Bad Shepherds and Good
Jeremiah 23:1-6
Tony’s Overview Video
How to Use
Preparing to teach
- Read the Bible Lesson by Tony Cartledge in this month’s issue of the Nurturing Faith Journal
- Watch Tony’s Video for this session
- Select either the Adult or Youth teaching guide and follow the directions
Click to read the Bible Lesson by Tony Cartledge
Key Verse: Jeremiah 23:5 –
“The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.”
Occasionally we hear the news that some respected figure has a seamier side that has come to light. A mayor is charged with accepting kickbacks in return for steering city contracts toward a particular company. A senator is accused of pursuing an extramarital affair. A male doctor is found to have been taking indecent liberties with young female patients. It happens all too often, and it’s always heartbreaking.
I can happen with religious leaders, too. Most of us can name preachers, both famous televangelists and local pastors whose ministry was tarnished or ended when it came to light that they had betrayed their spouse, or misused church funds, or abused one of the youth. Such news is always disturbing – but it’s not a new problem. People in positions of authority – whether political or economic or religious – have always been tempted to misuse their power.
A perceptive prophet
Such was the case in the small country of Judah, in the waning years before the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar crushed Jerusalem and began uprooting the powerful and wealthy and influential and particularly skilled people from the homes, marching them to Babylon and a life in exile.
Jeremiah lived during a time of much upheaval. The northern kingdom of Israel had been destroyed by the Assyrians more than a century before, and Judah had grown weaker. Jeremiah dated the beginning of his prophecy to the 13th year of King Josiah (Jer. 25:3), who showed more promise than his predecessors, spearheading religious reforms that included renovating the temple in Jerusalem and tearing down other places of worship. After Josiah ordered renovations to the temple, the priest Hilkiah brought to him a book of the law – probably an early verison of Deuteronomy – that had reportedly been found during the cleanup. [DD]
Unfortunately, Josiah died young in an ill-advised battle, and the kings who ruled after him during the next two decades were disappointments. Jeremiah watched as the country fell under the domination of first Egypt, and then Babylon, ultimately falling to Nebuchadnezzar and being carried into exile. Jeremiah escaped to Egypt, but remained in touch with the exiles through letters. [DD]
In a time when other religious leaders were failing, Jeremiah steadfastly remained true to Yahweh and denounced all religious deviations. Often, he interpreted Judah’s political troubles and impending wars as punishment for the nation’s sin in turning away from Yahweh; yet, he also offered glimpses of hope for the future. [DD]
A change in leadership (vv. 1-4)
Today’s text finds Jeremiah offering words of both strong critique and ultimate hope. He began by lambasting both priests and prophets who served themselves or the temple rather than God. Jeremiah charged them with leading other people astray: “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the LORD” (v. 1).
In other places he accused both priests and prophets of trusting the temple more than God. While the Babylonians were threatening and Jeremiah was desperately calling the nation to repent and trust God for deliverance, priests and prophets associated with the temple were complacent, insisting that Yahweh would not allow the temple to fall into enemy hands. [DD]
Thus, Jeremiah once stood at the gate of the temple and declared: “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your doings, and let me dwell with you in this place. Do not trust in these deceptive words: ‘This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD’” (Jer. 7:3-4).
It wasn’t the presence of the temple that could save Jerusalem, but only a change in the attitudes and actions of the people. God does not dwell in a building, but among a people who have receptive and contrite hearts.
But the problem was even worse than faulty theology. Just a few verses past our core text, Jeremiah declared that the actions of the prophets and priests made him reel with revulsion. The prophets of Samaria had “prophesied by Baal and led my people astray,” he said, while the prophets of Jerusalem were even more shocking: “they commit adultery and walk in lies; they strengthen the hand of evildoers, so that no one turns from wickedness …” (vv. 13-14).
Because the “shepherds” had not properly “attended to” the people, Jeremiah declared that God would attend to them for their evil doings (v. 2). The word translated as “attend,” like the English word, can have both positive and negative connotations. We can attend to one another in a positive and loving manner – but no child wants to hear a parent or teacher say “I will attend to you later!”
