Today, I am reading and commenting on  2 Kings 15-16.

In today’s passage we have accounts of three kings in Judah, the Southern Kingdom, and five kings in Israel, the Northern Kingdom.  The passage tells us of the first two kings of Judah mentioned that “He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father …had done.”  About four of the kings of Israel the passage says some variation of, “He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, as his predecessors had done. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit.”  The one king of Israel it does not say that about only reigned for one month.  Then we come to the third king of Judah.  It says of him that he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord, that he followed the ways of the kings of Israel.  It goes on to say that he even sacrificed his son to the fire, following the practices of the people God had driven out of the land.  It is not clear to me if the writer is trying to say that the kings of Israel had sacrificed sons in fire, or that Ahaz, the king of Judah being referenced, had gone beyond the kings of Israel in following detestable practices.  In any case, when Israel and Aram allied with each other to attack Judah, instead of turning to the Lord and seeking His aid, Ahaz sent tribute to the king of Assyria and swore fealty to him.  Then he visited a temple with the Assyrian king and sent orders for an altar duplicating it to be made in the temple in Jerusalem.

I wrote the above not quite sure where I was going.  However, I realized that the sins of Jeroboam were in using religious practices to further his own ends, rather than using religious practices to build a closer relationship with God.  In following the practices of the kings of Israel, Ahaz was doing the same thing.  Ahaz followed ever more “exotic” religious practices.  There are three possible reasons that may have motivated him.  Perhaps he was seeking to use these religious practices to consolidate his political power.  Perhaps he was seeking spiritual enlightenment.  Or, perhaps he was seeking a new “thrill”.  Whatever his motivation, he started by rejecting the God of his fathers and went ever further afield in seeking to satisfy his craving.  But he started by following a path laid out by the kings of Israel, Jeroboam, and later Jehu.  They were men who were called by God to lead His people, but they did not fully put their faith in Him.  So, they gave themselves exceptions to His Laws in ways they thought would help them better fulfill the plan He had for them.  Ahaz just took what they did to its logical conclusions and threw over worship of God for worship of the gods of the most powerful nation on earth.  Where are we on that path?  Is there still time for us to give up all of the pagan practices we have introduced into our worship and turn back to God?

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.