Ahaz - The Book of 2 Kings, 2 Chronicles

In this Bible Story, we learn about the wicked King Ahaz. He rules Judah with idolatry and evil, and his twisted practices and unstable mind make Judah vulnerable to attack. This story is inspired by 2 Chronicles 28 & 2 Kings 16. Go to BibleinaYear.com and learn the Bible in a Year.

Today's Bible verse is 2 Chronicles 28:22 from the King James Version.

Episode 147: Every year, King Hoshea would send a tribute to Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, to protect them. One year however, he betrayed his allegiance by sending a plea to the king of Egypt begging for his help against his current masters. However, Assyrian spies found out before the message could arrive and their fate was sealed. Because of his rebellion, Shalmaneser raided Israel, uprooted its people, and imprisoned its king. After years of rebelling against God and ignoring His warnings, all were led back to Assyria as slaves.

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Music by: Andrew Morgan Smith

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let us pray. And in the time of his distress
did he trespass yet more against the Lord. This is
that King a has Second Chronicles twenty eight twenty two.
Heavenly Father, I thank you that your story is a
story of redemption through brokenness. I thank you that through

(00:22):
Judas Kings, you reveal that you can still use me
through imperfection and shortcomings. I thank you that through the
Book of Kings you've shown me that if I am willing,
you will work in me and through me. In the
same breath, I praise you for revealing corrupt kings and

(00:45):
their corrupted mindsets, so that I can avoid the traps
of the enemy. Unlike a has I decree and declare
that no false idol will get my attention and devotion.
Decree and declare that I will be a tool in
the hand of the Lord rather than a stumbling block

(01:06):
to God's children. I declare that the anointing of the
power of the Holy Spirit is moving through me, so
that I am a strong representation of what God can
do through the heart of a willing vessel. In Jesus's name, Amen,

(01:29):
thank you for praying with us today. Continue your time
with God by listening to today's Bible story brought to
you by Bible in a Year dot.

Speaker 2 (01:38):
Com AHAs in our last story, we learned about the
faithful reign of King Uziah.

Speaker 3 (01:55):
Although he did not finish well, the majority of his
life was spent under the wisdom guidance of God. He
fortified Judah and protected them from harm. Then his son
Jotham followed by restoring Israel back to a loving relationship
with God. He was a mighty warrior and a loving king.
He finished his time as king faithfully. Now we learn

(02:19):
about one of the darkest kings Judah has ever known.
His evil ran as deep as the ocean. His idolatry
was taken to the highest of heights in an act
against his children. God, as a result, would not allow
for such evil to go unpunished. Inspired by the Book
of Second Chronicles.

Speaker 4 (02:39):
Hello, I'm pastor Jack Graham with today's episode of the
Bible in a Year podcast. In the last episode, we
learned about King Usiah, who, despite his faithfulness to God
in his younger days, became proud and disobeyed God's commandments
regarding the temple. As a result, he died alone and
in shame, kept away from the house of the Lord

(03:00):
Lord because leprosy had consumed him. But we also heard
about his son Jotham, who followed the Lord and led
with honor and justice all of his days. He was
perhaps the greatest king in Judas since the days of
David and Solomon. Today we'll hear how his son Ahaz
sadly did not share his father's love for the Lord.

(03:21):
He would become one of the most wicked kings in
Judas's history and would commit sins so evil that God
simply could not hold back his hand of judgment any longer.
Let's listen to God's word today.

Speaker 3 (03:34):
The story of God is a story of redemption through brokenness.
Judas kings revealed that God could work through imperfection. Some
kings allowed for God to work in them and through them.
Other kings kicked against the will of God, only to
be humbled later on. The story of King Jotham was
a story of faithfulness from beginning to end. However, his

(03:56):
son had an entirely different story. Jotham died after sixteen
years of being king. He ruled well and continued to
be faithful to the very end. Eventually, the sons set
on his successful rule, and it was time for Ahaz
to take the throne. Ahaz did not share the humble
heart of his father, nor did he have the wits

(04:19):
or bravery of his grandfather Huzaiah. Ahaz was a pathetic
and evil man whose heart was consumed with a great
depth of wickedness. Influenced by the kings of Israel, ay
Has dabbled in the dark worship of exotic gods. He
reveled in the mystic powers of evil. He tempted God
by destroying life itself. One night, in the forest beyond

(04:43):
the hills, he lured his sons in for a sacrifice.
They came under the impression that they were worshiping alongside
their father. The children wandered through the forest without torches
to light their way. The darkness covered the forest, and
all they could hear was the wicked laughter of their
twisted and demented father. AHAs brought his sons in close

(05:05):
and slit the children's throats as tribute to its pagan lords.
Blood dripped over every tree in the forest that night.
Innocent children were torn apart by their wicked father. This
was the evil God desired to shield his people from.
He would not allow AHAs to corrupt or kill more
of his children. The Lord rose up an army from

(05:27):
the east. The King of Syria was stirred up to
go into battle with Judah for land and wealth. God
bolstered the armies of Syria and used them as a
gavel of justice upon AHAs. He also rose up Israel
to mount another attack and claim more of Judah's land.
In a matter of days, Ah has managed to lose
every man of valor his father had trained. Israel took

(05:50):
over two hundred thousand Judeans captive. Women and children were
claimed as slaves, and the entire storehouse of the king
was raided. Yet God's quarrel was not with women and children.
It was with the king. He would not allow Israel
to take slaves, so he sent a prophet to speak
out against the commanders of Israel. He stopped them on

(06:11):
their way back home and proclaimed liberty. It is because
the Lord is angry against Judah that he allowed you
to have victory, the prophet shouted. But that does not
mean you are without sin yourselves. God will not tolerate
you taking women and children captive. Turn back and return
them lest the fierce wrath of God come upon you.

