2 Chronicles 28: 1 Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. He did not do what was pleasing in the sight of the LORD, as his ancestor David had done. 2 Instead, he followed the example of the kings of Israel. He cast metal images for the worship of Baal.
It’s amazing what we can learn from just the first two verses. Right from the get-go, we learn that Ahaz was only 20 years old when he became king and reigned until he was 36. He was the twelfth king of Judah since King Solomon and he’s the father of a much more famous king named Hezekiah.
Kings are usually classified as “good” or “bad”. According to the history books, 1-2 Kings and 1-2 Chronicles, the authors make it clear whether a king was pleasing to the Lord or not. Each king was defined by his obedience to God. My assessment of this observation is that this is what God valued most about their reigns.
But this principle doesn’t just apply to kings…
Luke 12: 48 But someone who does not know, and then does something wrong, will be punished only lightly. When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required.
One thing I love about the Bible is that in so many occasions we read a principle in the New Testament such as Luke 12: 48, and see it illustrated in the Old Testament. This is why it is just as important to read the Old Testament as it is the New Testament. The Old Testament illustrates much of what the New Testament teaches.
In this case, we see a king who has been given the kingdom of Judah and is responsible for all the citizens. Since a king is given much, much is required of him. God entrusted His people to these kings and they were held accountable to God accordingly.
Our disobedience will eventually affect others
With King Ahaz, we read that he did not do what was pleasing to God. Let’s find out how his lack of obedience towards God affects his kingdom.
Let’s keep reading about King Ahaz’s practices:
3 He offered sacrifices in the valley of Ben-Hinnom, even sacrificing his own sons in the fire. In this way, he followed the detestable practices of the pagan nations the Lord had driven from the land ahead of the Israelites. 4 He offered sacrifices and burned incense at the pagan shrines and on the hills and under every green tree.
And the penalty for this?
5 Because of all this, the Lord his God allowed the king of Aram to defeat Ahaz and to exile large numbers of his people to Damascus. The armies of the king of Israel also defeated Ahaz and inflicted many casualties on his army. 6 In a single day Pekah son of Remaliah, Israel’s king, killed 120,000 of Judah’s troops, all of them experienced warriors, because they had abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors.
Did you catch that?
Because of his sins God allowed a foreign king to defeat them. Do the words “they had abandoned the Lord” sound familiar?
Psalm 73:
27 Those who desert him will perish,
for you destroy those who abandon you.
Just as reading the story of King David gives us an idea of what to strive for, the story of King Ahaz poses as a great example of what not to do. This is just what the apostle Paul talked about in 1 Corinthians:
1 Corinthians 10: 11 These things happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to warn us who live at the end of the age.
Isn’t it amazing how God uses these stories from long ago to encourage us and warn us of how to live our lives today?
We are encouraged when we read about how God fights the battles for King David and warned when we read about how God allowed destruction come to King Ahaz’s kingdom because he did not love God or even attempt to love God.
It is my prayer that the words in this message will persuade all readers to come to the same conclusion that Joshua did:
Joshua 24: 15 But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.”
“Dear Lord, thank you for the wonderful words you’ve given us to read in these Scriptures. They are precious. They are the words that give eternal life when we apply them to our lives and seek you diligently when reading them. Thank you for the knowledge you’ve given us and help us to understand the responsibility we have for this truth that we know. There are people in our lives that do not know you and you’ve entrusted us to be like Christ in the flesh to these people. Lead us to be responsible servants so that we can truly please you with our lives. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Photo by Wim van ‘t Einde on Unsplash