Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people: "Keep all these commands that I give you today. – Deuteronomy 27:1

Today's Scripture Reading (March 15, 2025): Deuteronomy 27

I recently had an interaction with someone I hadn't had contact with in almost two decades. As my friend phrased it, we had lost track of where the other had ended up. Then, suddenly, circumstances threw us together again. Part of our interaction was just catching up on what the other was doing. Both of us had left the charity with which we had been associated when we first met. My friend had left his position due to a conflict with the board of the charity he had worked for and decided to take a position in the private sector; I had left to start another charity. And so, we connected from our new positions.

One question that caught me off guard, but maybe shouldn't have, was whether I still worked with a board. As a charity, that relationship is mandated, but maybe his bad experience with a board member provided the foundation for the question; he couldn't imagine working with a board again. Mostly, I have enjoyed generally good interactions with the boards with whom I have journeyed. However, a relationship with a board requires a lot of hard work. It can be rewarding, but it is also very demanding.

My friend had experienced the demanding, but not the rewarding, experience that results from working with a board. So, he had left the world of boards for the world of CEOs and CFOs who could be negotiated and compromised with, but it was a world that minimized the whims and changes that often come with elected boards and their chairpeople.

Sometimes, I wonder how the early society of Israel functioned. There is little doubt that its leader was Moses, sometimes assisted by his brother Aaron. But early on, it appears that the board may have reared its head. It was one of those times when the leader and the board were not on the same page. The project was the entrance into the Promised Land. Men spied out the land and then returned, and the project was put to a vote of the board—the motion to enter Canaan was what Moses, essentially the board chair, was recommending. However, the motion was defeated by this elder's board by a vote of 10-2. As a result of this vote, Israel spent almost the next forty years wandering in the wilderness. It is a cautionary tale that reminds us that boards don't always get it right.

With this verse, Moses begins his third and final sermon delivered to the people of Israel before they enter the Promised Land. And this is the only place in his Deuteronomic sermons where Moses emphasizes that he and the elders or the board are in agreement. There wouldn't be a replay of what happened decades earlier when Israel attempted to enter Canaan. Then Moses and the leaders had not agreed, but there would be no dissenting votes on this day. 

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 28