Expositor's Dictionary of Texts In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah Ahaz the son of Jotham king of Judah began to reign. Lowering the Sea2 Kings 16:17 'King Ahaz... took down the sea.' The reference is to the enormous and superb laver which was situate in the temple, and was intended for the cleansing of the priests. I. We have not lowered the sea! No. But we have Frustrated the Divine Plan.—That plan we may not have spoiled utterly, thanks to restraining grace, but we have frustrated it in detail. True, Ahaz did not frustrate God's plan as a whole. He 'took down the sea from off the brazen oxen that were under it, and put it upon a pavement of stones'. He put it out of its right relations. Have we not frustrated the Divine plan? Look at the material world. Is it today as God designed it? Commerce is not today as divinely instituted. We have dealt similarly with the home. A similar remark applies to the Church. And is not this conspicuously applicable to our individuality? II. We have Maimed Good and Useful Things.— Ahaz did not destroy the sea. He, however, sadly interfered with its utility. If, as many think, the water flowed from the sea through the mouths of the brazen oxen, then by placing it on a pavement of stones Ahaz rendered it wellnigh ineffective. Man ever and again maims what is good and useful in its operation. Thus the Bible has often been treated. Its supernatural elements have been discounted. The Sabbath is subjected to a similar process. Its claims are slighted, if not ridiculed. Worship is maimed. Rather than an inspiration to service, it is too often a selfish luxury. Society is not exempted from spoliative influences. Worse than all else, many of us have maimed our souls. We have inflicted deadly injury on our characters; we have made havoc of our inmost self. III. We have Undone the Religious Work of the Past.—What skilled and arduous labour did that brazen sea represent! Consummate artistry it was. The men of the religious past laboured long and severely, with toil of heart and brain and hands. 'And ye are entered into their labours,' the Apostle adds. To undo the religious work of the past, in ourselves or in the community, is to cramp the religious work of the future. IV. We have Treated Sacred Things Irreverently.—Ahaz laid hands on the brazen sea of the temple as if it had been a thing of naught. Remember that golden saying in 'Cymbeline,' 'Reverence is the angel of the world'. V. We have Sinned Through Craven Fear.—Those who have studied King Ahaz to our profit tell us that in all probability it was under the shadow of miserable fear he did this deed of wickedness. 'He feared' is the explanation of many a crime and many a sin. VI. We have Preferred Self to God.—The explanation of King Ahaz's sacrilege which some give us is that he wantonly robbed God's temple of this splendid sea, in order to place it in one of his idolhouses, or in order to make use of it in his palace. King Ahaz represents us all. We love self supremely unless Divine grace has changed our nature. 'Self-will is the last enemy to be subdued,' said Madame Guyon. VII. We have Caused Others to Sin.—Ahaz led a priest of God astray. 'Urijah the priest' was his trusty henchman. It is bad enough to sin alone, but to associate others in our ill-doing is criminal in degree. VIII. We have Broken the Commandment of God.—God had enjoined that the brazen sea be fashioned. And more—God had given commandment that it be placed on the brazen oxen. All our failure and all our misery springs from our disobedience to God. —Dinsdale T. Young, The Crimson Book, p. 252. References.—XVII. 6-18.—A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture—2 Kings from chap. viii., p. 33. XVII. 15.—C. Silvester Home, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lxix. 1906, p. 235. XVII. 23-41.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. li. No. 2928. XVII. 25, 33, 34.—Ibid. vol. li. No. 2929. XVII. 33.—J. Addison Alexander, The Gospel of Jesus Christ, p. 395. H. J. Wilmot-Buxton, Sunday Sermonettes for a Year, p. 159. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture—2 Kings from chap. viii., etc., p. 40. XVII. 41.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxvii. No. 1622. XVIII. 1.—H. P. Liddon, Penny Pulpit, No. 544. Hezekiah and the Brazen Serpent Ancient and Modern Idolatry Twenty years old was Ahaz when he began to reign, and reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem, and did not that which was right in the sight of the LORD his God, like David his father.
But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, yea, and made his son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel.
And he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree.
Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to war: and they besieged Ahaz, but could not overcome him.
At that time Rezin king of Syria recovered Elath to Syria, and drave the Jews from Elath: and the Syrians came to Elath, and dwelt there unto this day.
So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, saying, I am thy servant and thy son: come up, and save me out of the hand of the king of Syria, and out of the hand of the king of Israel, which rise up against me.
And Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the LORD, and in the treasures of the king's house, and sent it for a present to the king of Assyria.
And the king of Assyria hearkened unto him: for the king of Assyria went up against Damascus, and took it, and carried the people of it captive to Kir, and slew Rezin.
And king Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, and saw an altar that was at Damascus: and king Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest the fashion of the altar, and the pattern of it, according to all the workmanship thereof.
And Urijah the priest built an altar according to all that king Ahaz had sent from Damascus: so Urijah the priest made it against king Ahaz came from Damascus.
And when the king was come from Damascus, the king saw the altar: and the king approached to the altar, and offered thereon.
And he burnt his burnt offering and his meat offering, and poured his drink offering, and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings, upon the altar.
And he brought also the brasen altar, which was before the LORD, from the forefront of the house, from between the altar and the house of the LORD, and put it on the north side of the altar.
And king Ahaz commanded Urijah the priest, saying, Upon the great altar burn the morning burnt offering, and the evening meat offering, and the king's burnt sacrifice, and his meat offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their meat offering, and their drink offerings; and sprinkle upon it all the blood of the burnt offering, and all the blood of the sacrifice: and the brasen altar shall be for me to inquire by.
Thus did Urijah the priest, according to all that king Ahaz commanded.
And king Ahaz cut off the borders of the bases, and removed the laver from off them; and took down the sea from off the brasen oxen that were under it, and put it upon a pavement of stones.
And the covert for the sabbath that they had built in the house, and the king's entry without, turned he from the house of the LORD for the king of Assyria.
Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David: and Hezekiah his son reigned in his stead. Nicoll - Expositor's Dictionary of Texts Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission. Bible Hub |
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