Ahaz Reigns in Judah Commits High-Handed Idolatry. 2 Kings 16:10-20
The Decline and Fall of Israel and Judah
INTRODUCTION
The Second Book of Kings is a continuation of the First. It records the reigns of fifteen kings in Judah and of eleven kings in Israel. In Judah the dynasty of David continued to the end, while in Israel there were nine changes of dynasty.
The northern kingdom maintained an unbroken course of idolatry, until the nation was ripe for destruction. The end came in 722 B.C., when Samaria was taken by the Assyrians. Judah continued her course for nearly 150 years longer. But in spite of the efforts of prophets and good kings, the tide of idolatry could not be stayed, and Jerusalem fell before the Babylonians, 586 B.C. Nothing but the Exile could avail to purify the nation and restore the spirit of true worship.
I. FROM THE REIGN OF AHAZIAH TO THE FALL OF SAMARIA, 1Ki_22:51 – 2Ki_17:1-41; 2Ki_18:9-12
9. The Reign of Hoshea in Israel, and the Reigns of Jotham and Ahaz in Judah, 2Ki_15:30-38; 2Ki_16:1-20
37. What high-handed idolatry did Ahaz practice?
AZ REIGNS IN JUDAH COMMITS HIGH-HANDED IDOLATRY.
Now King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser the king of Assyria, and saw the pagan altar which was at Damascus. Then King Ahaz sent a model of the altar to Urijah the priest along with a [detailed] pattern for all its construction.
So Urijah the priest built an altar; in accordance with everything that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, that is how Urijah the priest made it before King Ahaz returned from Damascus.
When the king came from Damascus, he saw the altar; then the king approached the altar and offered [sacrifices] on it,
and burned his burnt offering and his grain offering, and poured out his drink offering, and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings on the altar.
He brought the bronze altar, which was before the LORD, from the front of the house (temple), from between the [new] altar and the house of the LORD, and put it on the north side of the [new] altar.
Then King Ahaz commanded Urijah the priest, saying, “Upon the great [new] altar, burn the morning burnt offering and the evening grain offering, and the king’s burnt offering and his grain offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land and their grain offering and their drink offerings; and sprinkle on the new altar all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the sacrifice. But the [old] bronze altar shall be kept for me to use to examine the sacrifices.”
Urijah the priest acted in accordance with everything that King Ahaz commanded.
Then King Ahaz cut away the frames of the basin stands [in the temple], and removed the basin from [each of] them; and he took down the [large] Sea from the bronze oxen which were under it, and put it on a plastered stone floor.
He removed from the house of the LORD the covered way for the Sabbath which they had built in the house, and the outer entrance of the king, because of the king of Assyria [who might confiscate them].
Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
So Ahaz slept with his fathers [in death] and was buried with his fathers in the City of David; and his son Hezekiah became king in his place.
AHAZ REIGNS IN JUDAH COMMITS HIGH-HANDED IDOLATRY.
The calling in of the king of Assyria was fraught with disastrous consequences. “He distressed him and strengthened him not.” Well may the Apostle warn us not to be yoked with unbelievers. Such alliances always result in the undoing of God’s children. We cannot serve two masters. Thus in the hour of distress, notwithstanding the increasing and noble remonstrances of Isaiah, this same king Ahaz trespassed yet more against Jehovah.
It is remarkable, as showing the folly of the human heart, that in the lowest hour of his degradation before his conqueror Ahaz imitated the altar which he saw at Damascus. For this, the ancient brazen altar in Jehovah’s Temple was displaced; and upon it in the sacred fane sacrifices were offered to the gods of the heathen. Alas, there is too much of this in the present day! Men are going back from the simplicity and spirituality of Christ to exploded philosophies and systems, which have failed in the past to satisfy soul hunger. Let us beware of the vacuum of the soul into which such evil things intrude. It is only as we are filled by the indwelling Spirit that we are immune against these temptations.
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