Oh yeah, and since I get to type, I get to comment along the way. 😄 Alright, here we go!
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II Kings 16
Ahaz son of Jotham began to rule over Judah in the seventeenth year of King Pekah's reign in Israel.
(I am glad my name isn't Pekah... haha...)
Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. He did not do what was pleasing in the sight of the Lord his God, as his ancestor David had done.
Instead, he followed the example of the kings of Israel, even sacrificing his own son in the fire.
(SACRIFICING??? his SON???? in the FIRE???????????? Seriously??? Some people are just sick.)
In this way, he followed the detestable
(ya think?)
practices of the pagan nations the Lord had driven from the land ahead of the Israelites.
(Right, so... God got rid of these PEOPLE so His PEOPLE could live in their land. But some of the PEOPLE stuck around when God's crew moved in... and since the PEOPLE remained, so did their PRACTICES. It's hard to separate the two - people and practices - without something radical and even miraculous. So the PEOPLE, who still practiced the PRACTICES, influenced God's people, who probably grew curious about all that was going on, tried these practices out, and soon became PRACTICERS of the PRACTICES.
What I'm trying to convey here is... if you want your life to be different, if you want to get rid of something/someone/whatever, and be free of it/them/whatever, then you have to get COMPLETELY RID of everything associated with him/her/it/etcetera. No reminders, no keepsakes... a true, clean break and a 100% fresh start.
Isn't FRESH a great word? Like a deep breath of clean, cool air. I love it.)
He offered sacrifices and burned incense at the pagan shrines and on the hills and under every green tree.
Then King Rezin of Aram and King Pekah of Israel came up to attack Jerusalem. They beseiged Ahaz but could not conquer him.
At that time the king of Edom recovered the town of Elath for Edom. He drove out the people of Judah and sent Edomites to live there, as they do to this day.
King Ahaz sent messengers to King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria with this message: "I am your servant and your vassal.
(OK, dictionary moment... I do not know what vassal means. Let's see...
vas·sal
ˈvasəl/
noun
historical
- a holder of land by feudal tenure on conditions of homage and allegiance.
synonyms: serf, dependent, servant, slave, subject, bondsman, thrall, villein; More - a person or country in a subordinate position to another."a much stronger nation can also turn a weaker one into a vassal state"
Okay, got that... moving on...)
Come up and rescue me from the attacking armies of Aram and Israel."
Then Ahaz took the silver and gold fro the Temple of the Lord
(*raised eyebrows*???)
and the palace treasury and sent it as a payment to the Assyrian king.
(In other words, I guess he was saying, this is my last option; I'm all in. I am at your mercy. Here is all I have; please help me.)
So the king of Assyria attacked the Aramean capital of Damascus
(I learned that Damascus is in Syria nowadays... that was just interesting to me...)
and led its population away as captives,
(Dude led an entire city's POPULATION away as captives! He wasn't playin'.)
resettling them in Kir. He also killed King Rezin.
King Ahaz then went to Damascus to meet with King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria. While he was there, he took special note of the altar. Then he sent a model of the altar to Uriah the priest, along with its design in full detail.
Uriah followed the king's instructions and built an altar just like it, and it was ready before the king returned from Damascus.
When the king returned, he inspected the altar and made offerings on it.
He presented a burnt offering and a grain offering, he poured out a liquid offering, and he sprinkled the blood of peace offerings on the alter.
Then King Ahaz removed the old bronze altar from its place in front of the Lord's Temple, between the entrance and the new altar, and placed it on the north side of the new altar.
He told Uriah the priest, "Use the new altar for the morning sacrifices of burnt offering, the evening grain offering, the king's burnt offering and grain offering, and the burnt offerings of all the people, as well as their grain offerings and liquid offerings. Sprinkle the blood from all the burnt offerings and sacrifices on the new altar. The bronze altar will be for my personal use only.
(I wonder what deeper meaning there might be, underneath the surface of that story. Nothing is jumping out at me, but I have a strong curiosity. Hmmm...)
Uriah the priest did just as King Ahaz commanded him.
Then the king removed the side panels and basins fro the portable water carts. He also removed the great bronze basin called the Sea
(Solomon had that installed and now this guy is changing it up? That just doesn't sit right with me.)
from the backs of the bronze oxen and placed it on the stone pavement.
(He put it on the FLOOR???? Holy smokes, Batman!!)
In deference to the king of Assyria, he also removed the canopy that had been constructed inside the palace for use on the Sabbath day, as well as the king's outer entrance to the Temple of the Lord.
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So that's the end of this chapter. I hope the story carries on in the next chapter, because I want to know what happens and if there are any repercussions for his... remodeling... of the Lord's Temple! The whole concept makes me feel very anxious.
God's word is full of good cliffhangers to keep us reading, huh!
Hope you keep reading, too!
