After reading two chapters dedicated to rebuking wicked kings, you might be expecting some more of the same. And as you begin reading chapter twenty-three the tone of divine denunciation does continue. But not for long. It’s as though, God, having spoken about wicked kings like Jehoiahkim, Jeconiah, and Zedekiah, knew His people needed a word of hope, a note of grace, and provided a promise of light amidst the darkness. But before we read something different, a promise of grace greater than all the sin of the previously indicted kings, there is first a note of woe: “‘Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!’ says the Lord” (Jer. 23:1).