Now, Yahweh had promised to “attend to” the ungodly priests and prophets with punishment. Further on, Jeremiah declared that Yahweh would drive them into dark and slippery paths where they would fall into disaster (v. 12), “for from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has spread throughout the land” (v. 15).
But Jeremiah was not without hope. He declared that God would not forget those faithful ones who remained: “Then I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them, and they shall not fear any longer, or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing, says the LORD” (vv. 3-4).
This prophecy probably derives from sometime between 597 and 587 BCE, for it presumes that many Judeans were already in exile. King Jehoiachin had surrendered Jerusalem to Nebuchadnezzar in 597 BCE. He and many others were taken captive and the temple was looted, but the city was left intact. Nebuchadnezzar put Jehoiachin’s uncle Mattaniah in charge as a new king, changing his name to Zedekiah (2 Kings 24:10-18).
Ten years later, however, Zedekiah refused to pay the annual tribute, and the Babylonians returned. This time they burned the city, destroyed the temple, and carried many more citizens into exile.
A righteous Branch (vv. 5-6)
Jeremiah’s hopes for the faithful “remnant” extended to a vision of a new and righteous king from among David’s descendants. “The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land” (v. 5).
Jeremiah portrayed the remnants of Israel and Judah as a tree that had been chopped down. But, he saw a future day when a new shoot would arise from the stump of David’s heritage, and a new king would emerge who would rule wisely and justly. [DD]
The new king would not only be just, but act as a deliverer: “In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: “The LORD is our righteousness” (v. 6).
Although Jeremiah preached long after the northern kingdom of Israel had been overwhelmed by the Assyrians, he believed that a remnant of both Israel and Judah remained, and still had hope for a good future.
His reference to the king being called “the LORD is our righteousness” was probably a swipe at the present king, whom Nebuchadnezzar had renamed as Zedekiah. The Hebrew word for “righteousness” is zedeq, and Zedekiah’s name (zidqiyahu in Hebrew) meant “My righteousness is Yahweh.” But Zedekiah had not lived up to his name. Only the future king could truly be called Yahweh zidqenu, “the LORD our righteousness.”
So what do we make of this prophecy? Jeremiah and his hearers, no doubt, anticipated a day when God would bring the remnant faithful home from exile, where they would live securely under the rule of a faithful king. The people did indeed return to Jerusalem, beginning in 538 BCE, but only as a province of Persia, with appointed Persian governors. This remained the case for more than three centuries, until they gained a brief period of independence under the Hasmoneans (about 140-37 BCE), but there was no evidence of a truly “righteous ruler.”
Thus, the hope of a coming “shoot” from the stump of David morphed into the hope for a coming Messiah, still held by Jews when Jesus emerged in the first century. As Christians looking at this text through the lens of the New Testament, we interpret Jeremiah’s salvation oracle as having been fulfilled in Christ.
The Kingdom of God inaugurated by Jesus is almost certainly not what Jeremiah had in mind, but from our perspective, even better. As Christians, we do not live as a religion-centered nation with our identity dependent upon political independence and a central temple, but as a global community of believers committed to the same God and the same ideals of right living based on love and respect for all persons.
As we do so, there is a sense in which we all are called to be good shepherds, encouraging others to lives of faithfulness and right living, that they do not go astray.
Adult Teaching Resources
Download the PDF of teaching resources for this lesson.
This PDF contains the Teaching Guide, Digging Deeper, and Hardest Question pages.
Read Scripture online: Jeremiah 23:1-6
Youth Teaching Resources
Parent Prep
The biblical texts always holds the shepherd more responsible than the sheep. This notion scares me as I think of raising kids. Will I be judged because of the actions of my children? Is it my fault that they have done what they do? My answer is both yes and no. If I teach them wrong, they know nothing else. But, if I teach them correctly, and they choose wrong, I can’t help that. Steer your students in the right direction, but remember that they ultimately have to choose.
Additional Links/Resources
Read Scripture online: Jeremiah 23:1-6
Download the PDF for youth teaching resources using the button below. This PDF contains the Teaching Guide for this lesson:
Video
Encourage youth to check out this video ahead of the lesson.
“Hope” from The Hunger Games
via www.youtube.com
Need Help?
Learn how to better use Nurturing Faith teaching resources.