Through the Bible: 2 Chronicles 27; Isaiah 9-12
2 [Jotham] did what was right in the Lord’s sight just as his father Uzziah had done. In addition, he didn’t enter the Lord’s sanctuary, but the people still behaved corruptly. (2 Chronicles 27:2)
Someone has said, “If you think you’re leading, but you don’t have anyone following you, all you are doing is taking a walk.” I wonder if that could have been said by King Jotham. King Jotham, son of Uzziah, who reigned for sixteen years in Jerusalem. He was one of eight kings of Jerusalem who got a good grade.
The statement that Jotham “didn’t enter the Lord’s sanctuary” only makes sense if you remember his father Uzziah. Uzziah’s long reign ended in tragedy when he arrogantly entered the temple to burn incense—a privilege reserved for the priests—and God struck him with leprosy (2 Chronicles 26:16-21). Jotham learned from his father’s failure. Unlike Uzziah, he respected God’s boundaries.
So it was a good mark on his report card that Jotham didn’t enter the temple in a presumptuous way like his father. In fact, there aren’t any black marks on his report card at all. He fortified Jerusalem’s defenses, expanded the temple, defeated Judah’s enemies, and enriched the national treasury. All because, according to verse 6, “he did not waver in obeying the Lord his God
Except this: “but the people still behaved corruptly”
How is that possible? How can Scripture praise the king while condemning the nation?
What are we to make of this? Was it Jotham’s fault? Does everything rise and fall with leadership?
It doesn’t. A leader can do all the right things, and still not have buy in from the people. Conversely, a leader like Athaliah could do her best (or worst) to lead the people away from Yahweh, only to be overthrown (see 2 Chronicles 23:1-14). The Chronicler himself seems intent on correcting simplistic ideas about leadership. As J. A. Thompson observes:
Here the Chronicler once again contradicts a superficial reading of his book, one that would assert that all the successes or failures of Judah could be attributed to whether the king had been “good” or “bad.” Instead, the people can contradict the attitudes of their rulers, whether the ruler be the wicked Athaliah or the good Jotham. The rulers of Israel were tremendously important in determining the attitudes and destiny of the nation, but the citizens could not be absolved of responsibility for their actions and attitudes.
J. A. Thompson, 1, 2 Chronicles, vol. 9, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1994), 333.
Judah eventually fell, not simply because it had bad kings, but because generation after generation refused to return to the Lord. Bad leaders accelerated the decline, but stubborn hearts made judgment inevitable.
Here’s why this matters for us today: Every one of us is both a leader and a follower. Parents lead children. Employees follow supervisors. Pastors lead churches while following Christ.
Church members follow leaders while also bearing personal responsibility before God.
Personally, I’m challenged to take a hard look at both my leadership of the church I pastor, and the willingness of the members of my church to be led. Reaching our community is not completely up to me, nor is it completely up to them. I’ve got to do everything in my power to “do what is right in the eyes of the Lord,” and our membership has to do everything in their power to obey what God is telling them. That doesn’t mean they blindly fall in line behind me. But it does mean that individual Christians (church leadership included) must do a constant gut check to see whether or not they are “behaving corruptly.”
Good people can overcome bad leadership. A good leader can, to some extent, work with, work through, or work around obstinate followers. But no church, organization, or country can overcome bad leaders and obstinate, rebellious followers.
Healthy churches aren’t built by gifted leaders alone or by enthusiastic members alone. They’re built when both leaders and followers refuse to waver in obeying the Lord their God.
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