November 10, 2022

2  Kings 16 (HCSB)
Judah’s King Ahaz
16 In the seventeenth year of Pekah son of Remaliah,  Ahaz  son of Jotham became king of Judah. 2 Ahaz was 20 years old when he became king and reigned 16 years in Jerusalem. He did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord his God like his ancestor David  3 but walked in the way of the kings of Israel.  He even made his son pass through the fire,  imitating the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had dispossessed before the Israelites.  4 He sacrificed and burned incense  on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree. 5 Then  Aram’s King Rezin and Israel’s King Pekah son of Remaliah came to wage war against Jerusalem. They besieged Ahaz but were not able to conquer him.  6 At that time Rezin king of Aram recovered Elath for Aram and expelled the Judahites from Elath.  Then the Arameans came to Elath, and they live there until today. 7 So Ahaz sent messengers  to Tiglath-pileser  king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. March up and save me from the power of the king of Aram and of the king of Israel, who are rising up against me.” 8 Ahaz also took the silver and gold found in the Lord’s temple and in the treasuries of the king’s palace and sent them to the king of Assyria as a gift. 9 So the king of Assyria listened to him and marched up to Damascus and captured it. He deported its people to Kir but put Rezin to death.
Ahaz’s Idolatry
10 King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria. When he saw the altar that was in Damascus, King Ahaz sent a model of the altar and complete plans for its construction to Uriah the priest. 11 Uriah built the altar according to all the instructions King Ahaz sent from Damascus. Therefore, by the time King Ahaz came back from Damascus, Uriah the priest had completed it. 12 When the king came back from Damascus, he saw the altar. Then he approached the altar and ascended it. 13 He offered his burnt offering and his grain offering, poured out his drink offering, and sprinkled the blood of his fellowship offerings on the altar. 14 He took the bronze altar that was before the Lord in front of the temple between his altar and the Lord’s temple, and put it on the north side of his altar. 15 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 his grain offering. Also offer the burnt offering of all the people of the land, their grain offering, and their drink offerings. Sprinkle on the altar all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of sacrifice. The bronze altar will be for me to seek guidance.” 16 Uriah the priest did everything King Ahaz commanded. 17 Then King Ahaz cut off the frames of the water carts and removed the bronze basin from each of them. He took the reservoir from the bronze oxen that were under it and put it on a stone pavement. 18 To satisfy the king of Assyria, he removed from the Lord’s temple the Sabbath canopy they had built in the palace, and he closed the outer entrance for the king.
Ahaz’s Death
19 The rest of the events of Ahaz’s reign, along with his accomplishments, are written in the Historical Record of Judah’s Kings. 20 Ahaz rested with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David, and his son Hezekiah became king in his place.

Sherry Dorris
Do you see a theme? The pattern continues with the kings doing evil.  Some kings did try to do what was right in God’s eyes, but their own selfishness and pride ultimately got in the way. Their reign on the throne became all about them. In high school I wrote a term paper on Jim Jones and the Jonestown Massacre of 1978. It was hard for me to understand how one man could convince thousands of people that he was the messiah. People followed him from Indiana to California to Guyana (South America) and eventually in death. The torture these people went through was unfathomable. He told them food was plentiful and they’d have everything they needed, just follow him. It was all lies. If you aren’t familiar with this event, look it up, you’ll be amazed at how one man had so many in his cult. In the end, he told the people it was over, time to die, and
they all drank the fruit punch. My point – make sure you are listening and following the One and Only Messiah, Jesus Christ. We have great pastors that preach God’s word, but we all need to read the Bible and make sure that what they are teaching aligns with God’s Holy Word.