January 12, 2022
Please use the comment section on this page to share insights from today’s reading OR your own personal Bible reading.
Reading along with us in 2 Kings? Here’s today’s reading:
2 Kings 16 (NIV)
Ahaz King of Judah
1 In the seventeenth year of Pekah son of Remaliah, Ahaz son of Jotham king of Judah began to reign. 2 Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. Unlike David his father, he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God. 3 He followed the ways of the kings of Israel and even sacrificed his son in the fire, engaging in the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites. 4 He offered sacrifices and burned incense at the high places, on the hilltops and under every spreading tree.............Continue Reading
Ahaz was one of the worst (if not THE worst) kings in the line of David. His complete disregard for the Lord included:
1) sacrificed his son
2) worshiped in high places
3) allied with Assyria
4) looted the temple
5) built a new temple
6) altered the old temple
2 kings 16
2 Kings 16
As satisfying as it is to read of a righteous king following an unrighteous one, how sad it is to have an unrighteous king come from a righteous one…especially as unrighteous as Ahaz (how sad to follow a religion that requires you to burn your child to demonstrate your fidelity or gain a god’s favor). His grandfather reigned for 50+ years in righteousness and his father 16. It just goes to show how important establishing a relationship with God of our own is and being convinced of how right it is to follow Him. And this whole incident with Peka, Rezin and turning to Assyria is the subject matter of Isaiah 7 where Isaiah encourages Ahaz to trust God and not turn to Assyria for help. He tells Ahaz to ask for a sign to indicate God has been faithful and Ahaz refuses to. That is when Isiah talks about the sign of Immanuel.
It is also interesting to see measures of fidelity in Ahaz’s worship, but a complete disregard for God in the midst of it. We need to watch out for similar things in our lives. Following aspects of God’s will or aspects of worship (like I pray when I am in trouble), but there is then no repentance towards God in seeking His will and letting Him make the calll as to how I would live. It’s about doing the things that are comfortable and make me feel good, while avoiding the things that are hard. God calls us to embrace both…..
Ahaz was a sad king that fell so far from God. Enough so that they tore down His temple to put up an pagan altar in its place. I found it interesting that he was trying to make the king of Assyria happy with no regard for God and the priests went along with it as well.
Ken makes a good summary of how thorough Ahaz’s rebellion against God went.
I used to picture people worshiping idols as having little Buddha statues in their living room. The worship of false gods is so much darker.
From enduringword.com:
“This describes Ahaz’s participation in the worship of Molech. The pagan god (or demon, more accurately) Molech was worshipped by heating a metal statue representing the god until it was red hot, then placing a living infant on the outstretched hands of the statue, while beating drums drowned out the screams of the child until it burned to death.
i. In Leviticus 20:1-5, God pronounced the death sentence against all who worshipped Molech, saying: I will set My face against that man, and will cut him off from his people, because he has given some of his descendants to Molech, to defile My sanctuary and profane My holy name (Leviticus 20:3).
ii. Sadly, even a man as great as Solomon at least sanctioned the worship of Molech and built a temple to this idol (1 Kings 11:7). One of the great crimes of the northern tribes of Israel was their worship of Molech, leading to the Assyrian captivity (2 Kings 17:17). King Manasseh of Judah gave his son to Molech (2 Kings 21:6). Up to the days of King Josiah of Judah, Molech worship continued, because he destroyed a place of worship to that idol (2 Kings 23:10).