Moses’ policy is the principle that all the people are equal.
In his view, a system of hierarchical rule would spell the ruin of the Jewish people’s equality.
If, as none other than Korah proclaimed, “All the people in the community are holy, and God is in their midst” (Num. 16:3), how can the people be divided into different ranks?
Moses insisted on judging the people by himself because he thought that no person should be barred from approaching him directly as a result of a perceived inferiority.
Why should any person be relegated to the “leaders of fifties” or the “leaders of thousands” (Ex. 18:21)?
Every person is important enough to go directly to Moses.
Moses does not set up an organized structure not because it does not occur to him, but because he does not want one.
His argument is that if ranks are formed among the people, then although some people would become newly exalted leaders, many others would be rendered insignificant commoners, lowered and debased.
All this runs counter to the view that “all the people in the community are holy, and God is in their midst.”
–Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz