Ahaz

Ahaz son of Jotham did not share his father’s will to follow God, instead, he followed evil. He followed the footsteps of the kings of Israel and the wickedness of their neighbors. He even killed his own children as a sacrifice to foreign gods. God would not tolerate this and so he sent the armies of Aram and Israel to raid them and take captive their men. But even in this punishment, God had a plan to protect those who were innocent and to remove those who led them astray.

In the last episode, we learned about King Uzziah, who despite his faithfulness to God in his youth, became proud and disobeyed God’s commands regarding the temple. As a result, he died alone and in shame, kept away from the house of the Lord because of the leprosy that consumed him. But we also heard how his son Jotham followed the Lord and led with honor and justice all of his days. He was perhaps the greatest king in Judah since the days of David and Solomon. Today we’ll hear how his son Ahaz sadly did not share his father’s love for the Lord. He would become one of the most wicked kings in Judah’s history and would commit sins so evil that God simply could not hold back His hand of judgment any longer.