A Leadership Vacuum Leads to Public Crisis

HOW important is the character and quality of a nation’s leaders? Extremely important, according to Isaiah. At the time when Isaiah 3 was given, the nation probably was prospering under the wise, godly leadership of King Uzziah (around 792–740 B.C.) or his successor, King Jotham (around 750–735 B.C.).

However, Isaiah foresaw a time when God would remove the better leaders (Isaiah 3:1-3), leaving behind mere “babes” who would have no experience in running the institutions of society and no respect for the wisdom of the past. As a result, these “children” would become selfish oppressors (Isaiah 3:4-5) who would run roughshod over the needs of the poor (Isaiah 3:14-15). That happened when Jerusalem fell to Babylon (586 B.C.; 2 Kings 25:11-12, 22-26), though no one can say whether that exhausted the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy.

The lesson is that a leadership vacuum leads to public crisis. That being the case, we as God’s people today do well to prevent that kind of vacuum from forming by:

• recruiting and appointing the best people available, leaders of high moral character and outstanding leadership skills;
• appropriately paying and rewarding people for their public service;
• supporting leaders and working together with them in their efforts to promote good government and prevent social, economic, and moral deterioration;
• praying for leaders as they exercise their authority; and
• raising up and training our children to be outstanding leaders for the coming generation.

Courtesy of Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Commentary
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.