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

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Today’s passage begins with Azariah, also known as Uzziah, taking the throne of Judah.  The writer tells us that he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father Amaziah had done.  Later the passage tells us that Azariah’s son, Jotham, took the throne of Judah and also did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.  That makes three successive kings in Judah who did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.  Meanwhile, during the reigns of the two kings of Judah in this passage whom I have mentioned so far (I will get to the last one later), five kings reigned in Israel.  The writer tells us that four of those five kings did what was evil in the sight of the Lord (the fifth king, of whom that was not written, only reigned for one month).  The writer tells us that these kings did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat. I read that to mean that they encouraged the people to think that they worshiped the Lord by directing their worship towards the two golden calves which Jeroboam caused to be made.  Further, I think it means that these kings encouraged the people of Israel to follow worship practices which God found repugnant.

Which brings me to the last of the three kings of Judah whose actions are described in today’s passage, Ahaz.  The writer tells us that “he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God, but he walked in the way of the kings of Israel.”  The writer further tells us that Ahaz burned his son as an offering.  The way that is written suggests that Ahaz got the idea of burning is son as an offering from the kings of Israel, suggesting a level of depravity in Israel which what the writer says directly about them never spells out.  However, as I wrote this I noticed something.   For the kings of Israel, the writer says some variation of “he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.”  And for Ahaz’ father and grandfather, the writer says “he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.”  But when he speaks of Ahaz he says, “he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God.”  I read this as saying that Ahaz thought that he was honoring God with all of the things he did which went contrary to what God commanded.  Ahaz thought of the Lord as his God and then went and did things which God considered repugnant.  We need to take that as a warning.  Ahaz apparently thought he was honoring God by introducing the practices of other nations into the worship of God.

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