The Reason for Leadership

What is the role of a leader? To look after God's people. Sadly, Judah's kings after righteous Josiah missed the mark on this very badly. Josiah had four sons rule after him, none of them were righteous. And the end of the kingdom was undisputed as a result. In Jeremiah 22, God sends Jeremiah to the house of the King:

Jeremiah 22:1–2 (ESV) Thus says the LORD: “Go down to the house of the king of Judah and speak there this word, 2 and say, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, who sits on the throne of David, you, and your servants, and your people who enter these gates.

What is his message to these monarchs?

Jeremiah 22:3–5 (ESV) Thus says the LORD: Do justice and righteousness and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place. 4 For if you will indeed obey this word, then there shall enter the gates of this house kings who sit on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their servants and their people. 5 But if you will not obey these words, I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that this house shall become a desolation.

It's very clear throughout scripture that kings and authority have one specific purpose—to bring justice to the land. They are in place to execute God's righteous standards on behalf of those under their care. God often called His leaders shepherds and took David from the sheepfold to be His chosen king. The concept of a shepherd leader runs throughout the scriptures, ringing out God's heart for the careful leading of what are often foolish people. 

But in Jeremiah's time, Judah's kings were fools. 

Shallum suffered an irreversible exile to Egypt. 

Jeremiah 22:11–12 (ESV) For thus says the LORD concerning Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, and who went away from this place: “He shall return here no more, 12 but in the place where they have carried him captive, there shall he die, and he shall never see this land again.”

Another son, Jehoiakim, took advantage of the people, enslaving them to enrich himself. 

Jeremiah 22:13–14 (ESV) “Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his upper rooms by injustice, who makes his neighbor serve him for nothing and does not give him his wages, 14 who says, ‘I will build myself a great house with spacious upper rooms,’ who cuts out windows for it, paneling it with cedar and painting it with vermilion. 

Then, the question:

Jeremiah 22:15 (ESV) Do you think you are a king because you compete in cedar? Did not your father eat and drink and do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him.

That question is piercing. It is not your opulence that makes you a king, it is your care for the people. All leaders must remember these warnings. God is not looking to simply bless and prosper you. He's looking for leadership of His people from you. He wants them cared for as He cares for them. 

Finally on the list is Coniah. His is doomed to a childless inheritance. 

Jeremiah 22:28–30 (ESV) Is this man Coniah a despised, broken pot, a vessel no one cares for? Why are he and his children hurled and cast into a land that they do not know? 29 O land, land, land, hear the word of the LORD! 30 Thus says the LORD: “Write this man down as childless, a man who shall not succeed in his days, for none of his offspring shall succeed in sitting on the throne of David and ruling again in Judah.”

Notice this last condemnation. His lineage is cut off. He will not see his name carried on. God says if you don't care for those who are mine, you will have none of your own. 

All of this sounds very negative, but remember how the righteous kings of Judah were abundantly blessed. It is not that God wills leaders to be impoverished for the people. Josiah was blessed, and Hezekiah, Uzziah, Solomon, and David were too. I'm a firm believer that if we bless God's house and care for His people, He will abundantly bless and care for us. 

Leadership is a sacred trust from God. He gives it for reasons beyond the leader. And those who understand this will see God keep them, establish them, and honor them.