Now Moses, tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, drove the flock into the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire out of a bush. He gazed and there was a bush all-aflame, yet the bush was not consumed. Moses said, ‘I must turn aside to look at this marvelous sight; why doesn’t the bush burn up?’ When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to look, God called to him out of the bush: ‘Moses! Moses!’ He answered, ‘Here I am’. (Exodus 3:1-4).

Moses the shepherd is commissioned at the burning bush to lead the flock of Israel.  He sees the miraculous sight of the bush ablaze but not consumed and hears the divine call. Rembrandt portrays a Moses caught off guard, his fear and awe depicted through his body language. Later, these emotions are transformed into hesitancy and self-doubt when Moses is commanded by God to undertake the mission of the salvation of the Children of Israel.  Why was he chosen? What about Moses prepared him for this formidable role? How did his experience as a shepherd warrant his being assigned the task?

While engaged in his daily activity of tending the flocks, Moses received the momentous call from on high to liberate the people of Israel from slavery.  Biblical interpreters viewed Moses’ career as a shepherd as necessary preparation for his role as a leader of men. Philo of Alexandria asserts:

After the marriage, Moses took charge of the sheep and tended them, thus receiving his first lesson in command of others; for the shepherd’s business is a training-ground and a preliminary exercise in kingship for one who is destined to command the herd of mankind, the most civilized of herds, just as also hunting is for warlike natures, since those who are trained to generalship practice themselves first in the chase…and therefore kings are called ‘shepherds of their people,’ not as a term of reproach but as the highest honor. And my opinion, based not on the opinions of the multitude but on my own inquiry into the truth of the matter, is that the only perfect king (let him laugh who will) is one who is skilled in the knowledge of shepherding, one who has been trained by management of the inferior creatures to manage the superior. For initiation in the lesser mysteries must precede initiation in the greater. (De Vita Moses I:60-62)

Rabbinic literature also viewed Moses’s role as shepherd as being significant. It was in this context that he exhibited the requisite qualities of leadership. But more than proving his power of control and organizational skills, as a shepherd that Moses demonstrated his integrity, compassion and sensitivity.

Now Moses was tending the flock. Before God confers greatness on a man he first tests him in a small matter and then promotes him to greatness…in the case of Moses it says: And  he drove the flock into the wilderness – in order to keep them from despoiling the fields of others. (Exodus Rabbah 2:3)

Since shepherds are notorious for trespassing on the property of others, the midrash accentuates Moses’ honesty. Even alone with the sheep on the mountains of Midian, the sterling character of Moses came shining through.  The Rabbis add another indispensable dimension of leadership:

The Lord trieth the righteous. By what does he try him? By tending the flocks…Moses was tested by God through sheep. Our Rabbis said that when Moses our teacher, peace be upon him, was tending the flock of Jethro in the wilderness, a little kid escaped from him. He ran after it until it reached a shady place. When it reached a shady place, there appeared to view a pool of water and the kid stopped to drink. When Moses approached it, he said: ‘I did not know that you ran away because of thirst; you must be weary.’ So he placed the kid on his shoulder and walked away. Thereupon God said: ‘Because thou hast mercy in leading the flock of a mortal, thou wilt assuredly tend my flock Israel.’ Hence Now Moses was tending the flock.  (Exodus Rabbah 2:2)

This charming anecdote presents Moses as a man of compassion. Though he had many sheep in his charge, he expressed his tender care for the thirsty kid who had gone astray. The analogy will find expression in Moses’ great love and concern for the flock of Israel, which he will lead with integrity and compassion.

1. De Vita Mosis , I:13-15, p. 283.