Bible Students

Reflections on “Biblical Leadership” by Forrest (chapters 10-14)

This week’s reading covered leadership throughout the second half of the Old Testament, especially in the wisdom literature and the prophets. Throughout the wisdom literature and the prophets, leaders are seen as those who wisely lead their people and point them to God. The most important aspect of a leader is whether or not he points his people back to the Lord. One can see the consequences of neglecting this everywhere in the prophetic books. Whenever a leader would not turn his people to God, the prophets would arrive on the scene to chastise him. When he chose not to listen to the prophets, his kingdom would crumble, his nation would be destroyed, and he would be completely deposed. The king, or any leader, must purposefully point his people back to the Lord, or completely fail. 

That being said, leaders do not come fully build. Leaders in the Old Testament and today are works of art which must be continually added to by Christ. Leaders are sinners, and are expected to sin, but the way they handle that sin is the mark of a true leader. Do they point to the one who is forgiving and who causes reconciliation? Do they wallow in their sin, dropping their responsibilities? Or, worse of all, do they choose to do nothing about their sin and ignore it? These things will determine the kind of leader one is.

The leader must know how the Lord leads in order to lead his own people well. God’s provisions in the wilderness is a great example of God’s care for His nation and the care of a shepherd to the sheep. There are two kinds of people who primarily took care of sheep: The hireling and the shepherd.

The hireling is one who took care of the sheep for a day or two, and did not care much about the sheep. He had no permanent attachment to the wellbeing of the flock. However, the shepherd is one who did have a permanent attachment to their wellbeing. The shepherd had to take care of the flock for his own wellbeing. If the flock was destroyed, he would be destroyed. The shepherd spent all day with his sheep, knowing them well, and loving them. This is the example of the ultimate Shepherd. 

The shepherd would carry two things, a rod and a staff. The rod was for discipline, either of the sheep or for defense against an outside threat. The staff was for guidance. Of course, they could be used interchangeably if needed, but they were generally used in that way. The shepherd would count all the sheep in the folds, and they would lay at the gate. Nothing could pass without waking up the shepherd. 

David knew how to take care of his sheep. Servant leadership is about caring for the people, but it is also about being a shepherd who defends the flock. The King looks for the one who watches out for the flock well. The book of Proverbs speaks positively and negatively of leaders. A large population was seen as the marker for a proper ruler. 

In Proberbs, there is an analogy of locusts as an army. The locusts march together without a leader, but people need a leader to move together. People are wild animals, they need one who will lead them well and lead them to where they should go, namely back to the Lord. If left to their own devices, they will become more and more wild, depraved, and ungodly. 

The message of Ecclesiastes is toward leaders. The Lord is the only way to fulfillment. Qohelet can not find the meaning of life because of death. Death is the ultimate equalizer, as there is supposedly nothing of worth after death. This is, of course, when one sees death apart from being with the Lord. It is the end of the story. If there is no reward in the afterlife, why do anything now? Since there is no meaning, what is there to do now? 

The message was seen as important for the son of the second voice to hear. Finding meaning anywhere other than God is meaningless. Frustration that the world is not controllable shows godlessness. The leaders who can not get drunk are the ones who will lead well. 

Leaders must take risks while staying in the comfort of the Lord. The leader does not know what will happen, so they should do many things, for they do not know what will do well. The leader must show wisdom by going in many directions at first, so that when one of them succeeds, they can continue to go down the route of success. Today, that may look like trying many different ministries for a short season to see which of them has a desperate need in the community. 

Solomon had it all and ruined his kingdom. God must be the center of the life of the leader. Otherwise, the leadership will fail. Life under the sun is hard, and one must depend on the Lord. The work of leadership is a work of toil and sweat. Leadership apart from the Lord is difficult and grueling work. Leadership with the Lord is a work which is constantly renewing. Of course, there are very difficult seasons in leadership, but the Lord gives His renewal to those who look to Him for strength. When leaders look to the Lord, they are able to use His strength, rather than their own strength. 

The world has one way of leadership, and the Bible has another way of leadership. The godly leader must choose the leadership of the Lord, not the leadership of the world. The leadership of the world is the leadership of control, power, and domination. This leadership is greedy and envious of others. The leadership of the Bible seeks to give that leadership away to another, namely to Christ. Leadership of the Bible does not hoard power, but gives it to others. 

The prophets did not only announce the words of God, but lived the words of God as well. The life of the prophet was one marked by obedience to the Word, especially to symbolically live out the message God had for His people. The leader of today must also live out what the Lord has for His people. 

The people of the land take advantage of God’s creation in order to rule it in an evil way. Gentile kings rule God’s people (Israel, as well as the people of the whole earth) in an evil way, and the Lord takes notes. In fact, those rulers will be judged by God for their improper ruling. All ruling must be given back to God or face judgment. 

The general population follows after the leaders, so the leaders must be good to the general population. Wicked rulers are in this world, but the Lord is in control. The Lord is the one the leaders must trust in, because when the leader trusts in God, everything will go according to His plan. Leaders must not look to human alliances. Leaders must not turn to idols, but must turn to the Lord. The Lord will be established in Zion, as the King of Israel. 

Overall, this section has been very helpful for establishing a safe and dependable foundation for where the leader is to look, through the example of the wisdom and prophetic literature. I very much appreciate the use of wisdom and prophetic material, as I feel they are often something deemed too difficult to dive in to. Leaders absolutely must follow in the wisdom and prophetic vision presented in God’s Word, and should be absolutely steeped in the divinely approved examples of obedience through the prophets and the wisdom literature.