King Ahaz - The Darkness before the Dawn

Kings and Prophets

King Ahaz - The Darkness before the Dawn

by I Gordon

Introduction

There is rarely a father and son of so great a contrast as Ahaz and Hezekiah. Both were Kings of Judah, but there, I'm afraid, the similarities end. It makes an interesting study to examine the godliness of Hezekiah against the backdrop of his wicked father King Ahaz. This study will examine the character of King Ahaz. In him we see the attitude and actions of a man far from the Lord. He is the darkness before the dawn you might say. While most of the study will be from 2 ^nd Chronicles chapter 28, we will also look briefly at 2 Kings 16 for some additional information concerning Ahaz.

Ahaz - Does it come any more rotten than this?

2 Chron 28:1-4 Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. Unlike David his father, he did not do what was right in the eyes of the LORD. He walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and also made cast idols for worshiping the Baals. He burned sacrifices in the Valley of Ben Hinnom and sacrificed his sons in the fire, following the detestable ways of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites. He offered sacrifices and burned incense at the high places , on the hilltops and under every spreading tree.

The Bible doesn't muck around does it? Within one verse of introducing us to this new king we are taken straight into the depths of his unfaithfulness. I have added these verses above so that we can quickly see what the word of God records concerning Ahaz, King of Judah. In short, he's a shocker. He worshipped and gave offerings to the Baals and even sacrificed his own son in the fire to appease these so called 'gods'. Like I said, he's a nasty piece of work.

2 Chron 28:5,17-19 Therefore the LORD hisGod handed him over to the king of Aram... The Edomites had again come and attacked Judah and carried away prisoners, while the Philistines had raided towns in the foothills and in the Negev of Judah... The LORD had humbled Judah because of Ahaz king of Israel, for he had promoted wickedness in Judah and had been most unfaithful to the LORD.

So what was the result for our not so godly King Ahaz? Well, in the language of the New Testament, he 'reaped what he sowed.' The Lord allowed many nations to attack and humble Judah because of Ahaz' wickedness. The NASB says that he 'brought about a lack of restraint in Judah'. In other words, he moved away from the truth of Gods word to whatever felt good! I guess I'm being repetitious, but I think I should mention again that like Ahaz, the Christian church in the west is moving away from the truth given in God's word. How can this not also lead to a 'lack of restraint and faithfulness'?

Ahaz - following the ways of the world

2 Kings 16:7-11 Ahaz sent messengers to say to Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, 'I am your servant and your son. Come up and save me out of the hand of the king of Aram and of the king of Israel, who are attacking me.' And Ahaz took the silver and gold found in the temple of the LORD and in the treasuries of the royal palace and sent it as a gift to the king of Assyria... Then King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria. He saw an altar in Damascus and sent to Uriah the priest a sketch of the altar, with detailed plans for its construction. 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.

Part of the story we now pick up from 2 Kings chapter 16. With enemies all around him, Ahaz cries out to the King of Assyria saying 'I am your servant... come and save me! And did I mention that I'll give you a big bag of gold as well?' Oh, Ahaz! To cry for help is fine, but why didn't you direct your question to the Lord? The Lord Jesus deserves, and has purchased, the right to be number one in our lives. It is to Him that we are to look. [1]

Notice also that King Ahaz eventually went to Damascus to meet the King of Assyria and in doing so, started to copy their altars! He made Uriah his priest copy the plans and reconstruct the altar back in the Lord's temple in Jerusalem! Talk about using the ways of the world in the worship of God! God had already given the children of Israel complete and explicit instructions on how these things should be made and how worship of the true God should be undertaken... and correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think it included copying the worldly worship of false gods! [2] But as we shall now see, Ahaz being of noble character (not!) had little problem with taking on the ways of the world.

Ahaz - the ultimate pragmatist!

2 Chron 28:20-23 Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria came to him, but he gave him trouble instead of help... In his time of trouble King Ahaz became even more unfaithful to the LORD . He offered sacrifices to the gods of Damascus, who had defeated him; for he thought, ' Since the gods of the kings of Aram have helped them, I will sacrifice to them so they will help me .' But they were his downfall and the downfall of all Israel.

It wasn't long before even the King of Assyria was against King Ahaz. It was a pivotal point in Ahaz' life for we read that 'In his time of trouble...' Wouldn't it be good if we could finish the sentence? What would you expect, and like to read about this man who has blatantly walked away from the Lord and is found reaping the consequences of his foolish sowing? Well, it would be nice to read that in the time of his trouble Ahaz called on the Lord and repented. It would be nice... but, unfortunately, this isn't a soppy novel. Trouble often has the effect of pushing a person further from, or further toward, the Lord [3] . In this case Ahaz became even more unfaithful to the Lord!

There is another point here as the true character of Ahaz is again seen in his act of worshipping the gods of Damascus. In other words, Ahaz was the ultimate pragmatist! [4] Ahaz didn't care about truth. He didn't seem to care whether the God of Israel was the one true God. He only seemed to care about 'what worked'. If the gods of Damascus helped the king of Assyria then the gods of Damascus were now his gods! We see this same pragmatic approach alive today in many different forms. [5]

So what was the result of all this? Did Ahaz' worldliness and pragmatic approach help him? We read the solemn closing words in the passage above that 'they were his downfall and the downfall of all Israel.' Sad words indeed. Not just for Ahaz and Israel but also for the church that follows his ways.

The shutting of the temple

2 Chron 28:25 Ahaz gathered together the utensils of the house of God and cut the utensils in pieces; He shut the doors of the LORD's temple and set up altars at every street corner in Jerusalem. In every town in Judah he built high places to burn sacrifices to other gods and provoked the LORD, the God of his fathers, to anger.

Finally we see the actions of Ahaz in cutting up the temple utensils and locking the doors so that no one can worship the true God. He also set up his own altars at every street corner throughout Jerusalem. In all of this, the bible says, he provoked the Lord to anger. Now, does any of this have relevance for us? In what ways are the doors of the church locked? Unfortunately, while the physical doors of our churches may be open, there are still some which are closed spiritually. Laodicea, the last church pictured in the book of Revelation is an example of this. Here we see a church that has closed its doors and had left Jesus outside! (See Rev 3:20 ). The 'doors of the temple' are still shut on any church which does not preach salvation by grace through faith [6] . If this true gospel, which exalts the Lord Jesus Christ and His work on our behalf, is not being heard, then you still have Ahaz at work! He is still shutting the temple, preventing true worship of God and substituting it with his own altars.

Conclusion

2 Chron 28:27 Ahaz rested with his fathers and was buried in the city of Jerusalem,but he was not placed in the tombs of the kings of Israel. And Hezekiah his son succeeded him as king.

The Bible concludes this chapter with a word about Ahaz' death, mentioning that they buried him in the city and not in the tombs of the Kings of Israel. Fair enough too! He deserves no better. As dark as this period has been however, it is, as I'm sure you will recall, the darkness before the dawn. For to be fair, Ahaz did give one good thing to the world and that (somehow!) is his godly son Hezekiah. Hezekiah is the shining light of revival that we shall examine in the next study.