What I Noticed Today (2 Kings 16-17)
2 Kings 16
Ahaz began his reign in Judah.
In verses 1-9, Ahaz became king of Judah when he was 20-years old and reigned for 16-years from Jerusalem. He became king in the 17th year of Pekah (735 B.C.) king of Israel.
- Unlike previous kings in Judah, Ahaz was a bad king. He followed the evil practices of the kings of Israel and even burned his son as a sacrifice.
- King Rezin of Syria (Aram) and Pekah, the king of Israel, came up against Ahaz and laid siege to Jerusalem, but they could not conquer him.
- Ahaz took money from the house of the lord and hired Tiglath-pileser III, king of Assyria to protect him. The king of Assyria marched to Damascus, captured the city, deported its people and put King Rezin to death.
Source: Deluxe Then and Now Maps by Rose Publishing
In verses 10-18, Ahaz went to Damascus in Syria to meet Tiglath-Pileser III.
- While Ahaz was in Assyria, he saw an altar and ordered Uriah the priest to build him a copy of this pagan altar.
- The altar was built, and Ahaz ordered Uriah to offer sacrifices on the pagan altar in the house of the Lord.
- Ahaz even stripped the bronze from the Temple water carts and sent it to Tiglath-pileser III in Assyria.
In verses 19-20, Ahaz died, and his son Hezekiah ruled in his place.
2 Kings 17
Hoshea became king in Israel.
In verses 1-6, in Ahaz king of Judah’s 12th year, Hoshea became king in Israel (732 B.C.).
- Hoshea was a bad king, doing evil in the eyes of the Lord, but not as his fathers had done.
- Shalmaneser the king of Assyria (son of Tiglath-pileser III), marched to Samaria and besieged it for three years because Hoshea had failed to pay his annual tribute.
- Shalmaneser captured Samaria in Hoshea’s ninth year and took the Israelites to Assyria.
In verses 7-23, the Israelite exile occurred because the people had turned away from God.
- They began to practice foreign religions in secret, then built high places, pillars, and Asherim and began offering sacrifices.
- They refused to listen to the prophets and rejected God’s statutes.
- They worshipped foreign idols and stubbornly refused to return to God.
- They worshipped all kind of foreign gods including Baal.
- They even burned their sons and daughters as sacrificial offerings.
- Ultimately, they despised God and His commandments!
In verses 24-41, the king of Assyria brought people forum others cities (Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim) and relocated them to the land of Samaria, replacing the people of Israel.
Note: Israel became a province of Assyria and was called the province of Samaria.
- Because the people did not worship the Lord, the Lord sent lions among them who killed some of them.
- The Assyrian leaders believed the lions came as a result of the people not knowing the requirements of the Lord.
- So the king of Assyrian sent an Israelite priest to Bethel with instructions to teach the people about God.
- But the people of the nation’s living in Samaria continued to worship their own gods.
Note: 2 Kings 17:24 explains how the “Samaritans” came to exist (see John 4:9). The people of Israel intermarried with people from the nations that the King of Assyria had moved into Israel. These racially mixed Jews came to be despised by full-blooded Jews.
- The people of God did not worship the Lord or keep the laws and commandments He gave them. They continued in their sinful ways.
Some thoughts for additional consideration:
- Ahaz was a failure because he followed the example of the wicked people who lived nearby instead of remaining faithful to God. Syria and Israel defeated him and resorted to buying help from a foreign nation rather than turning to God and trusting Him. He made an attempt at worship, but rather than following God's pattern (Exodus 25:40), he modeled his altar from one he had seen in Assyria.
- The people of Israel led the people of Judah away from God, as they became more and more corrupt.
- We all follow examples; we all model aspects of ourselves against others. The question is, are we modeling our lives against God and His standards or against sinful man?
What did you notice in your study today? Feel free to visit the website and leave a question or a comment.
