Hope in Troubled Times. 2 Kings 16 – 20
Jotham in the southern
kingdom was a good king, a king who had honored the Lord and led the people
well, but the people had rejected truth. It is not enough to have good leaders.
If there are not the people who are following spiritual truth and who have
established doctrines in their souls, the Word of God in their souls, then it
doesn’t matter how good the leaders are or what kind of political solutions are
put in place it isn’t going to last and it isn’t going to bring prosperity and
stability to the country. This is seen in the shift that takes place between
Jotham who had reigned for sixteen years and his successor Ahaz, his successor,
who was arguably one of the most evil kings in the southern kingdom of Judah.
We read about his reign in two different chapters: 2 Kings 16 and 2 Chronicles
28. Chronicles focuses only on the southern kings of Judah and was written
after the exile in order to fill in the gaps and show how God has worked in the
life of Israel in light of the Mosaic covenant: how they were disciplined for
the evil of idolatry prior to the exile, and now that that they are back in the
land to encourage them to walk with the Lord. What is described in 2 Chronicles
28 is actually focuses on some different areas than 2 Kings 16 and gives just
as bad a picture of Ahaz.
One thing we should notice
when we are reading through a book like Kings and come to a section like
chapters 14-17 where there are a lot of kings and then all of a sudden in
chapter eighteen we show down with Hezekiah in the next few chapters because
that is where the Lord is putting the emphasis in the text. There are some
significant things that happen with Hezekiah. He is one of the best kings in
the southern kingdom and there is a time of genuine spiritual renewal in the
southern kingdom. So when things look very dark, very negative and chaotic
under Ahaz we need to keep in mind that after Ahaz Hezekiah will come and there
is a future time of grace and recovery. But it was necessary for the nation to
go through the horrors and the period of Ahaz in order to get their focus back
on the Lord. Unfortunately it is just temporary because of the nature of the
people’s volition and their rejection of God.
2 Kings 16:1 NASB
“In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, Ahaz the son of Jotham,
king of Judah, became king. [2] Ahaz {was} twenty
years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem; and
he did not do what was right in the sight of the LORD his God, as his father David
{had done.}” That is interesting. God is described as the Lord his
God, which indicates that Ahaz was a believer. But he completely gave himself
over to the false worship systems of his day, he was a rebellious believer who
led the southern kingdom into tremendous perversity. It describes that
perversity in his own spiritual condition, which is the spiritual condition of
those in the nation as well—we often get the leaders we deserve, the leaders
simply are reflections of the belief systems of the people that they rule. [3]
“But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and even made his son pass through the fire,
according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD had driven
out from before the sons of Israel.” So he is following in the idolatry of
the northern kingdom, especially the fertility religions, the prosperity
religions and the materialistic focus of the northern kingdom. Just as in the
period of the Judges Ahaz thinks no differently than the Canaanites before him.
What this is saying is that things are now just as bad in Judah as they were under the Canaanites. The people of God
who chose to be a priest nation have so completely rejected God and everything
that he had given them that they were now living no differently than the pagans
before them and there was no difference between them.
