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In this chapter, we see God really target the people in positions of leadership among the Jews. As you look back at the history of Israel, when a good and righteous king was on the throne, the people, for the most part, stayed faithful and obedient. When there was an evil king, or in this case, a long string of evil kings in succession to one another, the people perished.
God makes this clear in the previous chapter of Jeremiah 22.
“Are you a king because you excel in cedar? Didn’t your father eat and drink and administer justice and righteousness? Then it went well with him. [16] He took up the case of the poor and needy; then it went well. Is this not what it means to know me? This is the LORD’s declaration.”
Jeremiah 22:15-16 CSB
I think about what that means for us today, and I think it has a ton of practicality. Scripture tells us in John 15:5, “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.”
For believers, we are all leaders in the sense that God has risen us up to be his disciples and filled us with His Holy Spirit. He has chosen and set us apart for great works. This is God’s will, that we would bear much fruit! For us to take our leadership for granted, or worse, to become disconnected from the vine, causes not only our own lives to be filled with turmoil, but also those around us who we have been called to minister to.
Let us not be guilty of “deserting them and driving them to destruction…” just as the leaders of Jeremiah’s time did.