Tag: 2 Kings 16

Links for today’s readings:

Nov 3  Read: 2 Kings 16 Listen: (3:46) Read: Psalms 68 Listen: (4:26)

Scripture Focus: 2 Kings 16.14-18

14 As for the bronze altar that stood before the Lord, he brought it from the front of the temple—from between the new altar and the temple of the Lord—and put it on the north side of the new altar. 15 King Ahaz then gave these orders to Uriah the priest: “On the large new altar, offer the morning burnt offering and the evening grain offering, the king’s burnt offering and his grain offering, and the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their grain offering and their drink offering. Splash against this altar the blood of all the burnt offerings and sacrifices. But I will use the bronze altar for seeking guidance.” 16 And Uriah the priest did just as King Ahaz had ordered. 17 King Ahaz cut off the side panels and removed the basins from the movable stands. He removed the Sea from the bronze bulls that supported it and set it on a stone base. 18 He took away the Sabbath canopy that had been built at the temple and removed the royal entryway outside the temple of the Lord, in deference to the king of Assyria.

Reflection: Vassals Become Vessels

By John Tillman

Assyria, the world’s first superpowered empire, was growing.

Judah’s neighbors, Israel and Aram, pressured Judah’s king, Ahaz, to join them in resisting Assyria. When he would not, they conspired to replace him as king and attacked him. As Isaiah promised Ahaz, the coup collapsed. (Isaiah 7.2-7) However, Ahaz failed to follow Isaiah’s advice and stand firm in his faith.

Rather than resist Assyria, Ahaz chose appeasement. Forsaking God’s promise through Isaiah, Ahaz forged an alliance with Assyria to protect himself from his neighbors. To pay Assyria for this protection, Ahaz stripped the temple of gold, silver, and bronze. When visiting Tiglath-Pileser as his newest vassal, Ahaz saw an Assyrian altar and had a copy of it built for the temple in Jerusalem. As a vassal of Assyria, Judah became a vessel for Assyrian ways, worship, and corruption.

First, Ahaz placed the Assyrian altar in front of the altar of God, between it and the temple’s entrance. Then Ahaz moved God’s altar to one side, out of its place. Ahaz instructed the priest to offer sacrifices on the new Assyrian altar, but kept God’s altar for “seeking guidance.” Ahaz not only sidelined Yahweh’s altar, he also worshiped Assyrian gods and sacrificed his son to them. Ahaz distorted and corrupted the temple “in deference to” the Assyrian king. He eventually shuttered the temple and filled the city with altars to many gods. (2 Chronicles 28.24-25) Ahaz’s kingdom and temple became indistinguishable from Assyria.

We are not kings like Ahaz, and the powers of the world rarely threaten us like an empire. Sometimes they woo us like algorithms, seduce us like sins, numb us like drugs, deceive us like politicians, or corrupt us like wicked or reckless friends.

When such powers of the world approach us, it is dangerous for us to choose appeasement. Appeasement soon becomes approval, and approval soon becomes adoption.

Have we become vassals of worldly powers (cultural or political) and vessels of their ways? Have we sidelined part of our theology to center the priorities of powerful allies? Does our deference to powerful forces erase the difference between us and them?

We must not be conformed to or discipled by worldly powers or leaders. (Romans 12.2) Rather than showing deference, we must demonstrate our difference. 

Let us stand firm in our faith, using winsome persuasion, determined persistence, and uncompromising principles to distinguish ourselves and defend our neighbors from the world’s powers.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence

“New Day”, by David Adam

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Read more: Kingdoms Breaking Bad

As Israel fractures, each dynasty hopes to be the answer. But each one, especially in the northern kingdom, “breaks bad.”

Kingdoms Breaking Bad

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Scripture Focus: 2 Kings 16:8, 10
8 And Ahaz took the silver and gold found in the temple of the Lord and in the treasuries of the royal palace and sent it as a gift to the king of Assyria…10 Then King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria. He saw an altar in Damascus and sent to Uriah the priest a sketch of the altar, with detailed plans for its construction.

Reflection: The Facade of Worship
By Erin Newton

You can’t have your cake and eat it too. The old idiom means “to have all the benefits of a situation when, in fact, having one thing means that you cannot have the other.” I want good grades without studying. I stay up late watching movies but hope to feel well-rested in the morning. I want companionship but never invest in others.  Unfortunately, I fall into this trap in small, mostly insignificant ways. There are some, however, who have gone too far.

Ahaz became king of Judah and quickly made an alliance with the Assyrians. With threats surrounding Judah, Ahaz welcomed the influence of other powers. He earnestly sought their approval by robbing the Temple and handing over the riches. He lingered with the Assyrians and was enthralled by the temples for foreign gods.

Judah already had a temple for worship. The divinely ordained Temple in Jerusalem was blessed with God’s continual presence. But Ahaz was obsessed with Assyrian power and prestige so much so that he was willing to try to hold both worlds in one hand. He kept the Temple in Jerusalem and commissioned another Assyrian-style altar to be built. He kept the divinely ordained rituals but transferred those to his new altar.

Ahaz attempted to retain the façade of worshipping God while adopting the ways of the world. He was either weak or wicked but in either case, he failed to see that worshipping God is incompatible with other worldviews. He could not have God and other deities too.  

Not everything conflicts with faith. I can be a vegetarian Christian or a pro-life Democrat or an old-earth conservative. Our faith does not stand at odds with everything. There is, however, a difference in building two houses of worship. My profession to love Jesus cannot stand alongside the desire to give my whole heart to a cause, a party, or a person.

Jesus warned that no one was able to serve two masters. “Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other.” (Matthew 6.24) Ahaz despised God by continuing to rob the Temple and sacrificing his own children. What pursuits consume our thoughts? What platforms are we willing to sacrifice for that compete with the sole worship of God? Some things must be secondary in life; God must be primary. 

Divine Hours Prayer: A Reading
Concerning the commandments, Jesus taught us, saying: “This is the first: Listen Israel, the Lord our God is the One, only Lord, and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: You must love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater then these.” — Mark 12.29-31

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Today’s Readings
2 Kings 16 (Listen – 3:46)
Titus 2 (Listen – 2:01)

Read more about Muscle Memory
Fearful and uncertain, he looked for answers. Just as he was raised, he avoided God and looked to the idols.

Muscle Memory

Read more about Solomon’s Cheating Heart
What “Temple” have you built with the time and resources of your life?
Who is that Temple dedicated to?

Solomon’s Cheating Heart