2 Chronicles 28:22-27--Ahaz's Idolatry

2 Chronicles 28:22-27
English Standard Version
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Ahaz's Idolatry
22 In the time of his distress he became yet more faithless to the LORD—this same King Ahaz. 23 For he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus that had defeated him and said, “Because the gods of the kings of Syria helped them, I will sacrifice to them that they may help me.” But they were the ruin of him and of all Israel. 24 And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and he shut up the doors of the house of the LORD, and he made himself altars in every corner of Jerusalem. 25 In every city of Judah he made high places to make offerings to other gods, provoking to anger the LORD, the God of his fathers. 26 Now the rest of his acts and all his ways, from first to last, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. 27 And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city, in Jerusalem, for they did not bring him into the tombs of the kings of Israel. And Hezekiah his son reigned in his place.

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We would have hoped that when the LORD allowed Judah to experience military defeats and allowed the people of Judah to be taken away into captivity and allowed the cities of Judah to be taken by foreign armies and their wealth to be plundered that the king and people would realize their need to repent.  However, the king continued even more in his idolatry, now choosing to worship the gods of the Syrians, as Syria had been given victory over him, so the king imagined that their gods must be stronger than the LORD.  He said to himself, "Because the gods of the kings of Syria helped them, I will sacrifice to them that they may help me."  Little did Ahaz realized that it was the LORD who helped the Syrians (and all the others) achieve their victories over Judah.

Ahaz destroyed the vessels of worship at the house of the LORD (the Temple) and shut the doors to the Temple so that no one might go there and worship.  Instead, he made idols for himself on every corner of Jerusalem--typically people kept their idolatry restricted to the high places, orchards, and groves outside the city, but Ahaz proudly put idols on every street corner in plain view of everyone.

Not only in Jerusalem, but in every city in Judah were altars made to these false gods and people worshiped them.  This provoked the LORD's anger even more.  The hearts of the people are now far from the LORD and they will no longer listen to his prophets or his discipline.  It appears that darkness is winning, but God is not finished yet.  He has the power of life and death, and He decided that Ahaz's time of corrupting His people is over.  Ahaz died but was not buried with the other kings of Judah (the people knew that he was an evil king), and his son Hezekiah (you probably recognize that name) ruled in his place.  All the other acts of king Ahaz can be found in the book of the Kings of Judah and Israel (that is, look at the books of 1 Kings and 2 Kings for more information).

We see Judah spiraling out of control so that they are as bad or worse than their neighbors to the north.  The LORD will judge His people, but He is also going to bring about reforms by the hand of Hezekiah that will keep His judgment at bay for a little longer.  We'll start looking at Hezekiah and his reforms next time.