2 Chronicles 28:1–27✞: Ahaz King of Judah
Passage
This is another one of those cases we sometimes see in the book of Chronicles—or the book of Kings before it—where we have a very good king followed by a very bad one. In the last passage Jotham was called out as being a good king, but now his son Ahaz is another bad one.
1 Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. Unlike David his father, he did not do what was right in the eyes of the LORD. 2 He followed the ways of the kings of Israel and also made idols for worshiping the Baals. 3 He burned sacrifices in the Valley of Ben Hinnom and sacrificed his children in the fire, engaging in the detestable practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites. 4 He offered sacrifices and burned incense at the high places, on the hilltops and under every spreading tree.
Because of this, God delivers Ahaz (and Judah) into the hands of the Arameans – and also into the hands of their cousins to the North, the Israelites! In fact, the Israelites do quite a bit of damage:
6 In one day Pekah son of Remaliah killed a hundred and twenty thousand soldiers in Judah—because Judah had forsaken the LORD, the God of their ancestors. 7 Zikri, an Ephraimite warrior, killed Maaseiah the king’s son, Azrikam the officer in charge of the palace, and Elkanah, second to the king. 8 The men of Israel took captive from their fellow Israelites who were from Judah two hundred thousand wives, sons and daughters. They also took a great deal of plunder, which they carried back to Samaria.
However, though God is the one who sent the Israelites to punish the people of Judah, the Israelites have gone too far. So God sends a prophet to the leaders of the Israelites, to say so:
9 But a prophet of the LORD named Oded was there, and he went out to meet the army when it returned to Samaria. He said to them, “Because the LORD, the God of your ancestors, was angry with Judah, he gave them into your hand. But you have slaughtered them in a rage that reaches to heaven. 10 And now you intend to make the men and women of Judah and Jerusalem your slaves. But aren’t you also guilty of sins against the LORD your God? 11 Now listen to me! Send back your fellow Israelites you have taken as prisoners, for the LORD’s fierce anger rests on you.”
To my surprise, the leaders in Israel actually listen! They confront the returning army, saying that the prisoners from Judah can’t be brought to Israel. In fact, verse 13✞ indicates a self awareness of their sin that I wouldn’t have expected from the people of Israel: “Do you intend to add to our sin and guilt? For our guilt is already great, and [God’s] fierce anger rests on Israel.”
If I was surprised at the leaders of Israel actually listening to a prophet of God, I’m just as surprised that everyone involved seems to come to their senses and do the right thing: they give up the prisoners and plunder from Judah, and provide them with food, clothing, and healing balm. They then take them to Jericho (with the weak ones riding on donkeys). I can’t quite tell, based on the maps at my disposal, if Jericho is part of Israel or part of Judah, but I think it’s close to the border, so either way, the people from Judah are either being brought home, or brought to the border of their home.
Unfortunately for Ahaz, however, his troubles aren’t done, because God is still punishing Judah because of his sins! Judah is now being attacked by the Edomites, and instead of asking God for help Ahaz has asked the Assyrians – however, the Assyrians “gave him trouble instead of help” (verse 20✞), even after Ahaz raids the Temple treasury to pay the king of Assyria.
So what’s the king to do? In this case, double down on his sin:
22 In his time of trouble King Ahaz became even more unfaithful to the LORD. 23 He offered sacrifices to the gods of Damascus, who had defeated him; for he thought, “Since the gods of the kings of Aram have helped them, I will sacrifice to them so they will help me.” But they were his downfall and the downfall of all Israel.
Finally, we’re given a summary of Ahaz’ reign:
24 Ahaz gathered together the furnishings from the temple of God and cut them in pieces. He shut the doors of the LORD’s temple and set up altars at every street corner in Jerusalem. 25 In every town in Judah he built high places to burn sacrifices to other gods and aroused the anger of the LORD, the God of his ancestors.
26 The other events of his reign and all his ways, from beginning to end, are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. 27 Ahaz rested with his ancestors and was buried in the city of Jerusalem, but he was not placed in the tombs of the kings of Israel. And Hezekiah his son succeeded him as king.
I’m actually not sure if verses 24–25 are part of the summary of Ahaz’ overall reign or part of a continuation of the previous thought: that Ahaz was so angry with the LORD for not helping him against the Edomites/Assyrians that he went even further demolishing the Temple and its furnishings.
Thoughts
After finally coming back to the blog after a very, very long absence, I hadn’t had a lot to say about the previous two passages, but suddenly I have a lot to say about Ahaz. Is it possible I have more to say about bad Kings than about good ones? I hope not; sounds very judgemental to my own ears…
One interesting point comes right in verse 1✞: “Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. Unlike David his father, he did not do what was right in the eyes of the LORD.“ I find that interesting because Jotham, Ahaz’ direct father, was also a good king; so why does the text say “unlike David his father,” instead of “unlike Jotham his father?” I don’t think this is intended as a reflection on Jotham, I think it’s just a usual approach the Biblical authors take in comparing good kings to David (usually), but it does occur to me in this particular case.