2 Kings 16:4 NASB
“He sacrificed and burned incense on the high places and on the hills and under
every green tree.” We are told in 2 Chronicles 28 that he also
built worship sites and idols for the Baals. Then there is the discipline that
comes. For this reason …[5] “Then Rezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah,
king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to {wage} war; and they besieged Ahaz, but
could not overcome him. [6] At that time Rezin king of Aram recovered Elath for Aram, and cleared the Judeans out of Elath entirely; and
the Arameans came to Elath and have lived there to this day.” This
again shows the divine discipline that God was bringing on Israel as they are losing territory to the opposition. That
is the background to a crucial passage, Isaiah chapter seven, a time of
tremendous chaos in Israel. They are living under a ruler who has a number of
failures. He is a failure spiritually because he is not leading the people
toward God but he is as much a part of the spiritual failure of the nation as
the people are. The people have rejected God and the Scripture and have
substituted a false system of thinking. When we get embedded in a false system
of thinking and we become more and more divorced from reality then we can’t
properly understand or interpret the things that are going on around us. So we
ascribe to certain negative and chaotic events false causes, and once we have
false causes and think that certain things are caused by one thing or another
then we make more bad decisions because we wrongly identify the situation and
the causes. Then as we continue to weaken spiritually, as we continue to live
in greater and greater degrees of fantasy because we are suppressing the truth
in unrighteousness (Romans chapter one), the result of that is we continue to
make even worse decisions from this position of weakness and fantasy. One thing
piles upon another and there may be a series of decades where things don’t get
too bad, but eventually we reach a time of critical mass where all of these bad
decisions begin to bear their poisonous fruit and things just begin to fall
apart left and right. This is what was happening at this time in history in the
northern kingdom, and that is the result of about two centuries of bad
decisions and idolatry.
The same thing is going to
happen in the southern kingdom but it is going to take them longer because they
do have a few kings and a larger remnant in the nation of believers. At this
time under Ahaz they are living for themselves in a totally false fantasy
world. They had government sponsored idolatry—which we could apply as
government sponsored secularism. There are some significant parallels between
the time of Ahaz and our own time.
The second aspect of this
is that God caused them to be defeated by the Israel-Aram alliance. This is
going to bring some real horror into the southern kingdom. It is just briefly
touched on in 2 Kings 16 but in order to reach Jerusalem they had to go through the countryside where 2
Chronicles 28 tells us that during this time 120,000 in Judah were killed in one day. At that same time another
200,000 in Judah were captured and taken back up into the northern
kingdom of Israel and some would go to Damascus as slaves. It was at that time that a prophet by the
name of Oded warned them to release the captives, which they did. There was
still enough of a sense of God’s reign and authority in the northern kingdom
that when they heard the threat of punishment from Oded they released the
captives. However Ahaz, despite the circumstances, continued to trust in man
rather than God and goes to Assyria for help.
Isaiah chapter seven is
set in the same time period. Isaiah 1:1 NASB “The vision of Isaiah
the son of Amoz concerning Judah and Jerusalem, which he saw during the reigns
of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz {and} Hezekiah, kings of Judah.” Isaiah’s ministry
covered forty plus years and he saw a lot of different things going on in the
nation. In the opening chapter he brings a rebuke to the nation, and it is in
that opening chapter that we see him describe what has been going on in the
nation and he condemns them because of their shallow, superficial spirituality.
[2] “Listen, O heavens, and hear, O earth; For the LORD speaks,
‘Sons I have reared and brought up, But they have revolted against Me.’” He is talking about the inhabitants of the heavens
which are the angels and the inhabitants of the earth which are human beings.
These are the two witness groups. Anything done according to the Law has to
have two witnesses, and so this is done in the same way as in Deuteronomy where
the covenant was restated before the witnesses of the angels and mankind. [3]
“An ox knows its owner, And a donkey its master’s manger, {But} Israel does not know, My people do not understand.” Isaiah
goes on to indict the people because of their rejection of God and because they
have just a very superficial observance of the law. See Isaiah 1:12ff. The
challenge is in verse 16—spiritual change, turning, confession of sin and
turning back to God. This is the basic message that Isaiah brought to the
southern kingdom because of their rebelliousness and apostasy.
Isaiah chapter seven deals
with a specific situation at the time of Ahaz. This comes right after the
description of Isaiah’s call to be a prophet which is given in chapter six.
Ahaz did not have a right relationship with God. He might have been a believer
but he didn’t act like it.
Isaiah 7:1 NASB
“Now it came about in the days of Ahaz, the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah,
king of Judah, that Rezin the king of Aram and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king
of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to {wage} war against it, but could not conquer
it.” That is almost an identical statement to what we read in 2 Kings 16:5.
