You may be thinking to yourself, “I’ve heard of Ahaz before. He was a bad dude!” Sometimes it’s easy to remember things about Bible characters and infuse them into other passages. Ahaz will also show up in Isaiah and 2 Chronicles, from a different vantage point. So, Ahaz should not be a “stranger.” And he was a very bad dude!
I was a bit appalled when I read that he sacrificed his son in the fire. You may recall this was a sin that God detests (see Deuteronomy 18:9-13 for more on that). I can’t even imagine doing such a thing. I heard a scary thing the other day about a bill waiting to be passed in the United States. In Maryland, this bill seeks to amend the state’s fetal murder-manslaughter statute. Apparently, infanticide is already allowed in the Netherlands if a child is born with birth defects. As if abortion wasn’t bad enough. While not a “sacrifice” per se, what could possess a parent to do such a thing? Evil is all around us still.
Continue reading “2 Kings 16:1-20 – Not a Stranger”
