July 15, 2017

Insights on Today's Reading

2 Chronicles 28 - As you go through this chapter you may find yourself thinking, "Ahaz is another king of Judah who deserves to be on the 'Top Ten List" of worst kings in the land!  Like so many other kings, Ahaz didn't practice his father's better behavior.  Ahaz was wicked and the Lord allowed him to be defeated by Israel (the northern ten tribes).  When Israel brought back a lot of captives from Judah they were met by a prophet warning them to allow the captives to be set free.  When Ahaz was attacked again he tribe to bribe his attackers, but that didn't help.  And then he chose to worship the gods of his attackers thinking they might help him!  I wrote in the margin of my Bible at this point, "Dumb!"

2 Kings 16 - In this chapter that deals with Ahaz, you find him associating with the Assyrians.  He sees an altar that looks great to him and sends a pattern of it back to the priests in Judah to build a alter to match that one!  Ahaz was one of the worst kings Judah had.

2 Kings 17 - This chapter reveals the final downfall of the northern tribes.  They were eventually conquered by the Assyrians and the people were deported to Assyria vs. 23.  When the Assyrians brought people from other lands to live in Israel, God sent wild beasts to attack them.  They realized they didn't know "...the God of the land" verse 26, so the king of Assyria sent one of the Israelite Levitical priests to teach the foreigners how to worship God.  Obviously this was just a façade and the people paid lip-service to God but still practiced their own idolatry.