23 “Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of My pasture!” declares the Lord. 2 Therefore thus says the Lord God of Israel concerning the shepherds who are [a]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 [b]tend them; and they will not be afraid any longer, nor be terrified, nor will any be missing,” declares the Lord.
5 “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord,
“When I will raise up for David a righteous [c]Branch;
And He will reign as king and [d]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.’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,’ 8 but, ‘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.”
It’s kind of wild how many things in Jeremiah’s day mirrored what was going on when the promised Messiah, Jesus, came onto the scene. From the start, we see supposed shepherds who were destroying and scattering God’s sheep. Not literal sheep, of course, but His people. Not everyone wanted to rebel against God, yet those in authority, even the priests themselves, were leading the people astray.
We saw this previously with Pashhur the priest who had Jeremiah whipped and beaten, and then came later to ask for a message from God. The same was true of the religious leaders in Jesus day, they literally did the same (and worse), and Jesus called them on it. He called them “blind guides” who were only interested in their position of authority and power.
God promised to raise up “a righteous Branch” to lead them, and that He would send them new shepherds to lead and guide them. All of that has happened, as Jesus is that righteous Branch, and we have good leaders yet today that want to help us follow the true Shepherd. But what hasn’t changed is that there are still folks who call themselves shepherds, who only serve to destroy and scatter the flock.
What can we do then, so that we are not led astray ourselves? Sheep don’t have much in the way of defenses, but we do have one really amazing defense. The Good Shepherd, who laid down His very life for us, can and will protect and lead us beside still waters. He leads us through the very valley of the shadow of death, and we need not fear (Psalm 23).
So our defense is to stay close to the one true Shepherd, not just anyone who claims to represent God. When we stay close to Jesus, it becomes a whole lot easier to spot the “wolves in sheep’s clothing”. I think of the song Lead On Good Shepherd, which reminds us that He will never steer us wrong. Draw near to Him, and stay near, and follow wherever the Good Shepherd leads.