“[The document was ratified and sealed with…]
the leaders of the people:
Parosh, Pahath-Moab, Elam, Zattu, Bani…”
Nehemiah 10:14
Last time we looked at the final Levites who signed the covenant, remembering we belong to each other as we build and rebuild at His lead.
Today we move to the next section of names who signed the covenant: the leaders. Leaders in Hebrew is rosh – head. Beginning, best things, bodyguard, captain, sum, end, laughingstock, finest, first, and topmost are other meanings of this word.
Once again we see such opposites. Beginning and best things in the same definition as end and laughingstock. And yet, leadership does imply all of it. If we are given an area of leadership and think we are the beginning and end of it all – the project, results, opinions, or expectations of anyone following – the movement is likely already sunk. It cannot be about us if it is to be about His kingdom.
At the same time, when God is asking us to lead, it does imply a beginning. Someone willing to step out first in faith and see if the direction is indeed in step with His Spirit. And leadership implies an end, the last. After all, we are walking with a Savior Who said the first shall be last, the last first.
Any time we seek to take people where God wants them to go (read: leadership), we must be willing to be last. To wash feet and serve more than call out orders or inspire vision. Followers must trust our hearts before they can trust the direction we’re asking them to go.
And, of course, the most sobering aspect of leadership is we are the head of the project, the people, the end results. When things go awry, we are the ones to whom the responsibility falls. The captains, bodyguards of the direction the group moves. Sometimes, like our Savior, this could result in being a laughingstock. At least in the worldly sense.
Even if we as leaders follow the Leader as best we know how, walking with others in the Kingdom will always look foolish to this world. Laying down our rights, not insisting on our own way, looking at the setbacks as God-given opportunities for Him to show up is quite the opposite of bottom line profit gaining.
And yet it is the only way to one day stand before Him with integrity. Putting people over profit or product matters. Friends, if God has given us areas in which others look to us to lead, let’s bow daily at the fearsome thing to which we will one day be held accountable, then stand in His Spirit, willing to step out in faith first.
Our first leader listed is Parosh. We have seen this name mentioned only briefly in Nehemiah 3:25 as the father of Pedaiah. The strange thing is it means “a flea or isolated insect.” It comes from the root word para – to avenge, expose, dismiss, avoid, perish, let go. To make the full name, para is combined with ash (a moth) or ashesh (to waste away).
So: a flea, isolated insect, dismissed moth, to waste away. Any way you look at it, it’s not good, huh? The name implies someone to avoid. How heartbreaking. How difficult to go through life with a name with such a meaning.
So let’s chat. Who in our society is exposed, dismissed, let go of? I automatically think of lepers in Jesus’ day, but how about ours? Asking myself at the same time, who might you avoid if you saw them coming? What people group is perishing due to systemic sin? Who in our world needs avenging due to injustice?
These are questions which, frankly, are inconvenient. They disrupt our comfortable lives and force excuses, when really all it takes is time and love. God is not even asking us to fix everything. Just be a voice, vote, make others aware, support one area, refrain from financing another known for inhumane practices. Or on a relational level, spend time, listen, share with boundaries. And pray. Never stop praying, friends. May no person or group feel like an isolated insect during our tenure.
Pahath-Moab (Neh. 3:11 and 7:11) – a post exilic name meaning pit of Moab. Some real rough name meanings this time around, huh? When I hear pit, I don’t usually think of something good. And, of course, the Moabites were enemies of Israel pre-exile. Makes me wonder why his mother named him this?
An interesting tidbit is how it also means “from the mother’s father” – from the prefix m and ab. Which I suppose could explain why his mother chose the name. Not all biblical names were chosen with favorable meanings (see Genesis 29 with Leah and Naomi in the book of Ruth).
Speaking of Ruth, in her we get to see a well-known example of someone from Moab. Ruth was a Moabitess and is listed in the lineage of King Jesus. A beautiful example of God’s redemption, His open arms to those who seek to worship Him, and a lovely reminder this day before our first Sunday in Advent.
Indeed, our Lord came through humble means with both a perfectly-divine lineage and an imperfectly-human one as well. No other way to be God with us, Immanuel. May we never get over the incarnation.
The final two names, Zattu and Bani, do not lead us to interesting places this time around. Zattu is of uncertain derivation, and we saw the name Bani last time, which comes from banah – to build, rebuild.
So instead, let’s end with Elam, whose name means “son of Shem.” While it isn’t known for certain, it likely comes from the root word alam – to conceal, disregard, neglect, pay no attention, pretenders, secret, veil from sight.
May these descriptions never be true of us. May we never deny the truth, pretending or concealing when we are perfectly loved. Let us never disregard others, paying no attention to image bearers. And when we do, when these descriptions are true in our lives, may we not neglect to confess and make it right. The veil is torn, no more need to unsuccessfully veil from His sight our shortcomings. He knows. No need to be pretenders, friends.
There has never been a more genuine Leader than Him to show us the way.