So this chapter talks about the wickedness of the people. It points out here, however, that the leaders of the people cause them to err. How does that happen? Well, leaders could have this effect in more than one way. First, they lead by showing a bad example. If the leader does evil, then people who follow him will also do evil. Another way a leader can show influence on the people is by requiring them to do wicked things. Leaders tend to carry a very strong influence with the people that follow them.
While this verse is specifically speaking of the wickedness that can be caused by a wicked leader, I'd like to point oout that not all of the influence is bad. A leader can have a good influence on their followers. If a leader is acting morally and/or righteously, it is more likely that their people will be moral and righteous. Obviously, this is not foolproof. Some people don't want to be that way, but most will.
A leader is probably best defined simply as "someone who has followers". I think that this oversimplifies it a little, but the gist is that a good leader has good followers, and a bad leader has bad bad followers.
Reading this made me think of my role as a leader. I mean, anyone who has followers is a leader, whether they volunteered for the leadership role, or just had some people whoe decided to follow them. The important thing there, I think, is recognizing when it's time to step up and be a leader, and along with that, what kind of leader are you going to be?
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