Rebellion and defeat go hand in hand.
I notice in my reading today that 2 Kings was written during the exile. So, the author has realized Israel’s sin, and is making a record of how it affected the kingdom. This tells us that 1-2 Kings weren’t written simply to record for posterity the events of Israel, they were written for the specific purpose of revealing “how we got here”. And “here” is miles from home in a foreign country where worshipping God is discouraged, and perhaps illegal. (thinking of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego).]
Ahab is losing the kingdom piece by piece. He is assaulted from the north, the north east and the south/south east. Everyone who goes to war against him wins. The people he asks for help come to his home, but rob him when they get there. Soldiers who should be successful in battle fall like rain. All of this is because Ahab, king of Judah refuses to follow God alone. In fact, as I read both passages, Ahab is blocking the people from worshipping God altogether. I cannot conceive of why he thought he could make a new altar, or take the bronze sea off the bronze oxen that held it. I suppose he sent the oxen to Assyria, along with the many other holy articles. Clearly, the temple meant nothing to Ahaz, and because the temple meant nothing, God meant nothing.
Here’s a random thought: If God lives within people today, instead of in a temple as He did in the past, then we should treat people in the way that the temple used to be treated. No one worshipped the temple, but it was special, because God lived there. I wonder how I would treat people differently if I could fully grasp the idea that God lives within us?
In the same way, We wouldn’t think of harming children. One of the reasons for that is the warning from God to “not hinder the children” or “fathers don’t exasperate your children”. Jesus warns us that anyone who misleads children will suffer a horrible fate. Matthew 18:6 We know that God loves children, and we wouldn’t harm what God loves. That would be to court disaster. God has a special place in his heart for those who are poor, injured, distraught or suffering, widows and orphans and the like. In fact, God has a special place in His heart for everyone who isn’t arrogant or proud or self absorbed. God loves everyone, but has a special place in His heart for those who revere Him.
Why then, would any of us ever choose to harm people that God loves? How could any army, or any nation ever expect to be successful while taking the lives of the innocent, or the weak? When Israel captured many of their relatives and brought them home naked and bleeding as slaves, they revealed just how far they had fallen. They have lost all regard for God and His law.
When Ahab closes the temple, reinvents the furniture and orients worship away from God and onto man made objects, and heavenly bodies (exactly what we were told not to do) he also reveals just how far he has fallen.
Both Israel and Judah have become completely apostate. They have no regard for God at all. They have exhausted every “second chance” and all of God’s patience.
My constant prayer is that I will never do the same. “Lord, if my walk with you isn’t what You want it to be, please give me the insight and wisdom to recognize your attempts to instruct me, and move me into right living with You, no matter what the cost.”
Hope your day is blessed!
Faithfully,
PR