Jotham as King
When
Uzziah dies, Jotham takes over. Jotham
reigns for sixteen years, but we really don’t have all that much information
recorded about him by the chronicler. We
do know that for the most part he was obedient to the ways of the Lord. The only mark against him is that the people
did not follow in his obedience. He may
have led the people, but he was not a leader.
The people did not follow.
I don’t believe
that we can necessarily lay this issue at the feet of Jotham. After all, he cannot force the people to
comply. Sure, he might not have been
very charismatic or have strong leadership traits. However, that still is no excuse for people
to not follow godly leadership. The
people bear their own responsibility for not following the godly leaders that
God places in their midst.
We know
that in the end, God is pleased with Jotham as king, which helps us determine
that it may not be Jotham’s fault that the people aren’t following him. We can see this because God causes Jotham to
prosper. God goes before Jotham and
makes his battles end in victory. We shouldn’t
equate success with God’s favor, but in this case we can. Verse 6 tells us that because Jotham ordered
his ways before God that God caused Jotham to prosper.
It isn’t
Jotham’s skill that is of use to God. It
is Jotham’s humbleness. Jotham humbles
himself before God and organizes his life around God’s ways. God causes those ways to prosper.
Ahaz as King
Ahaz
becomes king after Jotham. It is quite
clear that Ahaz’s rule is not pleasing to God.
However, Ahaz goes further in his evil than most. Ahaz not only allows the worship of Asherah
to grow but he takes part in one of the most despicable parts of the native
religion of the Canaanite people. Ahaz
begins to offer up his children in sacrifices to the gods. This practice was often a part of the worship
of Molech, the god of the Ammonites.
Ancient
cultures believed that the gods controlled every aspect of life. The more the gods were appeased, the better
life would be. As an aside, don’t we
live the same way in spirit? Don’t we
assume that when life goes well that God must love us and when things go poorly
God must be angry with us? We’re not
really that far from superstition than ancient religions.
Back on
topic, the ancient people believed that the gods could be appeased by
sacrifices. The ancient people also
believed that the greater the sacrifice, the more the gods would appreciate the
sacrifice. To be fair, there isn’t much
difference in that belief than our typical modern relationship with God, is
it? Don’t we believe that great sacrifices
on our behalf appease God more and will bring more of His love? As if we could honestly have more of His love
than was bought by His Son…
Okay,
back on topic again. Here we have the
underlying premise behind human sacrifices.
Ancient people believed that if they gave a great sacrifice to the gods
that they would appease them more. What
sacrifice could be greater than giving some of the things closest to you to the
gods? If that thing is alive, the
sacrifice is believed to be even bigger.
I admit
it is a rather sick mindset. I also
acknowledge that it is completely against the Lord’s ways. In fact, God finds this practice
abominable. But there is a disconcerting
logic behind it. That is the logic
behind it. Ahaz begins to live by that
mindset. God loathes the practice.
God
loathes the practice so much that the he allows the Syrians to have military
success over the people of Judah. When
that doesn’t get their attention, God allows the people of Israel to have
military success over the people of Judah.
As the people of Israel begin to win the military victories, they take
prisoners.
Of
course, God does not approve of the Israelite people taking the people of Judah
captive. It is one thing for God to use
the people of Israel as slaves. It is
another thing entirely to take advantage of God’s plan and do what He does not
intend. Fortunately, there are prophets
among the people who convince the military leaders to return the captives and
send them back to Judah.
However,
the misfortune does not end here.
Instead of repenting of his failings and turning to God, Ahaz turns
instead to the king of Assyria, Tiglath-pileasar III. Ahaz believes that he can find salvation in
human terms. Rather than trust in a god –
or better yet, The God – Ahaz turns to human agents of power. Ahaz gives the king of Assyria some money so
that he would send aid to him while being afflicted by the military advances of
Syria and Israel.
Unfortunately,
it backfires on him. Instead of sending
him aid, Assyria decides to come and plunder them himself. There go the best laid plans of men. We think so often that we can find our own
way out. Sometimes – in fact, I daresay
usually – the best answer is found in turning to God and relying upon His
strength and wisdom rather than our own.
Ahaz’s Complete Undoing
When Ahaz
sees that he isn’t in any better place for having reached out to Assyria, Ahaz
cracks under the pressure. Again, rather
than repenting Ahaz reaches out and grasps at straws. Ahaz begins to set up even more places for
worship of foreign gods. He branches out
in order to include even more foreign gods, thinking that one of them might
come to his rescue. It only leads to his
downfall. He falls hard. He dies and is buried, but not with the righteous
kings of Judah.
It’s easy
to condemn Ahaz, isn’t it? But in many
respects, Ahaz does exactly what most of us as human beings are guilty of doing
from time to time. As our life spirals
out of control, don’t we tend to reach out and grasp for straws? As things that once thrilled us suddenly
begin to bore us, don’t we reach out and grasp for new things? We do what Ahaz does, but perhaps not quite
on as grand of a scale. The next time
our life seems to spin out of control, rather than grasping at straws it would
seem that we would be better served to remember to repent and humble ourselves
before God. If we turn back to Him, He
can bring order to our life regardless of how far we have fallen.
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