Here he identifies the two enemies as Rezin the king of Aram and Pekah the son
of Remialiah, but from this point on Isaiah and God actually do not refer to
Pekah as Pekah, they just call him the son of Remaliah, emphasizing that he
doesn’t have a background, a family worthy of note, he comes from an
impoverished illegitimate house in terms of aristocracy, and he has no right to
the throne. God is no respecter of persons and by referring to him as the son of
Remaliah God just continues to insult him; He constantly ridicules him in the
way that He addresses him.
As this evil alliance
comes against Ahaz we are told in verse 2 what the real issues are: “When it
was reported to the house of David, saying, “The Arameans have camped in
Ephraim,” his heart and the hearts of his people shook as the trees of the
forest shake with the wind.” It was told to the house of David. That is a term
that refers to the aristocracy, specifically to the kingship as men who are descendants
from David and it puts our focus back on the Davidic covenant and God’s promise
to David that he would always have a descendant on the throne, and eventually
this would culminate in a descendant of David who would rule on the throne of
Israel forever and ever and bring in a perfect kingdom. Instead of writing it
was told to Ahaz, and the address here is to a broader group—not just to Ahaz
but to the house of David. Now they are afraid. The northern kingdom, Israel, has identified herself with Syria (Aram). The words, “shook as the trees of the forest shake
with the wind” is a depiction o0f the thinking of those in the southern
kingdom. The combined threat of Israel and Syria scared them to death.
We all face times of fear
in our lives. Sometimes the causes of fear are personal, and we have personal
insecurities. We may have personal fears related to a job that we think we
might lose, we may have fears related to health or others issues, problems,
circumstances that we face in life, but we all face certain international and
national fears that are quite scary if we want to think about them. So many
people just want to bury their head in the sand and not think about them. They
don’t want to watch anything on the news, it just depresses them, theirs nothing
they can do about it, and basically what that is saying is, “I don’t want to
understand reality, I want to live in a fantasy world just like unbelievers do,
because if I hear how bad things are it might scare me too much.” Is that a
good attitude for a believer? We shouldn’t get afraid or scared because of the
uncertainties and the instabilities of the world around us. We ought to know in
our souls that it is necessarily unstable and insecure, and we are the only
ones with a message of hope. We are the only ones who can properly understand
what is going on in the world around us and we are the only ones, if we
understand it, who can provide a true answer and can go to people who are
indeed frightened and scared and panicking over the circumstances and give them
that solid message of real hope that only comes when we change and turn to the
Lord Jesus Christ as our savior.
The southern kingdom was
scared to death. They weren’t focusing on the Lord at all and the Lord is going
to inject Himself very clearly into this whole circumstance. He tells the house
of David basically not to worry. Isaiah 7:3 NASB “Then the
LORD
said to Isaiah, ‘Go out now to meet Ahaz, you and your son Shear-jashub, at the
end of the conduit of the upper pool, on the highway to the fuller’s field.”
This upper pool was a pool where the women would go and often would wash
clothes, and it was a place where those who were involved in the making of
garments, etc. and it was a place where numerous people would gather. The king
would go up there and Isaiah is instructed to take his son and to go and
confront the king. [4] “and say to him, ‘Take care and be calm, have no fear
and do not be fainthearted…” Four commands. The first command basically means
to be alert, to wake up, to be quiet. That is the same word used in other
places to rest before the Lord. Don’t give in to panic. Ahaz is being told here
to get a grip, to control his emotion and to focus on something that is going
to give him some stability—the solution instead of the problem—and not give in
to his fears. “… because of these two stubs of smoldering firebrands, on
account of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and the son of Remaliah.”
