2 Chronicles 28
As far as his relations with the Lord are concerned, Ahaz's reign is particularly bad — and let us not forget that these relations are the essential question, really the only question of every good reign in Judah. One cannot insist enough on the fact that Israel, in this regard quite different from other nations, had no destiny or reason for existence apart from the worship of the true God. This explains why the role of the religious and priestly element weighs so heavily in the history of the kingdom as Chronicles presents it. When the king, the responsible representative of the people before God, was faithful, what characterized his reign above all else was the temple, the priesthood, the observance of worship and feasts; when he did not uphold the worship of the Lord but fell into idolatry, he was responsible for the national decadence which was its consequence and for God's judgments on the people.
Yet we have also seen that, under the reign of Jotham, the people, despite the king's faithfulness, corrupted themselves more and more, justifying the sentence pronounced against them and their leaders by all the prophets who succeeded one another from that time on.
The re-establishment of worship in Judah was therefore of capital importance — as was the forsaking of worship. Forsaken, it would bring Judah back down to the level of the idolatrous nations and bring upon her the same judgments; re-established, worship would draw God's favor down anew on this poor people even as they were advancing so quickly toward ruin.
From the beginning, Israel's kings had forsaken the worship of the true God in favor of establishing national idols, and so God's judgments which had come upon them from the beginning were about to become conclusive. Would Judah suffer the same fate? Without any doubt whatsoever, for God does not have a double system of weights and measures. But one fact yet remained in Judah's favor: God had purposes for Judah; He loved Jerusalem and had chosen it to become the seat of the kingdom, and He had chosen a son of David to fulfill this. Now, this was naught but grace, without which, as we have often said, nothing could subsist, but also God could not cease to exercise grace without denying Himself. This alone allows us to understand the alternatives that characterize the time of the end: judgment, where everything seems to be lost; restoration, where everything seems to have been found anew. The history of Ahaz gives us a solemn example of the former.
His history differs significantly from that in Second Kings, except for the fact that the role of Ahaz is loathsome in both accounts. Far from mitigating his idolatry, Chronicles presents an even more serious matter, telling us: He "even made molten images for the Baals; and he burned incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom" (2 Chron. 28:2-32For he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and made also molten images for Baalim. 3Moreover he burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burnt his children in the fire, after the abominations of the heathen whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel. (2 Chronicles 28:2‑3)). The abominable worship of Moloch which demanded human sacrifices and the fact that he himself sacrificed on the high places, serve as prelude to this wicked reign.
The passage 2 Chron. 28:5-155Wherefore the Lord his God delivered him into the hand of the king of Syria; and they smote him, and carried away a great multitude of them captives, and brought them to Damascus. And he was also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel, who smote him with a great slaughter. 6For Pekah the son of Remaliah slew in Judah an hundred and twenty thousand in one day, which were all valiant men; because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers. 7And Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim, slew Maaseiah the king's son, and Azrikam the governor of the house, and Elkanah that was next to the king. 8And the children of Israel carried away captive of their brethren two hundred thousand, women, sons, and daughters, and took also away much spoil from them, and brought the spoil to Samaria. 9But a prophet of the Lord was there, whose name was Oded: and he went out before the host that came to Samaria, and said unto them, Behold, because the Lord God of your fathers was wroth with Judah, he hath delivered them into your hand, and ye have slain them in a rage that reacheth up unto heaven. 10And now ye purpose to keep under the children of Judah and Jerusalem for bondmen and bondwomen unto you: but are there not with you, even with you, sins against the Lord your God? 11Now hear me therefore, and deliver the captives again, which ye have taken captive of your brethren: for the fierce wrath of the Lord is upon you. 12Then certain of the heads of the children of Ephraim, Azariah the son of Johanan, Berechiah the son of Meshillemoth, and Jehizkiah the son of Shallum, and Amasa the son of Hadlai, stood up against them that came from the war, 13And said unto them, Ye shall not bring in the captives hither: for whereas we have offended against the Lord already, ye intend to add more to our sins and to our trespass: for our trespass is great, and there is fierce wrath against Israel. 14So the armed men left the captives and the spoil before the princes and all the congregation. 15And the men which were expressed by name rose up, and took the captives, and with the spoil clothed all that were naked among them, and arrayed them, and shod them, and gave them to eat and to drink, and anointed them, and carried all the feeble of them upon asses, and brought them to Jericho, the city of palm trees, to their brethren: then they returned to Samaria. (2 Chronicles 28:5‑15) differs from the account in 2 Kings 16. In the latter, Jerusalem, attacked by Rezin, king of Syria, and Pekah, king of Israel, is preserved from the entry of these allied princes. Chronicles is silent about this deliverance, as well as about Rezin's capture of Elath, a city once recovered by Amaziah (2 Chron. 26:22He built Eloth, and restored it to Judah, after that the king slept with his fathers. (2 Chronicles 26:2)) and very important for Judah's naval power. The account in Chronicles teaches us, by contrast, that a great number of captives of Judah fell into the hands of Rezin who led them away to Damascus. From this time on we are told no more concerning these captives, but we can conclude from the words of Hezekiah (2 Chron. 29:99For, lo, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this. (2 Chronicles 29:9)) that Tilgath-pilneser, the king of Assyria, after having taken Damascus, did not surrender them to Ahaz when Ahaz went down to Damascus to see him. Tilgath-pilneser "troubled him", 2 Chron. 28:2020And Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria came unto him, and distressed him, but strengthened him not. (2 Chronicles 28:20) informs us.
