09 Jeremiah 23:1-8 Who will help us out of this mess?

by Krisan Marotta | Jan 25, 2017 | 01 Podcasts, Jeremiah

Today’s leaders promise hope and change only to deliver corruption and scandal. We elect bright promising outsiders who go to Washington and immediately become insiders. They cease fighting for the ideals they promised in the campaign and start fighting to keep themselves in power. Who can make things right? Who will help us out of this mess?

Historical Setting

Jeremiah began his ministry as the dominant world power, the Assyrians, descended into civil war. As the Assyrians began to lose their power, Babylon and Egypt sought to occupy the power vacuum that the Assyrians would leave. In the midst of this political turmoil the Lord calls Jeremiah. His job is to predict and warn of the coming Babylonian invasion and the restoration that would follow the exile.

Outline

Jeremiah 23:1-8 divides into three sections:

23:1-4 – condemns the shepherds who have corrupted God’s flock
23:5-6 – promise the coming of an ideal king
23:7-8 – promise a new exodus that will be greater than the first

Woe to the Shepherds

1″Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of My pasture!” declares the LORD. 2Therefore thus says the LORD God of Israel concerning the shepherds who are tending My people: “You have scattered My flock and driven them away, and have not attended to them; behold, I am about to attend to you for the evil of your deeds,” declares the LORD. 3″Then I Myself will gather the remnant of My flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and bring them back to their pasture, and they will be fruitful and multiply. 4 “I will also raise up shepherds over them and they will tend them; and they will not be afraid any longer, nor be terrified, nor will any be missing,” declares the LORD. – Jeremiah 23:1-4

The word “woe” introduces an oracle of judgment.
Shepherds are suppose to 1) keep the sheep together so none of them get lost, and 2) protect the sheep from danger and predators.
Compare with Ezekiel 34:1-6.
The shepherds of Judah failed in both responsibilities: they have scattered and destroyed the sheep.
But God will intervene and send new shepherds, including one in particular.

The Righteous King

5″Behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; And He will reign as king and act wisely And do justice and righteousness in the land. 6″In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell securely; And this is His name by which He will be called, ‘The LORD our righteousness.’ – Jeremiah 23:5-6

“Days are coming” is a very general phrase with no time indication.
23:5 emphasizes the person of the Messiah
23:6 emphasizes what life will be like in the Messianic age.
There is a sense in which the leaders scattered the sheep by failing in their responsibilities (23:1).
There is another sense in which the Lord scattered the sheep by judging them for their rebellion (23:3).
The failure of our human leaders prepares us for the Lord to intervene.

The New Exodus

7″Therefore behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when they will no longer say, ‘As the LORD lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ 8but, ‘As the LORD lives, who brought up and led back the descendants of the household of Israel from the north land and from all the countries where I had driven them.’ Then they will live on their own soil.” – Jeremiah 23:7-8

Putting the same people with the same problem with sin back in the same land with the same kind of leaders will result in the same rebellion. We need a new and better hope and God promises it.
The Lord promises a new and different kind of shepherd, one who will rule with justice and righteousness.
Before the exile, the standard of salvation was God redeeming His people from Egypt. Israel was the people who crossed over the Red Sea.
After the return from exile, the new standard of salvation was God who gathered His people from exile. Israel was the people who came back from exile.
But after the death and resurrection of Christ, we have a new standard of salvation. We are people of the cross.

Application

It’s okay to admit the failure of our leaders.
The failure of our human leaders prepares us for the intervention of the Lord.
The Lords intervenes by sending a true Shepherd who will restore justice and rule wisely.

For more detail and explanation, please listen to the podcast.