When He refers to stubs
and firebrands, a firebrand is like a torch that was used to light a fire. But
as that torch burns down to where there is nothing left except a stub it is not
good for anything anymore. It looks like it might cause a little pain, and it
could, but it is just producing a lot of smoke, no fire; it has lost its real
effectiveness. That is what God is saying here by calling them two stubs and
firebrands. They are basically out of any ability to do any real long-term
damage to Judah, they will cause a little bit of pain and suffering
but nothing of any real significance. The word that is sued here for “stub” is
a word that simply means the tail, and means the end of the firebrand when it
is just about gone. There are these four commands to take heed, be quiet, do
not fear or be fainthearted. Those commands are all given as a masculine
singular imperative. In other words, they are addressed specifically and only
to Ahaz; they are not a plural and that is very important in following through
what happens in this chapter—paying attention to what happens with the singular
and plural commands. As long as it is singular God is just addressing Ahaz;
when it is plural He is addressing a broader group, the house of David or the
nation of Judah.
Isaiah 7:5 NASB
“Because Aram, {with} Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has planned evil against
you, saying, [6] ‘Let us go
up against Judah and terrorize it, and make for ourselves a breach in its walls
and set up the son of Tabeel as king in the midst of it.” What they want to do
is wipe out and destroy the house of David. This is a manifestation of Satan’s
plot and conspiracy to block God and His ability to bring about the fulfillment
of His covenant with David and to have a Davidic King, the Messiah, sit on the
throne of Jerusalem. There is a real spiritual component to their agenda
and that is to destroy God’s plan, and so God gives Ahaz a personal promise.
[7] “thus says the Lord GOD: ‘It shall not stand nor shall it come to pass.’” In
other words, no matter how bad it looks let’s rely on the promises of God and
His plan, He is in control. Even when He is in control He may allow certain
catastrophes and crises to occur but it is still under His control, so we as
believers can relax and we need to trust
in Him where there is real hope and real stability. [8] “For the head of Aram is Damascus and the head of Damascus is Rezin (now within another 65 years Ephraim will be
shattered, {so that it is} no longer a people), [9] and the head
of Ephraim is Samaria and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you will not believe, you
surely shall not last.” In actuality in thirteen years the northern kingdom
will be destroyed by Assyria but it is going to take the next 65 years for the
Assyrians to complete their removal of the population and resettling them
throughout the Assyrian empire. It is not 65 years to the defeat of the
northern kingdom but 65 years will see them being totally wiped out and removed
from their homeland. The “son of Remaliah”—He doesn’t call him by name [Pekah].
God just has no respect for him at all.
“If you will not believe,
you surely shall not last.” What happens there is that the pronoun changes in
the Hebrew. It is no longer second person singular. He is not addressing Ahaz,
He is addressing Judah and the house of David and saying, If you don’t believe as a southern
kingdom, if you don’t get right with God and turn back in terms of obedience,
the same thing that is happening in the north is going to happen to you. So He
shifts from talking personally to Ahaz to talking to the house of David as the
rulers of the southern kingdom.
Isaiah 7:10, 11 NASB “Then the LORD spoke again
to Ahaz, saying, ‘Ask a sign
for yourself from the LORD your God; make {it} deep as Sheol or high as
heaven.’” But Ahaz is so arrogant he refuses to do that and acts like he’s so
sanctimonious. [12] “But Ahaz said, ‘I will not ask, nor will I test the LORD!’” He is
just disobeying God. But then God gives a promise. [13] “Then Isaiah said,
addressing the house of David, ‘Listen now, O house of David! Is it too slight
a thing for you to try the patience of men, that you will try the patience of
my God as well?” Then the promise, [14] “Therefore the Lord
Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a
son, and she will call His name Immanuel.” This is a promise we
all talk about, we hear at Christmas and we recite many times as this relates
to the Lord Jesus Christ who was called Immanuel, the title by Gabriel when he
announced to Mary that she would have a son. It is the fulfillment of Isaiah
7:14, but the context of Isaiah 7:14 comes in the midst of all of this
instability and chaos as the southern kingdom is being defeated, and what God
is pointing out is that the real solution to the problem isn’t a political
solution, it is a spiritual solution. A political solution without a spiritual
solution isn’t going to last long. They had a political solution under Jotham
before Ahaz and it didn’t last. When Ahaz became king the negative volition and
idolatry in the hearts of the people just took them right into the perversity
pf all of the false religions that came under Ahaz. Ahaz is followed by his
son, and how Hezekiah got to be such a God-focused king with such a horrible,
idolatrous parent, we’ll never know.