The defeat which Pekah, the king of Israel, inflicted on Judah was serious in quite a different way. In one day Pekah killed 120,000 men of Judah, all valiant men, "because they had forsaken Jehovah the God of their fathers." God's judgment is therefore not only, as we have said, the consequence of the king's unfaithfulness, but also that of the people's unfaithfulness during the reign of faithful Jotham. A king's son and a prince destined for the regency of the kingdom are taken and massacred; 200,000 captives, both men and women, are carried away by Israel together with much spoil. The kingdom of Judah, so tried, stricken by so many blows, seems to collapse finally. Nevertheless, in spite of all God does not allow the son of Tabeal to be substituted for the true posterity of David, as the allied princes had intended (see Isa. 7:66Let us go up against Judah, and vex it, and let us make a breach therein for us, and set a king in the midst of it, even the son of Tabeal: (Isaiah 7:6)), for God cannot be unfaithful to His own promises.
But now we see a prophet rise up in Israel, something very rare since Elisha's time, and particularly rare in the days when the ten tribes had already been given up by God. At the moment when the prophets who so often lift up their voices to address the kings of Judah fall silent the voice of Oded is heard in Israel (2 Chron. 28:99But a prophet of the Lord was there, whose name was Oded: and he went out before the host that came to Samaria, and said unto them, Behold, because the Lord God of your fathers was wroth with Judah, he hath delivered them into your hand, and ye have slain them in a rage that reacheth up unto heaven. (2 Chronicles 28:9)). The Lord had not yet decreed the overthrow of the kingdom in Judah, and for the moment still wanted to preserve a part of the guilty people. When He can no longer cause the voice of prophets to be heard in Judah, He sends one on behalf of Judah to Israel. What grace for this people whose state ought to have called down heavenly vengeance!
Oded shows His people that their victory is only the result of God's wrath against Judah, but that Israel had slain "in a rage that reaches up to heaven"; and now Israel was wanting "to subjugate the children of Judah and Jerusalem as [their] bondmen and bondwomen"! Oded proclaims before all that the divine center of government is in Judah and claims that this tribe is chosen by Jehovah. If a prophet of Israel said these things, what must have been the humiliation of the ten tribes! "Are there not with you," he says to them, "even with you, trespasses against Jehovah your God?" (2 Chron. 28:1010And now ye purpose to keep under the children of Judah and Jerusalem for bondmen and bondwomen unto you: but are there not with you, even with you, sins against the Lord your God? (2 Chronicles 28:10)). Indeed, in these things Ephraim had a portion of guilt that concerned only him. On account of his sins "the fierce wrath of Jehovah [was] upon [him]"; he should have taken heed to this. If the people of Israel were God's rod to punish their brethren, were they any less guilty because their brethren had merited this judgment?
Oded's appeal is very timely for us too. When conflicts and divisions arise among Christians, the humiliating consequence of their sin, the strife blazing in their midst is a severe judgment that strikes them. But is it any less severe for the defeated party than for the party winning? Does the latter as winner have God's approval any more than his adversary? In no wise. The wrath of God rested equally on victors and vanquished in this conflict. "Are there not with you, even with you, trespasses against Jehovah your God?"
"And now hear me," adds Oded: "and send back the captives again, whom ye have taken captive of your brethren" (2 Chron. 28:1111Now hear me therefore, and deliver the captives again, which ye have taken captive of your brethren: for the fierce wrath of the Lord is upon you. (2 Chronicles 28:11)). Let us bear in mind that it would not be proper for this victory to be of any profit to Israel. Men, women, and all the spoil must be sent back. The people must not even entertain the thought that if they were victorious, their cause was just. If they had been Jehovah's sword against Judah, and if He had wielded His sword in His wrath, they must remember that this same sword was now being directed against themselves.