That being said, however, there was a part of the previous passage I specifically and purposely didn’t read too much into, which I’m now second guessing:
1 Jotham was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. His mother’s name was Jerusha daughter of Zadok. 2 He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father Uzziah had done, but unlike him he did not enter the temple of the Lord. The people, however, continued their corrupt practices.
2 Chronicles 27:1–2✞, emphasis added
I’m now wondering: should I have paid more attention to that? At the time I was thinking this wasn’t really Jotham’s fault—and I’m still thinking that!—just because the people aren’t changing their ways it’s not necessarily the leader’s fault. But… was the sin of the people directly related to the fact that the nation of Judah is continuing to sin into Ahaz’ reign? The text is very clear that he’s to blame (more on this in a moment), but, at the same time, is there a direct line to draw between the people sinning under the good leadership of Jotham, and the bad practices of Jotham’s successor?
That being said, the author(s) make it very clear in this chapter that Ahaz is the leader of Judah, and the punishments being doled out are his fault. It’s called out over and over again; we see the text telling us that God is sending punishment against Judah because of Ahaz’ sin in verses 5✞ (twice), 6✞, 9✞, and 19✞. That’s in addition to the text calling out Ahaz’ sin in multiple other verses – these are just the verses specifically talking about punishment as a result of that sin.
An obvious lesson to those in positions of leadership—especially in the Church—is that we bear direct responsibility when we lead people astray. Yes, for sure, people are responsible for their own sins, the Bible is clear about that – but it’s also clear that leaders are also responsible for their people’s sins.
Other thoughts I have on this passage are more charitable. 🙂
The People of Israel
One thing that definitely surprises me about this passage is the reaction of the people of Israel: they’re confronted by a prophet of the LORD, because of their sin, and… they listen! They obey! In fact, they not only obey, they actually acknowledge that, yeah, we’ve actually been sinning against God quite a bit, so maybe we don’t want to add to that by sinning even more!
This is simply not how things typically work with the people of Israel. Time and time again a prophet approaches a king of Israel and is ignored (or worse). So it’s frankly shocking to see the people of Israel listening to a prophet, and seeking to obey.
I’m not sure that any of the people mentioned are the actual Israelite king, however, and maybe that’s the difference?
Ahaz Doubling Down
At first glance, it’s very easy to judge Ahaz for doubling down on his sin in verses 22–23. And let’s be clear: we’re not wrong to do so! Well… we’re morally wrong in judging someone else, but I mean that the judgement is a fair one: he is sinning even more by doubling down.) It was wrong and sinful of him to turn a large amount of sin into an even larger amount of sin!
But… if I’m honest, I also understand what has happened here. Let’s read the passage again:
22 In his time of trouble King Ahaz became even more unfaithful to the LORD. 23 He offered sacrifices to the gods of Damascus, who had defeated him; for he thought, “Since the gods of the kings of Aram have helped them, I will sacrifice to them so they will help me.” But they were his downfall and the downfall of all Israel.
Clearly sinful, so don’t let anything I’m about to say make it seem like I’m saying it’s not. But… I get it.
Speaking purely from a human standpoint, I do actually get where Ahaz is coming from, here. “What I’ve been trying hasn’t been working so I need to try something else. Well… the Damascans seem to be doing very well – I should do what they’re doing!” For sure, again, he should have been seeking God, but let’s be clear: Ahaz wasn’t following God. Choose your terminology: he wasn’t saved; he wasn’t a child of God; he wasn’t a part of God’s family. So when he was struggling, and looking for a solution to his problem, no, of course he didn’t turn to God.
My point is not to let Ahaz off the hook, but it’s to serve as a reminder to the modern-day Christian: who am I going to turn to in times of trouble? What will my default reaction be? The closer I’ve been to God—the more I’ve been reading my Bible, the stronger my prayer life has been, the more I’ve been in worship alongside fellow believers—the more likely that my default, knee-jerk reaction in times of trouble will be to reach out to Him for help. I won’t even have to think about it, it’ll just be my natural reaction.
The less I’ve been doing all those things—the less I’ve been reading my Bible, and praying, and worshipping alongside fellow believers—the more likely that my knee-jerk, natural reaction will be to reach somewhere else.
And sure, as a Christian, maybe I’ll give it some thought, and reach out to God anyway. I definitely should. But Christians are better served when this is our natural reaction – when we reach out to God because it’s the cry of our hearts, instead of the result of deliberation and trying to “follow the rules.”
Put another way: the more we’re delving into the Word and getting close to God, the more worship of Him and dependence on Him will be our natural state, rather than reading our Bibles because we’re supposed to, or praying because we’re supposed to, or …
After all, if we’re doing all of these things to “follow the rules,” how is Christianity any different from any other religion? All religions have rules to follow; Christianity, on the other hand, has a God who’s followed the rules on our behalf and paid our way into His presence. When we do what we’re supposed to do out of compunction, we rob Christianity of its power.
No comments:
Post a Comment