Follow the Godly Leadership Examples

2 Kings 15:23-38
    23 In the fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekahiah the son of Menahem became king over Israel in Samaria, and reigned two years. 24 And he did evil in the sight of the LORD; he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had made Israel sin. 25 Then Pekah the son of Remaliah, an officer of his, conspired against him and killed him in Samaria, in the citadel of the king's house, along with Argob and Arieh; and with him were fifty men of Gilead. He killed him and reigned in his place.  26 Now the rest of the acts of Pekahiah, and all that he did, indeed they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.
    27 In the fifty-second year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekah the son of Remaliah became king over Israel in Samaria, and reigned twenty years. 28 And he did evil in the sight of the LORD; he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had made Israel sin. 29 In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria came and took Ijon, Abel Beth Maachah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali; and he carried them captive to Assyria. 30 Then Hoshea the son of Elah led a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah, and struck and killed him; so he reigned in his place in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah.  31 Now the rest of the acts of Pekah, and all that he did, indeed they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.
    32 In the second year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, Jotham the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, began to reign. 33 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jerusha the daughter of Zadok. 34 And he did what was right in the sight of the LORD; he did according to all that his father Uzziah had done. 35 However the high places were not removed; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. He built the Upper Gate of the house of the LORD.  36 Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 37 In those days the LORD began to send Rezin king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah against Judah. 38 So Jotham rested with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the City of David his father. Then Ahaz his son reigned in his place.

Pekahiah and Pekah ruled Israel, doing evil against the LORD and His word.  The same phrase is found, which describes how they both “did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had made Israel sin.”  These kings of Israel continued building God’s wrath against Israel for leading God’s people away from Him and into their sins of idolatry and disobedience.  However, Jotham the king of Judah did what pleased the LORD, what was right in His eyes according to His word as written in the Law and spoken by the prophets.  He continued the line of faithful rulers in Judah in stark contrast to those of Israel.  This does in no way mean that his rule was fully pleasing to the LORD, for there were still the high places where pagan worship continued along with true worship below, but the effort was there to set the direction and example for His people in the southern kingdom of Judah.  Jotham even had work done on the house of the LORD, building up the good effort to provide for worship by the priests and people.  The northern half of God’s people slid further away as the southern half maintained worship and obedience to a large extent - not perfectly, but with heart and effort by good examples in their leaders.  Leadership is essential to God’s people today just as much as then, though now each person is a temple of worship to be built up through teaching and discipleship, and the body of Christ is a collective temple to honor and serve Him (1 Corinthians 6:19, Ephesians 2:22, 1 Peter 2:5).  We are to lead by example (1 Timothy 4:12, 1 Peter 5:2-3) and to follow godly leadership in the areas which align with God’s word put into practice as seen in the results of following His ways as it is written (Hebrews 13:7, 1 Corinthians 11:1).  Let us learn from the good and bad examples (Romans 15:4, 1 Corinthians 10:11) and be godly ourselves, building our temples of obedience and holy worship on the foundation of Jesus the Christ (1 Corinthians 3:9-11, 16-17).  May we set and follow godly leadership examples.  Amen!