2 Kings 16

Trying to understand the history of Judah, Israel, Syria, and Assyria can be very challenging. Let's take a moment to review some facts. After David and Solomon, the old Israel was divided into two parts, Judah (with the continuing line of David) and the new "Israel" in the north (with other kings in several different mini-dynasties that were NOT in the line of David). Syria was the neighboring nation immediately to the northeast. Further east was the more powerful Assyrian Empire, different than the nation of Syria.

Concerning the kings of Israel and Judah, all the kings in the north (the new Israel after the split) were evil, even though they occasionally repented or did something in obedience to the Word of the Lord. Some of the kings in the south (Judah) were good, even though they occasionally were arrogant or ignored the Word of the Lord.

Ahaz, the king of Judah in 2 Kings 16, was not a good king. Like some of the earlier kings of Judah, he walked in the ways of the wicked kings of Israel to the north. Ahaz not only tolerated false worship in others, he participated in it himself. “He even burned his son as an offering.”

During the days of Ahaz, Israel and Syria were in league together against Judah. In order to survive this challenge, Ahaz looked further to the east to the powerful Assyrian Empire to rescue Judah from her neighbors.

Ahaz was determined to change the worship of Judah according to the pattern that he observed in Syria. He actually had a new altar built in the temple, calling it the “great altar,” displacing the bronze altar of the Lord, and changing the practices of temple worship according to his own design. Ahaz directed the priests in these innovations and they followed his instructions. In some of the renovations that he made in the temple courts, Ahaz displayed a desire to accommodate the king of Assyria. The king of Assyria was his Lord.

But like all the kings of Judah that came before him, Ahaz did not have “... the power of an indestructible life.” (Hebrews 7:16) When his time came to die, Ahaz slept with his fathers, and a much better king, Hezekiah, reigned in his place.

Ahaz was not an atheist. He was interested in spiritual things. Why else would he go to the trouble of having a foreign altar built in Jerusalem? He was spiritual, but he would not obey the God of Israel as the God above all other gods. He did not follow Yahweh as His only Lord.

Ahaz was one of the worst kings of Israel. The true son of David, Jesus, was the very best. Jesus did not come to abolish the Law of God, but to fulfill it. In accomplishing all of the holy commandments of Yahweh, Jesus has become our salvation. But our great Redeemer is not only our Savior. He is our Lord. If we admire Him as one among many spiritual advisers, we insult Him and follow in the way of kings like Ahaz. Ahaz was not extolled by the Lord as an open-minded leader over God's people. “He did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God, as his father David had done.” But God said this about Jesus: “This is My beloved Son; listen to Him.” (Mark 9:7)