Promise and Rebuke: Isaiah 56, 57 (2)

Pray Psalm 28.8, 9.
The LORD is their strength,
And He is the saving refuge of His anointed.
Save Your people,
And bless Your inheritance;
Shepherd them also,
And bear them up forever.

Read Isaiah 56.9-12. 

Reflect.
1. To what does God liken the shepherds of Israel – the rulers, priests, and judges?

2. What were they doing to incur God’s judgment?

Meditate.
Israel’s problem – the reason the northern kingdom had been carried away to Assyria, and why Judah and Jerusalem were now going to captivity in Babylon – was a failure of leadership. All the prophets railed against the kings, princes, judges, priests, and even other prophets, because they cared only for their own interests, and did not watch out for the people.

Their failure to watch over the Lord’s flock meant that “beasts of the field” devoured the people (v. 9), leading them into all manner of idolatry and robbing them of the blessings of the Lord. Jesus warned against shepherds who did not know, lead, defend, and even lay down their lives for the sheep (Jn. 10).

The shepherds of Israel were like worthless watchdogs (vv. 10, 11). They were blind, stupid, and did not speak up to warn the people of sin. They did not lead them to the pastures of the Lord, but left them to wander the fields of the world in search of spiritual sustenance. They preyed on the people (v. 11), but they did not pray for them. They sought their own gain (v. 11), rather than to gain the blessings of God for His people. They became drunk with wine rather than with the salvation of the Lord (v. 12; cf. Ps. 116.12, 13).

If the people wondered why, in view of the great salvation God promised them, they were heading off to captivity in Babylon, they had only to look to their leaders, who had failed in their calling, and thus allowed the people to fail in theirs as well.

This is a warning that shepherds and people in every generation need to hear.

Prepare.
1. Who are the shepherds of your church? What work of shepherding do they carry out?

2. What is the responsibility of God’s people for helping their shepherds do the work appointed to them?

3. Against what kinds of threats should the shepherds of God’s flock guard the people under their care?

For often church leaders do not have foresight, and they fear to lose favor with human beings and fear to say the right things freely and according to the voice of truth. They in no way act with the attention of the pastors of the flock but are more like hired hands who flee when the wolf approaches, while they themselves quietly hide. Gregory the Great (540-604 AD), Letter 1.23

Lord, I pray for the shepherds of our church today, that You would help them to…

Pray Psalm 28.
Use this psalm to seek the shepherding care of the Lord, to guard against all wickedness and sin and to strengthen you for serving Him this day.

Sing to the Lord.
Psalm 28 (Angel’s Story: O Jesus, I Have Promised)
I cry to You, our Savior, O, be not deaf to me! 
Lord, speak to me with favor, lest I should dying be. 
Hear now my supplications when for Your help I cry; 
Receive these, my oblations, before Your throne on high. 

Lord, count me not among those who walk in sinful ways; 
With words of peace their tongue glows while evil fills their days. 
Your works they disregard, Lord, while evil fills their hands; 
Destroy them by Your Word, Lord, and let them no more stand. 

Blessed be the Name of Jesus, for He will hear our prayer. 
His strength protects and shields us with mercy and with care. 
In You our heart rejoices; You help us by Your Word. 
To You we raise our voices to praise and thank You, Lord. 

Our strength are You, O Savior, our strong defense and sure. 
Anointed with Your favor, we rest in You secure. 
Save us, and bless us, Jesus, upon us turn Your face; 
With shepherd’s care, Lord, keep us forever in Your grace.

T. M. Moore

How great is the salvation which is ours in Jesus Christ? Download the three installments of our free study, Such a Great Salvation, and learn for yourself (click here).

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing adapted from The Ailbe Psalter. All quotations from Church Fathers fromAncient Christian Commentary Series, General Editor Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006).All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter (available by clicking here).