There are three very unflattering descriptions of leaders that Isaiah addressed. These powerful people could have made life very hard for the prophet when he labeled them as negligent, greedy, and pleasure-seeking individuals.
Negligent
The region’s superpowers were pictured as devouring wild animals, but Israel’s leaders were nothing more than sleeping dogs.
All you wild animals,
all you wild animals in the forest, come to devour!
Israel’s sentinels are blind;
they are all without knowledge;
they are all silent dogs
that cannot bark,
dreaming, lying down,
loving to slumber. (Isaiah 56:9-10)
Why were Israel’s sentinels blind and without knowledge?
While reading a dense and difficult book on theology, I ran across a very perceptive quote. The author said, “You may read 5 dollars’ worth of material to get 50 cents’ worth of knowledge, but that information is crucial.”
Israel’s leaders were blind to the knowledge they needed because they chose to sleep on the job rather than do the hard work of leadership.
Dr. Grady Cauthen was the president of the seminary I attended. He told us in his first message that lazy preachers who only do enough to get by in seminary deserve a lazy doctor who barely got through medical school.
When the spiritual, governmental, and business leaders are negligent in their duties, the nation will be vulnerable to devouring wild animals.
Greedy
My wife and I have moved to the country to be near our two grandsons and their parents. We also have two grand-dogs.
One of them is a golden retriever who has never come across anything that she doesn’t want to eat. I have seen her eat mice in one gulp, but also enjoy a tasty piece of gravel on more than one occasion. She and her partner, a rat terrier, are keeping our home mouse-free.
While I get a kick out of our grand-dogs and their antics, a dog-like appetite is not what you want in a leader, as Isaiah noted.
The dogs have a mighty appetite;
they never have enough.
The shepherds also have no understanding;
they have all turned to their own way,
to their own gain, one and all. (Isaiah 56:11)
Grift, kleptocracy, and oligarchy are terms that I don’t remember being used twenty years ago.
Vladimir Putin is credited with turning Russia into a kleptocracy, where a few extremely rich oligarchs derive their wealth from the government. While the Russian oligarchs travel the world on their yachts, 60% of Russian homes don’t have indoor plumbing.
Putin may have been the modern father of kleptocracy, but many leaders around the world have fallen to the temptation of vast riches and power.
Greed is not limited to governmental leaders. Ask Google to provide you with a list of the top ten wealthiest preachers in the world. When you have finished being astonished at their wealth, do the same for the top ten business leaders.
Why are the wild animals of verse 9 able to devour nations? People who have the responsibility to be shepherds over congregations, organizations, and nations feed themselves rather than the sheep.
This is what God said about such behavior through the prophet Ezekiel.
To the shepherds—thus says the Lord God: Woe, you shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep?
You eat the fat; you clothe yourselves with the wool; you slaughter the fatted calves, but you do not feed the sheep.
You have not strengthened the weak; you have not healed the sick; you have not bound up the injured; you have not brought back the strays; you have not sought the lost, but with force and harshness you have ruled them (Ezekiel 34:3-4).
Pleasure-Seeking
Paul wrote about those who oppose God’s purposes in the world. Note the characteristics of those who are enemies of the cross of Christ.
For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things (Philippians 3:18-19).
The god they worship is their appetite. Pleasure-seeking turns their minds from the plans of God to earthly matters.
The leaders that Isaiah criticized did the same thing. They were confident that every day would be the same and were content to pursue the pleasures their wealth provided them. Little did they know that devouring, animal-like nations were prepared to eat them alive.
“Come,” they say, “let us get wine;
let us fill ourselves with strong drink.
And tomorrow will be like today,
great beyond measure.” (Isaiah 56:12)
Reflections
We are, first of all, citizens of God’s kingdom and owe our allegiance to Him.
Poor leadership is as old as Israel’s kings and as current as today’s news. James L. Mays wrote in the preface to his commentary on Amos, “We are able to put a man on the moon, but our morality hasn’t progressed beyond what we read in the Book of Amos.”
As citizens of God’s kingdom, what attitudes and actions should be ours?
When Jesus was questioned by Pilate about His kingdom, He said, “My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom belonged to this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here” (John 18:36).
No matter what we think about leaders in America and around the world, we must remember that our primary loyalty is to the kingdom of God.
As such, we are to align our lives with His kingdom values. The best way we can do this is to incorporate Jesus’ attitudes and actions into our lives as revealed in the Gospels. A good place to begin is the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7).
One of my practices is to pray the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13) and ask God to answer the prayer according to His will.
If we are sincere about living as good citizens in God’s kingdom, the Holy Spirit will direct our attitudes and actions.
YouTube Discussion
Rudy Ross, Bruce Kirby, and I discussed this passage on YouTube today.
Real Voices 