God’s Word for You

2 Chronicles 28:1-5a A true idolator

by Pastor Timothy Smith on Tuesday, May 13, 2025

28:1 Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king; he ruled sixteen years in Jerusalem. He did not do what was right in the eyes of the LORD, as his father David had done. 2 Instead, he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel. He even made cast images for the Baals. 3 He made offerings in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, and burned his own sons in the fire, according to the abominable practices of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel. 4 He also made sacrifices and burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every leafy tree. 5 Therefore the LORD his God gave him into the hand of the king of Aram, who defeated him and took captive a great number of his people and brought them to Damascus.

Of all the kings of Judah, Ahaz gets the worst report card. “He did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord.” And worse yet: “He walked in the ways of the kings of Israel.” Throughout the prime of his life, his twenties and early thirties, he became so unfaithful to God that he became a pagan, through-and-through in every way. His mother is not even named; the only other king of Judah who’s mother or at least grandmother is unnamed is Jehoram. In both cases, the idolatrous and “motherless” kings are shown to have lived like the wicked kings of Israel (2 Chronicles 21:6).

Our author gives us a whole list of the horrible things this king did.

First, he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel. This is probably a title for the list that follows, but the pattern was set: To hold up one of the kings of the north was to see the life and unbelief of Ahaz of Judah.

Second, he himself had cast images made of heathen gods, either of iron, bronze, or silver. These little statues were for home worship, like the teraphim that Rachel stole from her father Laban (Genesis 31:19). Whether or not it was the king’s own hands that poured the molten metal into the cast, it was by his order. They were not just trinkets he picked up in the marketplace. He wanted them, and he had them made to order—or, as one could argue from the text, he did it himself. The verb is the simple and clear form known in Hebrew grammar as a qal perfect; there is no translation that rivals “he made.” These were images of Baal, the storm god who is usually depicted with a lightning bolt in his hand.

Third, he made sacrifices in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, which was the valley immediately to the south of the city and running from there westward and northwestward around the bend of the western hill. There was the terrible pit called Topheth, and this was the place were people would come to sacrifice children, sons and daughters, in flames, to the god Molech (2 Kings 23:10; Jeremiah 7:31).

Finally, he continued the practice of making offerings of many kinds on the high places, the hilltops all around the city and elsewhere in Judah, burning incense, pouring out offerings of wine or much worse things, and also worshiping “under every leafy tree.” This is probably a reference to the worship of Asherah, a fertility goddess. When trees were not available, poles stuck in the ground seem to have been used, but Ahaz was a purist; he wanted his pagan worship to be done just right.

It was during the reign of Ahaz that Rezin, the King of Aram, came down with the King of Israel to fight against Jerusalem. That would have been Pekah, King of Israel, whose rule overlapped with that of Ahaz for just a few years after the death of Ahaz’ father Jotham. So sometime between 735 and 732 BC, this terrible assault took place. Prisoners were taken in large numbers and marched north to Damascus, 150 miles away. Today, by car, it’s 4½ hours. Then, by foot and in chains, it could have taken a week.

Isaiah tells us that there was a real danger for Ahaz, personally. He says, “They have plotted your ruin, saying, ‘Let us invade Judah; let us tear it apart and divide it among ourselves, and make the son of Tabeel king over it’” (Isaiah 7:4-5). They had a plan, and even a puppet king ready to go. That could only mean the death of Ahaz.

Our prophet is clear about this: It was the Lord who did this. Notice how he phrases it. “The LORD his God delivered him into the hand of….” This man who had forsaken God, turned away from God in every manner, and who worshiped Baal, Asherah, Molech, and the other gods of the heathen neighbors of Judah, still had a true God. How could he say that? God is the God of everyone. He is the Maker of all. And he is—this is the point—he is the Judge of all. Ahaz had been caught in idolatry, either thinking that God didn’t notice, or just not caring that God did notice.

We are led, correctly, by the holy Law of God, by our consciences, and by the preaching of our pastors, to believe that we are guilty of breaking the First Commandment when we trust in anything above God. We are often led to understand that trusting in wealth, or the security of a wealthy husband, or trusting in our own supreme opinion (which today’s world loves the best) is a violation of God’s command to fear, love, and trust in him above all things. Ahaz had gone completely off the deep end, paying for a statue to be poured and cooled, or doing it himself!—having the unwanted burrs removed, and then polished. “Look, now it’s a thing to be prayed to!” What did Ahaz do with the ones that didn’t turn out so well coming out of the mold? Did he sell them in the marketplace? Did he melt them down all over again? How did your little god like being sold on discount? How did your little god feel about being melted down because his nose came out twisted the first time, or his arm kept falling off? Too bad your little god can’t take very good care of itself, O Ahaz.

How does your god of wealth like being dragged up and down the caprices of the stock market? How does your divinity, O Supreme Opinion of Mine, feel when it’s proven wrong by simple logic or a fact you didn’t know about? Too bad your little god can’t take very good care of itself, O Child of Adam.

Wealth and power are the most common idols on earth. The very wealthy only want more wealth, and they get angry when people talk about them paying taxes using the same percentages that most of the rest of us have to pay. Their money and possessions are the things on which they have set their whole heart. They feel secure, happy, fearless, as though they were sitting in the middle of paradise. But they live in constant fear of losing it all.

We who have Christ will never lose him. He supplies our needs like manna, day after day. He listens to our prayers each time we pray. He cares for us, for the little things, for the big things, for the incredible things, and for the unthinkable things. He loves because he is love (1 John 4:8). He saves because he is our Savior (Titus 1:3). And because he is the resurrection and the life (John 11:25), he will raise us on the last day and bring us safely to heaven. No one else has that promise except those who fear, love, and trust in Christ Jesus our Lord. Don’t let go. It’s yours forever.

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith

 

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