Fear No Fear

(All scripture from Lexham English Bible, Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software)

Ahaz was an ungodly man. He took Judah into the idolatry of Israel. He even sacrificed his own son to the idols. He encouraged worship in the high places instead of tolerating it. He performed abominations.

Rezin of Syria and Pekah of Israel fought against him at Jerusalem, but didn’t conquer him. They did recover Elath and expelled the Judeans there, giving it back to the Edomites. Ahaz begged help from Assyria, bribing him with all the gold and silver in the Temple. The Assyrians went against Damascus and captured it. They removed all the people there and killed Rezin. King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-Pileser, king of Assyria. While he was there, he saw an altar. He liked it. He had Urijah the priest in Jerusalem to make a copy of it and Urijah had it built before Ahaz returned to Jerusalem. Ahaz was thrilled. He made burnt offerings and grain offerings on it (forbidden by the Law – Leviticus 1:3-9). He rearranged the furniture of the Temple and had his altar given best place. He also commanded Urijah to offer the sacrifices on his pagan altar, not the bronze altar of the Lord. And Urijah did. This was unholy worship in a holy place. Not a good idea. It was not godly.

Ahaz didn’t stop there. He removed or altered ANYTHING and EVERYTHING that might offend the pagan king of Assyria. He cared nothing for what the Lord wanted or what the Lord had commanded, and everyone seems to have gone along. Urijah was certainly more concerned about Ahaz than he was about the Lord. Ahaz finally dies, gets buried in Jerusalem, and his son Hezekiah takes the throne. Isaiah chapter 14 was written at this time. Why was Ahaz so concerned about what Tiglath-Pileser would find offensive? Because of what happened in Israel under the Assyrian king Shalmaneser.

“The Israelites secretly did things which were not right, against Yahweh their God; they built high places for themselves in all their towns, from the watchtower up to the fortified city. They set up for themselves stone pillars and poles of Asherah worship on every high hill and under every green tree. They burned incense there on all the high places, like the nations which Yahweh deported before them, and they did evil things to provoke Yahweh.” (2 Kings 17:9-11)

In the twelfth year of Ahaz, king of Judah, Hoshea became king of Israel. He reigned for nine years. He was ungodly. Not exactly like his forefathers though. So either he was ungodly in new ways or ungodly but not in the matter of the golden calves. It’s unclear, but whatever it was it was BAD. Shalmaneser, king of Assyria at the time, came down on Israel and made them a vassal state. Hoshea had to give him tribute every year. He didn’t like that, so he conspired with So, king of Egypt. Shalmaneser found out and imprisoned Hoshea. Then Assyria went through the land and besieged Samaria for three years. He took it and carried Israel away captive to Assyria.

The Israelites were warned time and time again over HUNDREDS of years. They had been around (as a Northern single country separate from Judah) for 258 years. It was 378 years after Saul was anointed king. And they had been warned about apostasy and turning against Yahweh since Abraham had his encounter with God 1,204 before this time. They had brought this upon themselves. They had built high places. They had built sacred pillars and wooden images (Deuteronomy 12:1-14). They burned incense in high places. They did the things that the previous inhabitants of the land had done (Leviticus 26:1; Exodus 34:14). God had warned them with prophets, the Law of Moses, and the priests. They refused His warnings. They chose not to believe His instructions. They hardened their hearts. They chose this and no one made them do that. It didn’t happen all at once and the Lord was consistently and constantly trying to get them to turn around and follow Him. This broke His heart. All there was left, was Judah.

Judah followed… in the way of Israel. Their time was numbered (exactly 124.5 years from this time). But God was STILL dealing with them, working to get them to turn from their ways. He is a merciful and loving God.

The king of Assyria had taken all the Israelites out of the land. He then brought in people from Babylon, Cuthuh, Ava, Hamath, and Sepharvaim and gave them the cities of Samaria. These are the colonists whose descendants are still claiming ownership of Israel today and claiming they have always been there. They have NO case.

Now, when the Lord set the land of Israel apart, He declared certain things should be done or the land would turn against the inhabitants. These colonists were not doing those things. The land turned against them. Lions came and killed some of them. They sent messengers to the king of Assyria complaining they didn’t know the rituals needed to appease God of Israel. They recognized the lions as judgment. The king of Assyria sent them a priest of Israel from among his captives and commanded the priest to teach the people how to worship the God of Israel. He did. He instructed them in how to reverence the Lord. Which they did, BUT they also made shrines to their own cultural gods and put idols in the high places that the Samaritans had made. [Note: this mixture of idols and worship of Yahweh is exactly what the Samaritans did in Jesus’ day and it continues today.]

These foreign nations didn’t see Yahweh as THE God, but ‘a’ God. This is why they have never had fellowship with Him. You must serve Yahweh ALONE, recognizing Him as the One True God Period. They went through the motions, but did not give Him His proper place. May we not be religious and go through the motions. May we worship Him in Spirit and TRUTH. Fully, totally, and singly – no others, just Adonai God Almighty.

Summary

Key Players: God, Ahaz, Hoshea, Tilgath-Pileser, Shalmaneser

Key Verse(s): 2 Kings 16:1-4, 7-9, 17-18; 17:1-4, 16-17, 22-23, 26, 40-41