Have we mixed the worship of the Lord with foreign religions? Let’s look at 2 Kings 16.
Was Ahaz, 12th king of Judah, bad? Did he engage in child sacrifice and similar Canaanite abominations?
In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, Ahaz the son of Jotham, king of Judah, began to reign. Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem; and he did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord his God, as his father David had done. But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel; indeed he made his son pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord had cast out from before the children of Israel. And he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree. (2 Kings 16:1-4 NKJV)
What happened after Aram and Israel attacked Judah? Did Ahaz seek the Lord or a human solution?
Then King Rezin of Aram and King Pekah of Israel came up to attack Jerusalem. They besieged Ahaz but could not conquer him. At that time the king of Edom recovered the town of Elath for Edom. He drove out the people of Judah and sent Edomites to live there, as they do to this day. King Ahaz sent messengers to King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria with this message: “I am your servant and your vassal. Come up and rescue me from the attacking armies of Aram and Israel.” Then Ahaz took the silver and gold from the Temple of the Lord and the palace treasury and sent it as a payment to the Assyrian king. So the king of Assyria attacked the Aramean capital of Damascus and led its population away as captives, resettling them in Kir. He also killed King Rezin. (2 Kings 16:5-9 NLT)
Did Ahaz mix pagan practices with the altar of the Lord? Did Urijah the priest go along with this without objection?
King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath Pileser king of Assyria, and saw the altar that was at Damascus; and King Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest a drawing of the altar and plans to build it. Urijah the priest built an altar. According to all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, so Urijah the priest made it for the coming of King Ahaz from Damascus. When the king had come from Damascus, the king saw the altar; and the king came near to the altar, and offered on it. He burned his burnt offering and his meal offering, poured his drink offering, and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings on the altar. The bronze altar, which was before Yahweh, he brought from the front of the house, from between his altar and Yahweh’s house, and put it on the north side of his altar. King Ahaz commanded Urijah the priest, saying, “On the great altar burn the morning burnt offering, the evening meal offering, the king’s burnt offering and his meal offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, their meal offering, and their drink offerings; and sprinkle on it all the blood of the burnt offering, and all the blood of the sacrifice; but the bronze altar will be for me to inquire by.” Urijah the priest did so, according to all that King Ahaz commanded. (2 Kings 16:10-16 WEB)
What other modifications to the temple of the Lord did king Ahaz make?
King Ahaz cut off the side panels from the stands and removed the basins from them. He took the Sea down from the bronze bulls that were under it and put it on a stone pavement. He also took away the sabbath canopy that had been built in the temple. He removed the royal entrance outside the Lord’s temple. This was done because of the Assyrian king. The rest of Ahaz’s deeds, aren’t they written in the official records of Judah’s kings? Ahaz died and was buried with his ancestors in David’s City. His son Hezekiah succeeded him as king. (2 Kings 16:17-20 CEB)
Should we be narrow-minded when following God and not mix in other religions?
Go in through the narrow gate. The gate to destruction is wide, and the road that leads there is easy to follow. A lot of people go through that gate. But the gate to life is very narrow. The road that leads there is so hard to follow that only a few people find it. (Matthew 7:13-14 CEV)
Have we mixed the worship of the Lord with foreign religions? You decide!
