DAD'S RAMBLINGS – REPLACING GOD
"In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, Ahaz the son of Jotham king of Judah, began to reign. Ahaz has twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem; and he did not do what was right in the sight of the LORD his God, as his father David had done." (II Kings 16:1-2)
Ahaz was one of the few bad kings of Judah. He led the nation into idolatry even as the kings of Israel had done. "Indeed, he made his son pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD had cast out form before the children of Israel. And he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree" (vss. 3-4).
The one recorded act of his sixteen-year reign shows his utter disregard for God. It happened this way.
Rezin, king of Syria, and Pekah, king of Israel, came to wage war against Jerusalem. So Ahaz sought to make a treaty with Tiglath-Pilesar, the king of Assyria, for help by giving him a lot of money. It worked, and Assyria defeated Syria and killed King Rezin.
Ahaz went to meet Tiglath-Pilesar in Damascus. While he was there, he saw a pagan altar that struck his fancy. So he copied the design of that altar and had the priest Urijah build one like it. When he returned home to Jerusalem, he had the new altar set up replacing the old altar that God had given Moses the design for to worship at. In effect, Ahaz put God aside and replaced Him with something profane. That was not good.
But lest I get too judgmental, I must ask myself how many times I have discarded the old and replaced it with something new. New does not mean better. In spiritual terms, discarding the old doctrines for new ones can be disastrous. Satan will replace God and truth whenever he can. We can see in our day the effects of putting God and His Word to the side, and replacing it with human ideas, philosophy and psychology. May God help us to keep His ways even if they seem old-fashioned.
Love, Dad
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