Read 2 Kings 16 here (text coming …) or at Bible Gateway.
The Hebrew paragraphs:
16:1-6 {p} Reign of Ahaz, son of Jotham, king of Judah; 16 years, doing evil/ wars against him
16:7-20 {p} Ahaz’s treaty and tribute to Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria/ altar of Damascus
2 Kin 16:1-20 Chiastic structure:
That Ahaz forsook YHVH’s worship for foreign gods was bad enough. But that he brought the worship of foreign gods into YHVH’s temple, replacing YHVH’s worship with it—that is something none of the apostate kings before him did or even dreamed of doing. They may have turned from YHVH, and served other gods in the temple of those gods, but none of them transferred YHVH’s sacrifices within the temple grounds itself to those other gods. And that the high priest helped him in these crimes shows just how far the integrity of the nation had fallen in just one generation.
The high priest may have felt coerced, realizing that standing up against the king might have brought a death sentence upon himself, as it had for Zechariah the son of Jehoiada.
But each one of us must ask himself, “Whose commands do I obey, when they are in conflict, that of YHVH or that of the king?” That of YHVH, hands down. As Yeshua said,
“And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him!” Luk 12:4-5
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