Today in God's Word—March 2023
East Tallassee Church of Christ
March 10, 2 Chronicles 28
In the time of his distress he became yet more faithless to the LORD — this same King Ahaz. For he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus that had defeated him and said, "Because the gods of the kings of Syria helped them, I will sacrifice to them that they may help me." But they were the ruin of him and of all Israel. - 2 Chronicles 28:22-23
Most children have a strong sense of self and an aversion to restraint. They want to do what they want, and do not appreciate being told otherwise. It's a good thing for those little folks and society that most of them grow to understand that we are not free to do whatever we want to do. Sometimes the rash of troublesome self-direction breaks out again about the time a boy or girl gets a driver's license. It may recur again when they reach the age (usually 18 or 21) when the law considers them to be adults. A few people never do learn to restrain themselves and must be taught by more drastic measures.
When God delivered Israel out of Egypt, there was no question or doubt that God was the God of all gods, and that the Egyptians’ gods were powerless non-entities. The nation of Israel was birthed and founded on the prime directive that there is no God but the LORD, and that God will not tolerate any worship of anyone or anything else. That monotheistic conviction began to weaken almost as soon as the people of Israel went into the wilderness toward the land God had promised to give them. Idol worship sprang up among them very early. They provoked the wrath of Moses and of God at the base of Mt. Sinai, while Moses was still on the mountain receiving the law from God. The pagan nations’ idol gods and the licentious worship practices that indulged the strongest human desires attracted Israelites who knew better throughout Israel's generations.
By the mid-700’s BC, Israel and Judah were almost indistinguishable from their idolatrous
neighbors and enemies. The light of the knowledge of God had almost gone out, and one of the main reasons for the faithlessness of the people was the faithless leadership of one evil king after another.
Ahaz was by far the worst king of Judah up to this time. He moved farther away from God and deeper into the wickedness of unrestrained idolatry than any king who preceded him. Ahaz even burned his own son as a human sacrifice to a false God. He closed the doors of the temple, and robbed it of its sacred vessels, and built altars and idols all over Judah.
God had been patient with his faithless people for a long time. But finally, in the dark days of Ahaz, God poured out his wrath on his own people through multiple attacks by Syria, Israel, the Edomites and the Philistines. More than 100,000 died, and hundreds of thousands more were taken captive by their enemies. Judah had become as vile as the Canaanites, and God used others to punish them, just as he had used Israel to punish the Canaanites centuries before.
Within a decade or so, Israel would go out of existence as a nation when the Assyrians invaded, destroyed the capitol Samaria and took the Israelites away into captivity. Even at that late date, God was still sending prophets to warn them. The prophet Oded appeared only once in Scripture, and he came to rebuke Israel for using excessive force against Judah and taking their own relatives as captives. Because of his words of restraint, a few leading men of Israel intervened, showed the captives mercy and transported them back home. Even that was not so much a change of heart in Israel as much as it was God's mercy intervening in the plight of the captives from Judah.
God uses adversity to draw his people back to him. But men and women whose hearts are so hardened in rebellion and faithlessness sometimes get worse not better when they suffer. Troubles ought to be like sharp goads,
prodding us to return to and rely on God. But that is not automatic or guaranteed. Ahaz is an example of such a person who got worse and tried to find relief by turning to other gods that could not help or save him. His unbridled pursuit of the pagan gods was the ruin of himself, and of the nation.
This chapter reminds me of Jeremiah's words: "I know, O LORD, that the way of man is not in himself, that is not in man who walks to direct his steps." Paul was talking about pre-Christian Gentiles when he wrote: "For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened." And, "Since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness...." It's sad but true that those words describe Judah perfectly under king Ahaz.
God removed Ahaz from the throne after only 16 years. Judah was on the brink of collapse into total apostasy. Somehow (praise God!) out of the dark, swirling morass into which Ahaz had plunged the nation of Judah, a godly hero and Judah's last hope would emerge. Amazing but true, evil Ahaz had a godly son, Hezekiah, who followed his father on Judah's throne. His story of restoration and revival in Judah begins in the next chapter.
Copyright © 2023 by Michael B. McElroy. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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