Tuesday, August 31, 2010

2 Kings 16

7 comments:

Unknown said...

audacity. that's what came to mind in this passage. this guy basically just moved stuff around and changed the order of the temple around to his own pleasing with no regard for God's instructions on the temple order. When I think of the temple being a mere reflection of the way things are in heaven, what ever right did he have to just change things around? It showed his attitude toward God. I want to have a heart that realizes that God establishes things in certain ways for certain reasons, to trust and honor Him and do things His way.

Joan said...

Good point Prairie Chick. What version do you read from?

Unknown said...

I use the New Century Version.

Shailey said...

"then Ahaz took the silver and gold from the temple and sent it to the king of Assyria."v8

"then king Ahaz removed the old bronze alter from the temple."v14

"the old bronze alter will be only for my personal use."v15

King Ahaz was not thinking about God he didn't thinkthat God would care if he moved all the things in the temple.to Ahaz God wasn't realy there.

Chris said...

This is making sense now- first I read 1 Kings 16... oops. I'm going to dwell on this for a bit... what things in my life (priorities, altars, etc.) have I chosen to add/take away/alter without direction from God? Where ARE the altars I set up? How can I realign them to God's plan for me?

Unknown said...

Love how you took that to heart and applied it so personally, Chris. Totally got me thinking about that too!

Denise said...

“Evil Kin Ahaz copied pagan religious customs, changed the Temple services, and used the Temple altar for his personal benefit. In so doing, he demonstrated a callous disregard for God’s commands. We condemn Ahaz for his action, but we act the same way if we try to mold God’s message to fit our personal preferences. We must worship God for who he is, not what we would selfishly like him to be.

Ahaz had become a weak king with a weak and compromising high priest. Judah’s religious system was in shambles. It now included pagan customs, and its chief aim was only to please those in power. If we copy others in order to please them, we risk making them more important than God in our lives.”