In yesterday's study session we found King Ahaz in the wrong place: in Damascus where he was meeting with a foreign king to help him in his struggle against the Arameans. We studied a passage from Isaiah in which the Lord invited Ahaz to place all his trust in Him but as usual Ahaz declined a relationship with the Lord, preferring instead to give his allegiance to pagan gods who do not ask him to live in a godly and moral manner.
So Ahaz went to meet King Tiglath-Pileser of Assyria who had overcome the Aramean city of Damascus in battle. While Ahaz was there he saw a pagan altar that struck his fancy. He sent a letter to Uriah the priest in Judah instructing him to build an altar just like the one in Damascus. Ahaz thinks if he serves the Aramean gods---better than the Arameans are serving them---their gods will help him instead of the Arameans. It's not terribly surprising that a man like Ahaz, who has fallen so far into idolatry that he sacrificed some of his children to the Canaanite god called Molek, would adopt yet another heathen religion. What is surprising is that the priest would go along with this.
Was it a life or death choice for Uriah? If so, would the Lord not have given him the grace and strength to stand firm even in the face of a threat of death? The Lord gave the apostles enough grace and strength in the New Testament to stand firm in the face of death. It could be that Uriah gave in to fear and submitted to King Ahaz instead of to the Lord. But a worse possibility is that Uriah himself has fallen into idolatry. The prophet Isaiah will refer to him as one of the "reliable witnesses" he calls for when he needs to sign a legal document. (Isaiah 8:2) Some scholars take this to mean that at one time Uriah was doing the right things but later fell into sin and idolatry. Another theory is that Uriah was reliable in that he would not lie about witnessing Isaiah's signing of the document. I know people who are unbelievers in the Lord but who would not dream of giving false testimony, don't you? A person can live by a strict moral code without belonging to the Lord and it could be that Uriah is that type of person. He wouldn't dream of committing perjury in court but he doesn't balk at constructing a pagan altar in Judah.
"So Uriah the priest built an altar in accordance with all the plans that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus and finished it before King Ahaz returned. When the king came back from Damascus and saw the altar, he approached it and presented offerings on it. He offered up his burnt offering and grain offering, poured out his drink offering, and splashed the blood of his fellowship offerings against the altar. As for the bronze altar that stood before the Lord, he brought it from the front of the temple---from between the new altar and the temple of the Lord---and put it on the north side of the new altar." (2 Kings 16:11-14) These are offerings that should have been made to the Lord but Ahaz makes them to a false God. He orders his own personal offerings to be made there and he orders the offerings made on behalf of all the people to be made there as well.
"King Ahaz then gave these orders to Uriah the priest: 'On the large new altar, offer the morning burnt offering and the evening grain offering, the king's burnt offering and his grain offering, and the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their grain offering and their drink offering. Splash against this altar the blood of all the burnt offerings and sacrifices. But I will use the bronze altar for seeking guidance.'" (2 Kings 16:15) The offerings mentioned here are only effective if made to the Lord, for no one else can forgive sins and save souls. Ahaz is wasting his time making such offerings to gods who don't exist. He retains the bronze altar of the Lord for "seeking guidance", he says, as if he ever really seeks the Lord's guidance in anything. He likely retains this altar to make a show of consulting the Lord in order to appease the people and any of the priests who are not idolaters like him.
He now removes some items to appease Tiglath-Pileser, and whether this is with the intention of sending these items to him (he previously paid Tiglath-Pileser with valuable objects from the temple and from the royal treasury) or whether it's because Tiglath-Pileser is offended by certain items is not known. "King Ahaz cut off the side panels and removed the basins from the movable stands. He removed the Sea from the bronze bulls that supported it and set it on a stone base. He took away the Sabbath canopy that had been built at the temple and removed the royal entryway outside the temple of the Lord, in deference to the king of Assyria." (2 Kings 16:17-18)
"As for the other events of the reign of Ahaz, and what he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? Ahaz rested with his ancestors and was buried with them in the City of David. And Hezekiah his son succeeded him as king." (2 Kings 16:19-20) We no longer have the book mentioned in verse 19 but everything we've been told about Ahaz is bad and I can't imagine the book of the annals containing anything good about him. He was wicked in all of his ways, as far as we can tell, but thankfully his son Hezekiah will not be. Hezekiah will begin religious reforms in Judah when he comes to the throne.
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