Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem; and he did not do right in the sight of the Lord as David his father had done. 2 But he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel; he also made molten images for the Baals. 3 Moreover, he burned incense in the valley of Ben-hinnom and burned his sons in fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord had driven out before the sons of Israel. 4 He sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, on the hills and under every green tree. 5 Wherefore, the Lord his God delivered him into the hand of the king of Aram; and they defeated him and carried away from him a great number of captives and brought them to Damascus. And he was also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel, who inflicted him with heavy casualties.(2 Chronicles 28:1-5)

The burden of this blog is to encourage the investigation of the Gospel: recognizing salvation as a process, a journey to know the Lord and to serve His purposes, and to recognize the need to employ the basic tools associated with this journey: prayer, reading and studying the Bible, and engaging in fellowship with other believers in the assembly, the Church. I repeat this regularly, so if you think you’ve heard this before, you’re right and the repetition is on purpose. We need to read the Bible!!! And we need to read the entire Bible, not once but regularly, studying it again and again. The problem is that it’s ancient history reflecting the teachings and customs of days gone by; days when people lived decidedly different lives than we do. When you first start to read Scripture it can be a slog; a real snoozer except in the places where sex and violence occur, or when a spectacular supernatural event is presented. But even in places of interest what’s presented can seem far-fetched and lacking a real connection with life as we know it. However, I assure you that there’s progress to be made as a result of reading the Bible, and it’s progress that is life changing and capable of transforming us, transforming our very existence!

For most American Christians the Old Testament is probably the more neglected part of scripture. The New Testament—apart from the Revelation of John and Hebrews—is easier to read. The central figure, Jesus, is more accessible, and the type of writing is more familiar: correspondence, brief “histories” and “biographies.” But we’ve got the whole Bible for a reason; the Lord has intentionally provided us with both the Old and New Testaments, and we need to recognize this and ask Him to show us how to make use of His written Word. That’s really a key element for our study: asking the Lord for understanding, while utilizing supplemental materials and the counsel of others to help us find our way. If you shy away from reading the Old Testament, you’re not alone. “Christians” have been denying its validity since the early Christian era; case in point is a man named Marcion in the 2^nd century who thought the Old Testament was irrelevant for Christians, going so far as to insist that the God of the Old Testament was a different God than the God who sent Jesus into the world to save sinners! I’m not suggesting that neglecting the Old Testament indicates such a radical position; what I am saying is that a full understanding of our Lord requires the study of the Old Testament as well as the New Testament.

It is true that the Old Testament can be tedious at times. The stories of Israel prior to the establishment of the monarchy are pretty amazing, to say the least, and often difficult to fathom. And the need to preserve the heredity of the Israelites can be tiresome when the genealogies of the tribes of Israel are presented. But even in those books that enumerate such specifics there is something to be gained. A case in point is Chronicles. 1^st and 2^nd Chronicles were originally one book, written when the Jews of Judea were allowed to return to their homeland after being exiled by the Babylonians. Upon their return they began to rebuild the temple, which had been destroyed in the 6^th century BC. And in an effort to reaffirm their heritage Chronicles was written. The book begins with several genealogies that start with the first man, Adam, and lead up to the exiles themselves. And it goes on to present the history of the kings of Israel, primarily focusing on the southern Kingdom of Judah. It’s this sort of documentation that hinders interest in 1^st and 2^nd Chronicles, but even here there are nuggets of insight to be had.

To illustrate this consider the reign of Ahaz, King of Judah during the time of such prophets as Isaiah and Micah. Ahaz ruled the southern tribes of the Kingdom of Judah from 732 to 716 BC and he wasn’t very good at it. In the ancient Near East, tribal peoples often contended with one another for resources, authority and wealth, and the tribes of Israel were part of that contention. And all peoples of the region had “gods” which they looked to for their welfare. What distinguished Israel was that they worshiped the One True God; at least that was what they were supposed to do. Both the northern tribes designated as the Kingdom of Israel and the southern tribes, designated as the Kingdom of Judah, originated as a single Kingdom of Israel which initially worshiped the God of the Bible, Yahweh. But there was always a temptation to seek the aid of the gods worshiped by the other peoples. And even when they attempted to continue their worship of the Lord, they often employed features of pagan worship, thus corrupting their efforts. As we read the history of the kings we see this tendency repeated again and again. Some kings were quite faithful in following after the One True God; others chose to turn to other “gods” for support.

So what!? What does that have to do with 21^st century American Christians? The answer to that is: EVERYTHING! You have to think about the reasons gods were looked to for support. It’s not just for the purpose of explaining treacherous and fearful phenomena like lightning and thunder. The concern was for good fortune: productive growing seasons that produced the needed foods for survival; sufficient rain; the wherewithal needed to counter an attack by an enemy’s army. To the ancient world it was thought that the favor of supernatural powers was required for their wellbeing. The question was: which god could get the job done? Israel was established as a nation that worshiped the One True God: The God of the created order, and the God who distinguished the lineage of Abraham as the means for revealing Himself to the world. However the establishment and progress of Abraham’s descendants was always in an environment influenced by the veneration of other gods and the beliefs associated with them. So when we look at the reign of Ahaz, King of Judah we see a monarch who repeatedly looked to those other gods for support against his enemies, even to the extent of sacrificing his own children to appease such powers. (Note the introductory quote from Chronicles)

So far this is just “gee whiz” information you can get from any credible commentary of the Bible. It doesn’t have anything to do with the modern world in which American Christians operate; or does it? Starting in 2 Chronicles 28:23, we’re told that:

(Ahaz) sacrificed to the gods of Damascus which had defeated him, and said, “Because the gods of the kings of Aram helped them, I will sacrifice to them that they may help me.” But they became the downfall of him and all Israel. 24 Moreover, when Ahaz gathered together the utensils of the house of God, he cut the utensils of the house of God in pieces; and he closed the doors of the house of the Lord and made altars for himself in every corner of Jerusalem. 25 In every city of Judah he made high places to burn incense to other gods, and provoked the Lord, the God of his fathers, to anger.