“Behold, a virgin will be
with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.”
We have this kind of grammatical construction here, especially in Isaiah, with
the announcement of “Behold,” and when this is followed by a participle as it
is here it always refers to a future action. He is not talking of something
that is already present, he is not talking about his wife being pregnant; he is
not talking about a present fulfillment at all, he is addressing a future issue
related to the survival of the house of David. The word “virgin” here has the
article with it, and in the use of the plural he is giving the house of David
the sign for their survival. He is not talking directly to Ahaz. The “virgin”
here with the definite article indicates that the people had an understanding
that this wasn’t a virgin, it was the virgin. It was specifically related
to Old Testament prophecy going back to Genesis 3:15 and the term the seed of
the woman who is the one who would bring deliverance from sin and defeat the
serpent.
There is a lot of debate
that we will read about regarding the Hebrew word almah, virgin. It always refers to a young unmarried woman who is
of marriageable age. It doesn’t necessarily mean one who is a virgin, but it
doesn’t take a whole lot of thinking about the passage to realize that God is
talking about a miraculous sign, and it is not a miraculous sign for an
unmarried non-virgin to have a child. There is nothing unique about that. So it
is clear that this is talking about a virgin which is clearly how the word is
used in a number of contexts, and the rabbis understood this when they
translated in to the Greek in the Septuagint. They used the Greek word parthenos [parqenoj]. So this is one of the greatest prophesies about the
coming Messiah. This is God’s message of hope to the house of David: that His
promises will be true. There may be a lot of chaos, a lot of bad things that
happen in life. We may go through a lot of adversity in life both individually
as well as a nation, but God is still in control and we can relax and trust in
Him, getting our eyes off the details of life and putting them on God’s plan
and purpose for our life as a believer. So God gives this message to Ahaz and
to the people: that there will be stability and God’s promises will come to
pas, and there will indeed be a future for Israel.
If we read through the
first part of Isaiah, again and again Isaiah moves from his condemnation of the
people and what they are doing at that time to the future kingdom, and the
focus is that even though they might go through a lot of chaos, a lot of wars
and destruction and be taken out of the land God is going to bring them back,
fulfill His promise and establish the kingdom. That same message is true for us
today as believers. We may not be living in a covenant nation with the promise
of it being an eternal state like Israel has but that doesn’t matter. As believers in the body
of Christ we know that God has a future for us and He has a plan for us that is
specifically related to our being in the body of Christ. That purpose has to do
with our witness and our testimony to the world around us, and so we are going
to be able to handle life in the coming chaos. The only thing that is going to
give us stability is going to be the doctrine in our soul and that we have been
trained in the small adversities to trust in God and to focus on Him so that
when the really tough time comes it is going to be second nature to us to focus
on Him. Rather than running around in panic and shaking like trees in a windy
storm we are going to have stability, and that will give us an opportunity to
be a real witness and fulfill the ministry that God has given us as believers.
That always focuses on the hope of the savior. That is the message of Isaiah
chapters seven and nine. Only Jesus Christ provides stability and meaning in
life. Only the savior who ultimately will come back and establish His kingdom
on the earth because that is the only political kingdom that will have a solid,
sound political solution. Nothing else in this life prior to that, no political
solution, is going to be a sound solution that will last, especially if the
people don’t turn first. A political solution without a spiritual solution is
just a temporary band aid. People have to have integrity and values and that
can only come from the Word of God. And where do they get that? They only get
that from other believers who know the truth and can communicate that.
Illustrations