2 Kings 16:1 – 20 “In the seventeenth year of Pekah son of Remaliah, Ahaz son of Jotham became king of Judah. Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. And unlike David his father, he did not do what was right in the eyes of the LORD his God. Instead, he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and even sacrificed his son in the fire, according to the abominations of the nations that the LORD had driven out before the Israelites. And he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.
Then Rezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel came up to wage war against Jerusalem. They besieged Ahaz but could not overcome him.
At that time Rezin king of Aram recovered Elath for Aram, drove out the men of Judah, and sent the Edomites into Elath, where they live to this day.
So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and save me from the hands of the kings of Aram and Israel, who are rising up against me.”
Ahaz also took the silver and gold found in the house of the LORD and in the treasuries of the king’s palace, and he sent it as a gift to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria responded to him, marched up to Damascus, and captured it. He took its people to Kir as captives and put Rezin to death.
Then King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria. On seeing the altar in Damascus, King Ahaz sent Uriah the priest a model of the altar and complete plans for its construction. And Uriah the priest built the altar according to all the instructions King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, and he completed it by the time King Ahaz had returned.
When the king came back from Damascus and saw the altar, he approached it and presented offerings on it. He offered his burnt offering and his grain offering, poured out his drink offering, and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings on the altar. He also took the bronze altar that stood before the LORD from the front of the temple (between the new altar and the house of the LORD) and he put it on the north side of the new altar.
Then King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest, “Offer on the great altar the morning burnt offering, the evening grain offering, and the king’s burnt offering and grain offering, as well as the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings of all the people of the land. Sprinkle on the altar all the blood of the burnt offerings and sacrifices. But I will use the bronze altar to seek guidance.”
So Uriah the priest did just as King Ahaz had commanded.
King Ahaz also cut off the frames of the movable stands and removed the bronze basin from each of them. He took down the Sea from the bronze oxen that were under it and put it on a stone base. And on account of the king of Assyria, he removed the Sabbath canopy they had built in the temple and closed the royal entryway outside the house of the LORD.
As for the rest of the acts of Ahaz, along with his accomplishments, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
And Ahaz rested with his fathers and was buried with them in the City of David, and his son Hezekiah reigned in his place.”
Ahaz is twenty years old when he becomes king and reigns until he is thirty – six, and his reign is nothing but a spiritual disaster! One teacher has described this chapter of 2 Kings as “How Ahaz spoiled Judah.” If there is a hill or a high place or a green tree anywhere near, Ahaz is there burning incense and making offerings. Ahaz gives up his son and heir as a burnt offering to Molech. No depravity is too low for Ahaz. Then Ahaz turns his attention to the temple of the Lord and proceeds to trash it, cutting off the bases from the rolling stands, removing the bronze oxen from underneath the bronze sea and replacing them with a stone base. If there is any way Ahaz can degrade the temple of the One True Living God, he’s all for it.
Ahaz curries favor with Tiglath – pileser, the Assyrian king, by emptying the temple and the palace of any treasures left and sending them to Assyria. To add to all these foul deeds, Ahaz travels to Damascus, where he sees a huge impressive altar. Nothing will do but for Ahaz to have someone make a copy of that altar and send the plans back to Uriah, the high priest, ordering Uriah to have a copy made and to place it in the central place of honor in the temple in Jerusalem. The altar of the Lord is shoved to one side but retained; after all, Ahaz might possibly want to consult the Lord for guidance. But meanwhile, Ahaz proceeds to act as his own priest, making all kinds of offerings on this new altar, despite the fact that he is totally unqualified to do so. Notice that Ahaz is maintaining the times of the offerings and the kinds of offerings; after all, we mustn’t offend Elohim too much. But the priests are relegated to sitting by while Ahaz does his thing.
Pity Uriah, the high priest! While there is no record of Uriah protesting about Ahaz’s horrible changes to the temple, what is Uriah supposed to do? Ahaz is obviously unstable mentally and emotionally and is fully capable of killing anyone who stands in his way.
It is highly significant that Ahaz modifies the temple to suit the king of Assyria, closing the royal entrance and removing the Sabbath canopy where the kings have sat ever since the time of Solomon. Ahaz is groveling before Tiglath – pileser as much as possible. Having rejected God, Ahaz has no choice but to resort to this kind of outrageous behavior.
APPLICATION: Ahaz stands – or crawls – as a perfect example of what happens once you begin to compromise with sin and attempt to be your own amateur providence. Ahaz can’t rely on God because he has never known God in any form. Ahaz views God as one more local deity to be consulted when things get really awful. It is obvious that Ahaz has never received any training about God from his father, or if he has, now Ahaz is busy rebelling. At age 20, Ahaz may well be ready to throw off any traces of godliness his father might have tried to inculcate. Some people remain immature for their entire lives; it’s possible that Ahaz lives out his sixteen years as king in a permanent state of adolescent rebellion. Truly, Ahaz helps ruin Judah.
The only time Ahaz follows the Law of Moses is when he observes the kinds of sacrifices to be made and the times of day for them. Ahaz appears to feel that going through the motions is enough, but he is absolutely wrong. Ahaz is the epitome of someone who has the form of religion but who has no idea of the substance. What makes the difference? Ahaz’s heart is not right before the Lord.
We might read this chapter and feel a bit smug; after all, we haven’t done any of the horrible things that Ahaz has done. But as Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4, “God is a spirit and they who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth.” How much of our worship resembles that of Ahaz – keeping times but not being truly obedient to God? Do we worship God in spirit and in truth?
Jesus once told his disciples a story about two men who went up to the temple to pray. One man was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector. The Pharisee began by thanking God that he was not like other men – extortioners, unjust, or even like that tax collector. Then the Pharisee recited all his virtues to God and left. The tax collector stood off in a corner and beat his breast in despair, weeping as he said, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” Jesus advised his disciples that it was the tax collector who went home justified and not the Pharisee because those who exalted themselves would be humbled and those who humbled themselves would be exalted.
Ahaz spent his adult life prostrating himself before demons. It’s likely that the longer Ahaz worshiped those demons, the worse he became because he continually focused on the demonic. In the end, it was the demons who would receive his soul. Let us truly worship God while we can and pray that God will give us His nature!
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, help us to worship You in spirit and in truth. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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