2 KINGS 15, 16

 READ: 2 KINGS 15, 16

TEXT FOR REFLECTION

10 When King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, he saw the altar that was at Damascus. And King Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest a model of the altar, and its pattern, exact in all its details. 11 And Uriah the priest built the altar; in accordance with all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, so Uriah the priest made it, before King Ahaz arrived from Damascus. 12 And when the king came from Damascus, the king viewed the altar. Then the king drew near to the altar and went up on it 13 and burned his burnt offering and his grain offering and poured his drink offering and threw the blood of his peace offerings on the altar. 14 And the bronze altar that was before the Lord he removed from the front of the house, from the place between his altar and the house of the Lord, and put it on the north side of his altar. 15 And King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest, saying, “On the great altar burn the morning burnt offering and the evening grain offering and the king's burnt offering and his grain offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their grain offering and their drink offering. And throw on it all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the sacrifice, but the bronze altar shall be for me to inquire by.” 16 Uriah the priest did all this, as King Ahaz commanded. 17 And King Ahaz cut off the frames of the stands and removed the basin from them, and he took down the sea from off the bronze oxen that were under it and put it on a stone pedestal. 18 And the covered way for the Sabbath that had been built inside the house and the outer entrance for the king he caused to go around the house of the Lord, because of the king of Assyria.  2 KINGS 16:10-18

REFLECT

These were difficult times for King Ahaz. He was caught between a rock and a hard place. As Judah's king, he felt responsible for the survival of his nation. But Judah's existence as a nation was indeed in great danger. 

His brother-nation Israel had joined with Syria to attack Judah. Judah was no match for the Syria-Israel partnership and even though Syria-Israel had besieged Judah but failed to overcome them, they had slowly chiseled away pieces of land from Judah. Ahaz the king of Israel then called on Assyria, and in exchange for a large sum of money, Assyria joined with Judah and defeated the Syria-Israel coalition. But the story is not as simple as King Ahaz paying a large sum of money to a foreign power to help defeat Judah's foes. Perhaps it was that the King of Judah wanted a more permanent relationship with Assyria and be its vassal state, or perhaps Judah was awed by the power of the Assyrians and their gods, or perhaps Assyria had demanded allegiance from Judah. Whatever the case, Ahaz king of Judah decided to replace the worship of Yahweh with the Assyrian form of worship as the official form of worship. As a consolation to Yahweh, he kept Yahweh's altar for private and personal devotion. Of course demoting Yahweh to a personal deity, was little different from throwing Yahweh out completely. 

We can trace Judah's rapid slide from being a Kingdom of Yahweh, to a nation that almost fully abandoned Yahweh. Ahaz was enamored by the power and wealth, and perhaps even the depravities of neighbouring nations. Verse 4 described him as making 'offerings on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree'. He was so profligate in his idolatry that he indiscriminately left his offerings under any and every tree. In his frenzied pursuit of his purposes he sought more than just worshipping under every tree and on every hill and high place. He went on to sacrifice his son as a burnt offering. 

Even though there was a tug of conscience in him still, that was not enough to hold him to Yahweh. He clearly still had some reverence or affection for Yahweh, as he had kept the altar in a less conspicuous place for him to "inquire of the Lord". But in public and before all the nations, Ahaz worshipped the gods of the Assyrians.

RELATE

The slide from being a follower of God to turning away from God often begins insidiously. I have seen many once God-loving youth become adults who relentlessly pursue the world's goals, and having little thought for God's purposes for their lives. It is heart-breaking when I meet a person who says, sometimes wistfully and sometimes without emotion, "I was once a very active Christian...". There are many reasons why a person would turn away from God, but one that I find very prevalent is this: where one's life-goals have little to do with God's purposes for their lives.

In my conversations with Christian young adults, I often ask how and why they chose their careers. Very often the answer is that the career is lucrative, that promotional prospects are high, or that demand for that skill or profession is high. I hear the same sentiment from parents. Christian parents often talk about their children's careers, and which line brings in the most money. We naturally assume that as long as the job is not illegal or immoral, it is alright to pursue the best paid job. Indeed there is nothing wrong with pursuing the best paid job or any job at all as long as it is legitimate. But is that the only or main consideration? The issue is not so much whether the job is right or good, but whether we had considered the most important factor, which is how being in the particular line will allow us to serve God's purposes best.

When the main motive for pursuing a particular career is wealth or glamour, aren't these still the goals of the world? And when there is a conflict between God's purposes and the world's goals, will the pressure to give in to the world's goals be very great, in fact, too great for us to withstand? Afterall, if we already share the world's goals of getting as much money or glamour as we can, and the only relevance of God in this pursuit is that He help us attain our goals. then God has already become like a private deity not unlike King Ahaz's private shrine for Yahweh. God becomes important to us only in so far as He helps us achieve our goals. He loses His place as sovereign God and in our eyes becomes just a good luck charm.

REST

Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;

Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art

Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,

Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,

Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:

Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,

High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

                            Dallan Forgail (8th century)

Chiu Ming Li