19 Mar 2014

King Ahaz

Posted by joncooper

How He Became King: After his father Jotham died
When He Began Reigning: 20 years old
Reign Length: 16 years
Ruled Over: Judah
Type of King: Evil
Prophet: Isaiah, Hosea, Micah
Death: Uncertain
Burial: Buried in Jerusalem, but not in the tomb of the kings

Ahaz became king over Judah after his father Jotham died. He began reigning when he was 20 years old and he reigned over Judah for 16 years. He was a very wicked ruler:

2 Kings 16:1: “In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah Ahaz the son of Jotham king of Judah began to reign.
2 Twenty years old was Ahaz when he began to reign, and reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem, and did not that which was right in the sight of the Lord his God, like David his father.”

Not only did he serve false gods, but he was so wicked that he offered his own son as a human sacrifice:

2 Kings 16:3: “But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, yea, and made his son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the heathen, whom the Lord cast out from before the children of Israel.
4 And he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree.”

Because of his many sins, God delivered him into the hands of his enemies. The Syrians joined forces with Pekah king of Israel, and when they attacked Judah they killed more than a hundred thousand men, along with the king’s son:

2 Chronicles 28:5: “Wherefore the Lord his God delivered him into the hand of the king of Syria; and they smote him, and carried away a great multitude of them captives, and brought them to Damascus. And he was also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel, who smote him with a great slaughter.
6 For Pekah the son of Remaliah slew in Judah an hundred and twenty thousand in one day, which were all valiant men; because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers.
7 And Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim, slew Maaseiah the king’s son, and Azrikam the governor of the house, and Elkanah that was next to the king.”

But that was not all. God also sent the Edomites and the Philistines against Ahaz. They invaded cities and carried away captives:

2 Chronicles 28:17: “For again the Edomites had come and smitten Judah, and carried away captives.
18 The Philistines also had invaded the cities of the low country, and of the south of Judah, and had taken Bethshemesh, and Ajalon, and Gederoth, and Shocho with the villages thereof, and Timnah with the villages thereof, Gimzo also and the villages thereof: and they dwelt there.
19 For the Lord brought Judah low because of Ahaz king of Israel; for he made Judah naked, and transgressed sore against the Lord.”

However, despite all of this, Ahaz refused to turn to the Lord. Instead he looted the Temple and used the money to hire the Assyrians to come to his aid:

2 Kings 16:7: “So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, saying, I am thy servant and thy son: come up, and save me out of the hand of the king of Syria, and out of the hand of the king of Israel, which rise up against me.
8 And Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the Lord, and in the treasures of the king’s house, and sent it for a present to the king of Assyria.
9 And the king of Assyria hearkened unto him: for the king of Assyria went up against Damascus, and took it, and carried the people of it captive to Kir, and slew Rezin.”

When King Ahaz went to meet the Assyrians, he saw an altar to a pagan god and decided to make one for himself:

2 Kings 16:10: “And king Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, and saw an altar that was at Damascus: and king Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest the fashion of the altar, and the pattern of it, according to all the workmanship thereof.”

The reason he did it was because he thought the false gods of Damascus had helped them win victories, so he wanted to worship them so they would help him as well:

2 Chronicles 28:22: “And in the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against the Lord: this is that king Ahaz.
23 For he sacrificed unto the gods of Damascus, which smote him: and he said, Because the gods of the kings of Syria help them, therefore will I sacrifice to them, that they may help me. But they were the ruin of him, and of all Israel.”

The king had this new altar installed in the Temple, and commanded that sacrifices be offered on it instead of on the altar that God had designated. He also cut in pieces the vessels in the Temple and had the Temple doors closed:

2 Chronicles 28:24: “And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God, and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and shut up the doors of the house of the Lord, and he made him altars in every corner of Jerusalem.”

Besides replacing God’s altar with a false altar and filling Jerusalem with pagan altars, the king took it upon himself to do the work of a priest and offer sacrifices. Urijah the high priest obeyed the king and did everything he asked; he did not oppose the king or try to stop him from desecrating the Temple.

When the king died, he was buried in Jerusalem but not in the tomb of the kings:

2 Chronicles 28:27: “And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city, even in Jerusalem: but they brought him not into the sepulchres of the kings of Israel: and Hezekiah his son reigned in his stead.”

His son Hezekiah then reigned in his stead.

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