Another book in the Old Testament—2nd Kings—provides an additional assessment of King Ahaz. There it’s pointed out that Ahaz was so enamored with the King of Assyria, Tiglath-pileser, who had helped him against the oppression of the kingdom of Aram, that he had a new altar built that copied the design of that ruler’s altar in Damascus. Thus he not only engaged in the idolatrous worship of other gods, but also mimicked some of the features of pagan worship as well. (2 Kings 16:10-18)

In an earlier conflict with the northern Kingdom of Israel, Ahaz and his army had been defeated and suffered great loss including the death of one of His sons. Thousands of Judah’s people were taken captive, along with a great deal of the kingdom’s wealth. But upon their return to their homeland a prophet named Oded confronted the army saying:

“Behold, because the Lord, the God of your fathers, was angry with Judah, He has delivered them into your hand, and you have slain them in a rage which has even reached heaven. 10 “Now you are proposing to subjugate for yourselves the people of Judah and Jerusalem for male and female slaves. Surely, do you not have transgressions of your own against the Lord your God? 11 “Now therefore, listen to me and return the captives whom you captured from your brothers, for the burning anger of the Lord is against you.” (2 Chronicles 28:9-11)

The leaders of Israel heeded the warning of Oded and made provision for their captives and returned them to Judah.

So what is there to be gleaned from this segment of Israelite history? What can 21^st century American Christians gain from reading this ancient text regarding ancient people? First of all we need to focus on what the “gods” did for ancient peoples: they told them who they were; they provided and explained the nature of their existence in a world they often didn’t understand; they provided a customary version of conduct to live by, a means of securing their survival in a treacherous environment; and they gave them a reason for their existence. The Israelites, for their part, were established by the One True God and given the means of securing their relationship with Him through the practice of His law. This law was not just the basic code of conduct found in the Ten Commandments; it was the law that provided statutes for everyday living and the practice of ritual sacrifice that was needed in order to appease Holy God. This appeasement was needed because the Israelites couldn’t measure up to the stature of God’s holiness; their relationship with the Lord was always compromised and in need of support. And they shared this uneasiness with their counterparts of the ancient world. The question was always whose god could provide the security they sought. The nations around Israel thought that there were many gods that could be looked to for their wellbeing; the Israelite “tradition” said there was only One True God.

In order to apply this to our modern world American Christians need to think about how we secure our wellbeing. What’s our source for understanding our existence? Where do we get our ideas regarding what is right and wrong? What defines the reason for our existence? The knee jerk response is to affirm the Bible as our source for answering such questions. But do we really allow the Bible to have priority in our self-understanding? Isn’t it often the case that we equate success as a means of determining whether we’re doing the Lord’s will? The text from Chronicles suggests that it’s more complicated than that. Remember the northern tribes had succeeded in attacking and pillaging Judah only to find out that their victory was not indicative of the Lord’s favor; rather He used them to penalize the waywardness of Ahaz. Ahaz, for his part, was enticed by the success of the King of Damascus, Tiglath-pilser. This prompted Ahaz to venerate the foreign gods of Damascus to the point of trying to combine elements of the two religious practices. The question here is: are we tempted to combine elements of the ethics and practices of the world with our Christian beliefs and practices? And, in so doing, are we compromising our relationship with the Lord?

We need to consider how we secure our own fortunes in modern America. Who or what defines our existence? How do we obtain our security? What determines our values? What verifies the direction we take in life? How do we evaluate success? The obvious answer for believers is the Lord and His Word on all counts; right? However let’s think about what we can learn from Chronicles and Kings and the ancient world it describes. First; it’s possible to look to the Lord and to other things for our wellbeing; and, depending upon our posture at the moment, and our current circumstances, precedence may not always be given to the Lord. If we see success being achieved by those who don’t know the Lord we may be tempted to follow their lead resulting in our failure to progress in the faith. Another point has to do with the powerful influence that an ungodly culture can have on our way of thinking. Just as the ancient Israelites were surrounded by ungodly falsehoods that competed for their allegiance, so too, we find ourselves surrounded by a surplus of ideas that deny the existence of the One True God, providing other answers to the conundrums of human existence. Are we combining some of these ideas with our Christian affirmations resulting in an idolatrous hybrid as exampled by the ancient Israelites? Finally are we exercising due vigilance in determining whether the Lord is really supporting our successes, recognizing that success is not always an indicator of God’s favor?

As you can see there’s a lot to be gained from reading the Bible, including those obscure books that, on the surface, seem to have no relevance at all! My encouragement to you is dig in and find the treasure.