I Chronicles gives the report on a very evil king of Judah [the southern kingdom]. His name was Ahaz and he was twenty when he became king. His father, Jotham, had been a weak leader who tried to do right and accomplished some things of significance, but he failed to restrain or impact the people who pushed right on in their lives of corruption. [II Chronicles 27:2 ™]. However, In God’s eyes he lived a good life… [II Chronicles 27:2 - All quotes from The Message Bible unless otherwise noted].
A REMINDER:
Leaders bear responsibility for all who
are under their influence! And God sees it all!
And sometimes, God responds!
This is true for leaders at ALL levels: presidents, ambassadors, chairpersons, foremen, superintendents, pastors, executives, and even group leaders. When we step into a role that impacts other people’s lives directly, we are held to a higher standard.
ü Casting metal figurines
for worshipping the pagan Baal gods
ü Burning incense
inappropriately
ü “passing his sons
through the fire, a truly abominable thing he picked up from the pagans GOD had
earlier thrown out of the country [v.3].
ü He also joined in the
activities of the neighborhood sex-and-religion shrines that flourished all
over the place
God saw all of this and responded by allowing the king of Aram to beat Ahaz’s forces badly – taking many prisoners back to Damascus. This defeat caused the king of Israel [northern kingdom] to also attack Judah. Their armies killed 120,000 Judeans in one day all of them first-class soldiers, and all because they had deserted GOD [v.6]. In addition, Ahaz’s son, also the palace steward and the king’s second in command were killed! Then, to add insult to injury, the Israelites carried off 200,000 men, women and children along with cartloads of plunder!
But – as we said earlier – God sees it all!
As the Israelite army crossed back into Israel, God had a prophet in the neighborhood who met them at the border with a message from God: [vs.9-11]
God’s prophet Oded…met the army when it
entered Samaria and said, “Stop right where you are and listen! God, the
God of your ancestors, was angry with Judah and used you to punish them; but
you took things into your own hands and used your anger, uncalled for
and irrational, to turn your brothers and sisters from Judah and Jerusalem into
slaves. Don’t you see that this is a terrible sin against your God?
Careful now; do exactly what I say—return these captives, every last one of
them. If you don’t, you’ll find out how real anger, God’s anger, works.”
A number of Israelite elders also responded: Don’t bring the captives here! We’ve already sinned against GOD; and now you’re about to compound our sin and guilt… [v.13].
As a result, Personally designated men gathered the captives together, dressed the ones who were naked using clothing from the stores of plunder, put shoes on their feet, gave them all a square meal, provided first aid to the injured, put the weak ones on donkeys, and then escorted them to Jericho, the City of Palms, restoring them to their families. Then they went back to Samaria [v.15].
After all of this, Ahaz asked the king of Assyria for help, but instead, he came and humiliated Ahaz even more. Ahaz raided the Temple of God and paid it to the king of Assyria. In addition, the Philistines captured cities in the south and west of Judah!
BUT IN SPITE OF ALL OF THIS TROUBLE, Arrogant King Ahaz, acting as if he could do without God’s help, unleashed an epidemic of depravity…at the very time that everyone was turning against him, he continued to be against GOD [v.19]!
He:
o began
to worship the Assyrian gods since they had led to his defeat
o he cleared out anything of value from The Temple and boarded up its doors!
o
he
set up pagan shrines all over Jerusalem and throughout the country
THE RESULT?
And was GOD ever angry [v.25]!
HOW DOES THIS ALL END?
When Ahaz died, they buried him in Jerusalem, but he was not honored with a burial in the cemetery of the kings.
IS THERE ANY GOOD NEWS HERE AT ALL?
Only this, His son Hezekiah was the next king…he was a good king; he kept to the standards of his ancestor David [v.27 and II Chronicles 29:2].
__________________________________
WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM THIS HISTORICAL LESSON?
For whatever reasons, Ahaz was evil from the start and never repented or softened toward God!
1. Utterly rejecting and opposing God can only end badly!
2. If a leader openly and rebelliously opposes God, s/he will suffer as will all those who are under their direction!
3. God is ALWAYS WATCHING! Nothing can be hidden from His sight!
4. God advocates on behalf of those who suffer because of poor leadership! He loves His people and comes to their aid!
Perhaps
you made even more observations from this horrible man’s life…
