When You Get kicked Out

2 Kings 16, 17 and 2 Chronicles 28

Today I got a little bit of déjà vu.

Déjà vu because I feel like we read this already.

And we did.

In Amos and in Hosea and in Micah.

And in Isaiah.

I kind of like today’s reading but it’s also so very sad to me. This reading in chronological order. This hopping back and forth to watch it all unfold simultaneously from several different camera angles and story points of view.

Voices from the throne, from the battle field, from the city and from the countryside. 

In a king’s voice, a city prophet and priest, and just a small-town guy.

Ahaz son of Jotham is on the throne reigning from Jerusalem.  Ch 16:2 “Unlike David his father, he did not do what was right in the eyes of the LORD his Go, 3 He walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and even sacrificed his son in the fire.” 

NIV Notes. Not that we need these explanatory notes today.  Child sacrifice is not only detestable and horrific, it is also heart breaking.  I can’t imagine any mom being cool with that.  Israel had been warned by Moses NOT to engage in this pagan rite.  In Israel, the firstborn son in each household was to be consecrated to the LORD and redeemed by a payment of 5 shekels to the priests.

Part of me can’t even wrap my head around what a departure sacrifice is from consecration.  The worst kind of sacrilege. But I digress.

Another despicable act Ahaz committed was taking the silver and bronze sacred temple pieces and palace treasures as tribute payments to the king of Assyria.  Using this treasure as trinkets to pay his dues. In buying an alliance, he indebted himself instead of trusting God to watch over him and fight for him.    Selling himself back to servitude and bondage.  And that sounds so sadly familiar.  

Even in that very moment, Isaiah came to Ahaz and told him to ask God for a sign (Isaiah 7).  God gave Ahaz an opportunity to strengthen his faith.   (Ch 7:12) “But Ahaz said, ‘I will not ask; I will not put the LORD to the test.’”  If I was watching that movie at home, I would jump out of my chair and throw my arms in the air.  “Really?”   And instead Ahaz empties the temple in deference to the king of Assyria.  He builds a stone altar in the temple based on the big royal stone altar in Damascus so he can begin making pagan offerings the way Assyrian royalty make them.  A further sign of submission. 

Ahaz defiled the entire house of God.

Unlike Naaman, who asked for some earth on which he could kneel to worship Yahweh.

2 Kings chapter 17 goes through the whole history of Israel. It’s a great spot for a history recap after the detailed accounts we’ve been reading.   Hoshea becomes king of Israel in Samaria.  He broke the vassal relationship with the king of Assyria.  First Tiglath Pileser and then Shalmaneser, who invaded the entire land and laid siege to Samaria for 3 years before it finally crumbled. 

Ch 17:3 “All this took place because the Israelites had sinned against the LORD their God who had brought them up out of Egypt from under the power of Pharaoh the king of Egypt.   14 But they would not listen…”

So there’s the déjà vu. The irony. God brought Israel out of bondage.  And Israel put herself right back into a yoke.  Even when Ahaz had a chance to rely on God. He sold himself into bondage.

Ch 17: 18 “So the LORD was very angry with Israel and removed them from His Presence.  23…as He had warned through all his servants the prophets.  So the people of Israel were taken from their homeland into exile in Assyria and they are still there.  24 The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath and Sepharvaim and settled them in the towns of Samaria and lived in its towns.”

The king brought people to resettle the land. 

The way God had brought Israel to settle the same land so many generations before. 

This people cast out of the land that was their Covenant Promise Love Gift.  

They rejected everything God gave them.

They came empty from the desert to the land of plenty that was not enough.

Removed and replaced.

They left empty handed and empty hearted.

This people who became just like everyone else.

No one remembering the whole-hearted love and courage words of Moses and Joshua and David.

But in Isaiah we get the words for the future. 

Of a saviour coming.

And our story comes full circle.

It lands on Hope. 

And soon the story of Hezekiah.  

Because if God’s love for His people ended here, there wouldn’t be a New Testament.  

And we’d only have a little piece of Old Testament.

So today too, we are reminded that like this Story, our story is so far from over.

And that’s quite amazing. An amazing privilege to read and to write about and to recognize that the same God who spoke the earth into being is still speaking to you and to me today.

To be continued…..

Oh. Bring on the hearts!