Four of the heads of Ephraim accept the words of the prophet by faith. His words act upon their consciences and make them capable of speaking to the people with full conviction, for they acknowledge their part in the sin, the wrong, the transgression of all the people. They rise up against those who are coming from the army and tell them: "Ye shall not bring in the captives hither; because, for our guilt before Jehovah, ye think to increase our sins and our trespasses: for our trespass is great, and fierce wrath is upon Israel" (2 Chron. 28:1313And said unto them, Ye shall not bring in the captives hither: for whereas we have offended against the Lord already, ye intend to add more to our sins and to our trespass: for our trespass is great, and there is fierce wrath against Israel. (2 Chronicles 28:13)). Oded's words, "The fierce wrath of Jehovah is upon you," produce such an impression on the consciences of these four faithful men that they repeat: "Fierce wrath is upon Israel." God speaks through their mouth, because the Word has first of all exerted its authority on their consciences, and it possesses a power of conviction that brings souls into subjection. However powerless in appearance the four instruments used by the Word might seem to be, God has the upper hand. The men are heeded: the people leave this multitude of captives alone — without resources, weakened, and who had lost all their possessions.
But the energy of faith of the four men who had exhorted their brethren does not stop there. They alone complete the task, they alone are honored by the full result of their work. The Word insists on this: "The men that have been expressed by name rose up." They take the captives, give clothing to all those who were naked, use the spoil for their benefit, provide them with shoes, give them to eat and drink, and anoint them with oil. What kind solicitude! Who could have made these four men ready for such a task? The change was wrought in their hearts by the word of God! In them, three things follow one another in a wonderful way: faith in the Word, repentance which the Word produces, and lastly, love — inseparable from the work of God in the heart: love for the guilty, love for our brethren. Thus they accomplish the work of grace toward others. If we ask ourselves whether at that time such faith, such devotion, such energy could be found in Judah, we can without hesitation answer in the negative. Israel was already given up to final judgment and, at this last moment the word of God was resounding in the midst of this flock about to be led to the slaughter. Four men give heed; four righteous men are found, far less than Abraham's eyes had discerned in Sodom, and their faith saves Israel from the immediate destruction already decreed against this people by God's wrath!
The work of these men is not finished; they must still bring back all these poor people to their own land for their safety. Jericho — once the city of the curse, now the city of palm trees, the city of peaceful protection, Jericho, whose foul waters had once been healed by the prophet — becomes their refuge. Only after having brought them back under the protection of their God do these four men leave them and return to Samaria. Only then is their mission accomplished.
May we follow the example of these men and by faith walk in the same path, in self-judgment, not fearing to announce to the religious world surrounding us the fate that is reserved for it. May we be tirelessly and unreservedly devoted to those in misery, filled with this energy of love which is not satisfied until it has brought souls under the Savior's protection, in the happy security of the children of God!
About this time and before the invasion of Judah by Rezin and Pekah, Ahaz appeals to Assyria, which leads him to hypocritically refuse Isaiah's proposal to ask a sign of Jehovah (Isa. 7:10-1210Moreover the Lord spake again unto Ahaz, saying, 11Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above. 12But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord. (Isaiah 7:10‑12)). His choice was made, his plan was prepared; actually he had confidence in man and no confidence whatsoever in God. Poor Ahaz! he might well enrich the Assyrian in an attempt to gain his good will with all the treasures of the king, of his chief men, and of the house of Jehovah; impoverishing himself in order to gain the protection of Tilgath-pilneser: he gained nothing. The latter "came to him, and troubled him, and did not support him"; "he was of no help to him" (2 Chron. 28:20-2120And Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria came unto him, and distressed him, but strengthened him not. 21For Ahaz took away a portion out of the house of the Lord, and out of the house of the king, and of the princes, and gave it unto the king of Assyria: but he helped him not. (2 Chronicles 28:20‑21)).
If you seek the help and support of the world instead of trusting in God, you who boast of bearing the name of Christ and whom He has enriched with so many privileges, you will find what Ahaz found. And this poor man, not content with seeking such a support, substitutes the gods of Syria for the true God, saying: "Since the gods of the kings of Syria help them, I will sacrifice to them, that they may help me" (2 Chron. 28:2323For he sacrificed unto the gods of Damascus, which smote him: and he said, Because the gods of the kings of Syria help them, therefore will I sacrifice to them, that they may help me. But they were the ruin of him, and of all Israel. (2 Chronicles 28:23)). He forsook the humble altar of God, the altar of atonement, to replace it by the splendid altar of the gods of Damascus. He despised the vessels of the sanctuary, broke them to pieces and destroyed them. Finally — a thing unheard of — he closed the doors of the house of Jehovah as one closes the doors of an uninhabited house or of a house for rent, with the same stroke abolishing the worship and the priesthood and depriving the people of access to God. Ahaz's conduct is called apostasy, the most complete forsaking of the God of Israel.
God cuts him off; he dies, "but they brought him not into the sepulchers of the kings of Israel" (2 Chron. 28:2727And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city, even in Jerusalem: but they brought him not into the sepulchres of the kings of Israel: and Hezekiah his son reigned in his stead. (2 Chronicles 28:27)). It seems, and we will return to this, that this is the ultimate sentence, even in death itself, by which God shows his final reprobation.