King James Version, with Nii Okai's journal notes · 6 notes
Read 2 Chronicles 28 in the app
1Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: but he did not that which was right in the sight of the LORD, like David his father:
2For he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and made also molten images for Baalim.
3Moreover he burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burnt his children in the fire, after the abominations of the heathen whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel.
4He sacrificed also and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree.
5Wherefore 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.
6For 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.
7And 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.
8And the children of Israel carried away captive of their brethren two hundred thousand, women, sons, and daughters, and took also away much spoil from them, and brought the spoil to Samaria.
9But a prophet of the LORD was there, whose name was Oded: and he went out before the host that came to Samaria, and said unto them, Behold, because the LORD God of your fathers was wroth with Judah, he hath delivered them into your hand, and ye have slain them in a rage that reacheth up unto heaven.
10And now ye purpose to keep under the children of Judah and Jerusalem for bondmen and bondwomen unto you: but are there not with you, even with you, sins against the LORD your God?
11Now hear me therefore, and deliver the captives again, which ye have taken captive of your brethren: for the fierce wrath of the LORD is upon you.
12Then certain of the heads of the children of Ephraim, Azariah the son of Johanan, Berechiah the son of Meshillemoth, and Jehizkiah the son of Shallum, and Amasa the son of Hadlai, stood up against them that came from the war,
13And said unto them, Ye shall not bring in the captives hither: for whereas we have offended against the LORD already, ye intend to add more to our sins and to our trespass: for our trespass is great, and there is fierce wrath against Israel.
They could tell by the great victory against their brethren in Judah that such victory could only be supernatural.
They agreed that their own victory came because they got help in a supernatural way; they could tell that God just wanted to punish their brothers in Judah.
So they complied to the word of the prophet.
Only I wonder, seeing they themselves were at fault, why did they not repent and fully follow the Lord?
Because the kind of repentance required to save the entire nation of Israel had to be national, not individual only.
And it had to start with the men at the helm of power, the kings, as always, since they controlled the greatest power and authority to influence change.
That was why God often began from there, and/or schemed to set his own man in power and to do his will.
I believe even now the same thing is happening across the nations.
God using one nation to defeat and punish another to carry out his cause; some of the nations are no more righteous or better than others, but God uses one against the other to push forward his agenda.
14So the armed men left the captives and the spoil before the princes and all the congregation.
15And the men which were expressed by name rose up, and took the captives, and with the spoil clothed all that were naked among them, and arrayed them, and shod them, and gave them to eat and to drink, and anointed them, and carried all the feeble of them upon asses, and brought them to Jericho, the city of palm trees, to their brethren: then they returned to Samaria.
16At that time did king Ahaz send unto the kings of Assyria to help him.
17For again the Edomites had come and smitten Judah, and carried away captives.
18The Philistines also had invaded the cities of the low country, and of the south of Judah, and had taken Beth-shemesh, 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.
19For the LORD brought Judah low because of Ahaz king of Israel; for he made Judah naked, and transgressed sore against the LORD.
20And Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria came unto him, and distressed him, but strengthened him not.
21For Ahaz took away a portion out of the house of the LORD, and out of the house of the king, and of the princes, and gave it unto the king of Assyria: but he helped him not.
22And in the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against the LORD: this is that king Ahaz.
23For 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.
I have not read the end of Ahaz's reign yet, but I would love to see how he is treated on his burial.
24And 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.
Sadly, this foolish king inherited greatness and riches from his father and grandfathers, who were great examples to follow.
Oh, why do the wise inherit such foolish sons?
25And in every several city of Judah he made high places to burn incense unto other gods, and provoked to anger the LORD God of his fathers.
26Now the rest of his acts and of all his ways, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.
27And 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.
He was not considered a king 👑, so was not buried amongst them.
Ironically, this wicked king gave birth to a very wise son.
And it's interesting that in their individual lifetimes, however fleeting they may be, they see the goodness of the Lord and the wrath of the Lord depending on whether they choose to serve him or not.
Is this not the life of the believer...
That so long as we are with the Lord we are blessed and safe... And he will use the rod of men to chastise us if we drift away from him.
Though the people hated his ways because he brought much trouble and havoc to Judah, the people respected the system that had been set up, and he remained king despite his failures.
The people respected the set-up institution.
Then when he finally died, they buried him in an ordinary way, not as a king.
Why? Because he went away from the ways of God. That goes to show that the kingmakers were a righteous people. They knew and kept the ways of the Lord, but their king 👑 worshipped other gods and brought trouble to Israel 🇮🇱.
That goes to show that in the corridors of Power are righteous people, and that ought to be the case, so there is always a light burning in the corridors of Power.
In a nation of much wickedness there are always righteous people in there; though the darkness may be loud and seem everywhere, yet the righteous are there and remain shining their light within the sphere of influence until the time is right for the righteous to rule or seize power.
All the while the wicked reigned, the righteous were strategically grooming the future king in righteousness... Sometimes it is too late to change the present, but you can buy the future, and you live through the difficulties of the moment... The least you can do for yourself in your difficulty is to buy the future and secure it in righteousness.