(06:34):
The commanders of Israel's armies responded with humility in unexpected
yet welcomed reaction. They clothed the captives, fed them, and
led them safely back to Judah. Meanwhile, ay Has panicked
in his palace. He was not stable. He was irate
in irrational. The Philistines attacked from the east. Ay Has

(06:55):
desired to save his own skin and therefore reached out
to gain aid. He reached out to Tiglath Pileser, the
king of Assyria. He pleaded for aid. He wanted soldiers, money,
and resources to restore his nation to stability. Yet he
had nothing to offer. Assyria King Tiglath Pileser saw Judah
as weak and ripe for raiding. He led his armies

(07:18):
to Judah under the rules of aid, and then plundered
Jerusalem for all its wealth. This defeat should have caused
AHAs to repent. Instead, it caused him to press deeper
into darkness. He made sacrifices to the gods of Damascus,
the very gods his enemies worshiped. In a has has
warped and twisted logic. He thought that since they helped

(07:39):
his enemies, they would help him. He was painfully unaware
that it was God who strengthened his enemies to capture
his attention. Instead of providing comfort, they sent Ahaz into
a deeper pit of despair. A has tore up vessels
from the House of God and shut up its doors.
He made altars to false gods all throughout the streets

(08:00):
of Jerusalem. He taught them how to bow to other gods.
He led them astray. Yet God would not allow his
people to suffer much longer under AHAs every king must
meet his end, and God would guide and love his
people back into a relationship with him soon enough.

Speaker 4 (08:19):
As we begin today's passage, a new king sits on
the throne in Judah. Jotham had ruled righteously, never turning
from God in his sixteen years as king. When he died,
his son Ahaz became king. But rather than follow in
his father's righteous footsteps, A Has turned down a very
dark and evil path. His heart was filled with evil,

(08:41):
and he turned to foreign gods, just as the kings
in Israel Judas neighbor to the north, were doing in
those days. How sad it is when a person overlooks
or even rejects the godly example of a parent and
follows the pattern of others who seek their own glory
rather than the glory of God. And as a Has
worshiped other gods, false gods, the darkness in his soul

(09:04):
grew deeper and deeper, and more wicked and immoral. This
was not a man with a divided heart. He was
a man fully given over to rebellion and sin. His
wickedness reached his peak when he murdered his own children
and burned them as an offering to pagan gods. It
was a sin so egregious that God could not allow

(09:24):
a Has to go unpunished any longer. We know God
is a patient God, and he is full of mercy.
But we also know that He is a holy God
and will judge sin and sin consequences to all sin
and rebellion against him. So God caused the Syrian king
to go to war against Judah. He gave AHAs and

(09:46):
his army over into the hands of the enemy as
a judgment for the evils a Has had done. This
was not a case of God blessing the Syrians, who
themselves were wicked and did not worship God. This was God,
in his supremacy and sovereignty, using an outside nation to
break his people and their king. God also stirred up

(10:07):
the army of Israel to attack and claim more of
Judas's land. They decimated ah has his army and killed
all the brave men who had served under King Jotham.
They also took two hundred thousand captives, including women and children.
But this was not God's plan, so the Lord sent
a prophet to tell the commanders to release all of

(10:28):
the captives. God reminded the Israelites that they too were
living in sin and would only make matters worse by
taking those innocent lives. Surprisingly, despite their wicked and wayward ways,
the leaders of Israel responded with honor, saying in Second
Chronicles twenty eight, verse thirteen, you shall not bring the

(10:49):
captives in here, for you propose to bring upon us
guilt against the Lord, in addition to our present sins
and guilt, for our guilt is already great, and there
is fierce wrath against Israel. So they treated the captives kindly,
clothing and feeding them before returning them home to freedom.
It was an act of honor and humility, demonstrating that

(11:12):
there were still some in Israel who feared the Lord
and wanted to please him. All of this should have
humbled a Has, but instead it filled him with fear, desperation,
and even more rebellion. When God disciplines or corrects us,
or when situations seemed desperate, do we turn to him
in faith and humility, knowing that he can rescue us

(11:35):
and save us from our own sins, Or do we
seek security from the world for those who have no
real power to help us and who may actually wish
us harm. It is an important spiritual truth to learn
that we always believe in trust in the only God
who can save us, and never listen to the world

(11:55):
who does not know him. A has turned to a
foreign nation, the Assyrians. He wanted their help, but the
king of Assyria saw a weakened nation and foolish king
and attacked, plundering Jerusalem and leaving a Has even worse
off than before. Still a Has refused to turn to God.
He worshiped the idols of Damascus, hoping to find favor

(12:17):
and success from these foreign gods, but all he found
was more defeat and despair, until he finally died, away
from God and never tasting the goodness of fellowship. With
the Lord his God. He was not the only king
that was evil, however, and the next time we'll hear
of God's judgment of Judah's northern neighbors Israel. Remind us always,

(12:41):
Lord that you are the source of our strength and
the only source of our hope. We thank you for
your love and your grace that seeks us and calls
us to yourself, even when we are far away from you.
May we always believe in you through your son, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Thank you for listening to today's

(13:02):
Bible in a Year podcast. I'm Jack Graham from Dallas, Texas.
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(13:23):
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