension by asking about his identity.

He grew up as Egyptian prince. He is now living in the country of Midian, married to a Midianite woman. Yet God is asking him to lead the Jewish people, a nation with whom he has never lived.

Is he really capable of doing so? Does he have enough of a connection and loyalty to this people? Does he have it in his heart to devote the rest of his life to this mission?

The Heart of a Leader

Moses’s answer to this question shows us what leadership demands.

1. Leadership requires identification: Moses hinted at the answer to his question in an earlier biblical verse where we read, “When Moses was grown, he began to go out to his own people, and he saw their hard labour” (2: 11).

Moses knew in his heart that these enslaved people were his people. He had grown up in the Egyptian royal palace. Yet, he was an Israelite, and he knew it.

2. Leadership requires humility: When God speaks to him from the bush, Moses is leading a quiet pastoral life. He is shepherding his father-in-law’s flocks. He is not a conventional leader, with a healthy narcissism and sense of his own great destiny. He is a simple shepherd.

A Humble Shepherd

Yet, the Bible emphasizes that this is kind of leader God desires. As Rabbi Jonathan Sacks summarizes, “In the Bible as a whole, the people who turn out to be the most worthy are the ones who deny they are worthy at all.”

Examples abound. The prophet Isaiah, when charged with his mission, said, ‘I am a man of unclean lips’ (Is. 6:5). Jeremiah said, ‘I cannot speak, for I am a child’ (Jer. 1: 6).

David, Israel’s greatest king, echoed Moses’ words, ‘Who am I?’ (2 Samuel 7: 18). Jonah, sent on a mission by God, tried to run away.”

The Old Testament’s notion of a leader is not an eager politician. It is a humble shepherd. They turn out to be the greatest leaders of all.