When someone has been put in charge of caring for something, naturally we would want and expect them to do a good and careful job. This is particularly true if they are hired to care for one's animals, and most especially if it is for one's children. We want what we love and cherish to be well cared for and looked after. This is true also of God. He loves and cherishes His children, and when He appointed leaders to watch over them, both religious leaders and political ones, He expected them to do right by them. In our Scripture today from the prophet Jeremiah, we will see what God has to say regarding those who fail to care for what He has put in their keeping.
Frequently throughout the Bible the Lord has compared His people to a flock of sheep, and Himself as their Shepherd, with the religious leaders as under-shepherds, placed in their position to guide and care for the flock. Today, the Lord gave Jeremiah a message to bring to those that the Lord had appointed to guide and lead His people, but who were failing in that assignment. This is a message that holds true for today, as well as in the days of the Old Testament prophets.
As the prophet Jeremiah begins his message today, he speaks out against both the religious and political leaders of the people of Judah. Today most countries have a strict separation of church and state. Our religious leaders are not to get involved with politics, and political leaders are to leave religion out of politics. However, in the days of the Old Testament there was not such a division. In the Kingdom of Judah, religious and political leaders went hand-in-hand. If the king and the princes strayed from Yahweh, the religious leaders and country often followed. It was King Solomon who officially introduced idolatry into the country, leading the people astray. The kings and the Levitical priesthood worked closely together. For centuries the kings and religious leaders of Judah swayed back and forth between good leaders or shepherds, who rightly guided the people, and bad shepherds who led them astray.
As time progressed, there were fewer good shepherds, and more bad ones, and now the Lord is calling down His condemnation upon them (vs. 1-4). The Lord had set them up as leaders for a purpose, to spiritually guide and care for His people. Instead, they have scattered and destroyed them, leading them astray, and not attending to them. This is the same today with our spiritual leaders. Those who are to be leading and guiding God’s people spiritually, are failing to do so. They cast aside God’s Word for messages that tickle the ears of those in the congregation, preaching messages that only make them feel good, or are politically correct for the times, and not what God’s Word truly says. It was the same then as it is today. God says that He will judge those shepherds. Israel’s leaders in the Old Testament, and pastors both today and throughout the Church era, have been charged with the care of God’s people, as a shepherd would watch over their sheep. Too often they prove to be false shepherds.
God will not leave His faithful remnant without a shepherd, though. He will give His people good shepherds (vs. 4). God, Himself, as the Good Shepherd will gather His scattered sheep. Jesus is the Good Shepherd, the smitten Shepherd (Zechariah 13:7), who laid down His life for the sheep (John 10:11). He has entrusted His work to other under-shepherds who serve under the Chief Shepherd (I Peter 5:1-4), until He comes again for His flock.
Jeremiah finishes this passage with prophecies about the coming Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ (vs. 5-6). He is called the Branch, because He came from David’s fallen family tree. Though there were a few good kings of Judah, descendants of David, more of them were evil and led the people astray. Jesus, the Branch from David, is righteous. He will sit on the throne of David, and His reign will be a time of renewed peace, justice, and righteousness.
In closing, one of the many names or titles of God told in Scripture is “The Lord our Righteousness (Yahweh Tsidkenu), which comes from verse 6 of our passage. As fallen sinners, we have no goodness, no righteousness of our own. The righteous Son of God took our sins upon Himself on the Cross, and made it possible for all who call upon Him as Savior to have His righteousness (II Corinthians 5:21). Have you accepted Jesus as your own personal Savior? Call upon Him today, and know personally for yourself, Yahweh Tsidkenu, The Lord our Righteousness.
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