2 Kings

2 Kings 16:1-4

Ahaz became king when Jotham, his father, died.  He was 20 years old and reigned 16 years.  He did evil in a way that was comparable to the kings of Israel.  His reign was nothing like the reign of David, but it was characterized by pagan worship, apostasy and wickedness.  Passing his son through the fire was how a sacrifice was offered to Molech, the Moabite god.  Molech was a statue with extended arms.  It is said that a fire would be built at the base of the statue and heat the statue up.  Then a child would be laid in the arms of the statue and burned, eventually passing through the arms into the fire. 

2 Kings 16:5-9

Syria and Israel had come together to war against Judah.  Isiaha 7 reveals this was to set a Syrian king on the throne of Judah.  They besieged Ahaz but couldn't overcome him.  It was a costly battle for Ahaz (see 2 Chron 28:5-8).  During this time, Ahaz went to Tiglath-Pileser, the king of Assyria seeking help from him.  He put Judah in subjection to Assyria – in a sense surrendering to them without a fight.  Instead of going to the temple and seeking the Lord, Ahaz went to steal the temple silver & gold for a gift to Assyria.  The Assyrian army went up against Damascus and captured it.  They carried the people off to exile. 

2 Kings 16:10-20

Now Ahaz went up to meet Tiglath in Damascus and saw the altar there.  He sent plans to his priest who modified the entire temple to make it look like this temple.  He saved the bronze altar for him to inquire of the Lord there.  Isaiah 8:1-2 calls Uriah the priest a faithful man; but this must have been early on.  Ahaz led many astray and the priest Uriah didn't stand for the Lord but fell for the ways of Ahaz and the world. 

The temple was remodeled by removing the articles used in worship and replacing them with the 'new'.  The remodel of the temple is a representation of the heart of the king; it was far from the Lord and actively removed the things of the Lord to replace them with abominable things.

©2016 Doug Ford