Giving into Fear(King Ahaz)

Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to make war; and they besieged Ahaz but could not overcome him. At that time Rezin king of Syria captured Elath for Syria, and drove the men of Judah from Elath. Then the Edomites(Israel) went to Elath, and dwell there to this day.

2 Kings 16:5-6

Assyria became a major power under Tiglath Pileser III and couldn't

be ignored, So Pekah king of Israel formed an alliance with Syria.

Now they demanded that Judah join their cause, their war against

Assyria. But King Ahaz of Judah declined, and in doing so caused

Israel and Syria to attack Judah and take the city of Elath.

Ahaz was trying to avoid war, hence his refusal to join with Israel/Syria

in their call against Assyria. However because he refused to join them

they came up against Ahaz and Judah.

The prophet Isaiah told Ahaz not to fear,to rely on God

and say to him: 'Take heed, and be quiet; do not fear or be fainthearted for these two stubs of smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria, and the son of Remaliah.

Isaiah 7:4

However Ahaz gave into fear and instead of relying on God almighty..

he took matters into his own hands. Ahaz made a treaty with Assyria

(paid them to) and asked them to attack Israel, to which they gladly did..

(Fact is they were going to anyways so why not take money from Judah too)

So we see Ahaz trusted in MEN to save him and not GOD! O how often

we rely on people and things to save us and or get us out of trouble

rather then GOD. How often people ignore God, people, like Ahaz,

who claim to worship God but when STRIFE when TROUBLE

when SIN and FEAR come into play… how often we ignore God.

Fear of anything else except the LORD GOD almighty is a stumbling block for the weak, what FEAR I ask you, again besides the FEAR of the LoRD, should you have? If He is with us, who can be AGAINST us?

You don't prove your faith when everything is going right,

You prove it when everything's going all wrong!

Then he said, "Hear now, O house of David! Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.

Isaiah 7:13-14

In Isaiah 7:1-10:4 Isaiah rebukes king Ahaz of Judah for not putting his faith in God, and tells of the destruction of Damascus and fall of Ephraim(Israel) under Assyrian power. However Isaiah also offers Judah it's ultimate hope (IS. 7:14) "Immanuel" meaning- "God is with us."

The foretold prophecy of the virgin birth of immanuel himself Christ Jesus(Matt. 1:23)

The LORD of hosts, Him you shall hallow; Let Him be your FEAR, and let Him be your dread. (IS.8:13)

Ahaz was a fool instead of trusting in God He trusted in man(assyria)

to save him. Not only did Ahaz pay tribute but he built temple modifications that were Assyrian inspired(2 Kings 16:10-18)

Ahaz refused to listen to God who spoke through Isaiah, he gave into FEAR of the moment. Do not let worry and FEAR destroy your walk,

do not squelch the still small voice of God inside you.

If you refuse to listen, refuse to follow His word, His voice…

then just who are you following? think about it…

Follow the one from which salvation comes, and no other!

King Manasseh

Last blog I talked about King Hezekiah who did what was right

in the sight of the LORD, and who put his faith in God when

Assyria came and mocked God and came to trample upon

Jerusalem. He wasn't perfect, but what man is? King Hezekiah

did a lot of good for Judah, he tore down alters/high places that

were dedicated to other gods, He put Judah back on the right track,

and that was back to the one and ONLY God. He did a lot for the city

in general, for it's fortifications, He was the one to bring Judah's water source

from out side the city walls into the city through a massive tunnel.

When Hezekiah died his son Manasseh took over as king. Manasseh did not do right in the eyes of the Lord, in fact his reign was one of the darkest periods in Judah's history, if not the darkest, and he reigned 55 years.

Manasseh rebuilt the abominations his father tore down, in fact

no king of Judah would ever embrace the canaanite(and probably assyrian) deities as completely as Manasseh.

Moreover Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, till he had filled

Jerusalem from one end to another, besides his sin by which he made

Judah sin, in doing evil in the sight of the Lord.

2 Kings 21:16

Judah indeed was in a dark time, those who protested Manasseh's ways would have been killed, and it is very possible that the prophet Isaiah(as it says in rabbinical tradition) was one of those innocent that Manasseh killed. It is said that Manasseh gave the order to have Isaiah sawn in two while he was in a log.

Assyrian sources even mention King Manasseh of Judah as one of the 22 vassal kings. Vassal states to Assyria were forced to pay tribute and take loyalty oaths, demonstrating assyrian rulership. Assyria was essentially under control of Judah but they let Judah and the other vassals they had still practice their own religion and have their kings, Manasseh maybe wanting to prove his loyalty to Assyria adopted much of their cultic practices.

For he rebuilt the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; he raised up altars for Baal, and made a wooden image, as Ahab king of Israel had done;

and he worshiped all the host of heaven and served them.

He also built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD had said,

"In Jerusalem I will put My name."

And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD.

Also he made his son pass through the fire, practiced soothsaying, used witchcraft, and consulted spiritists and mediums. He did much evil in the sight of the LORD,

to provoke Him to anger.

He even set a carved image of Asherah that he had made, in the house of which the LORD had said to David and to Solomon his son, "In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put My name forever;

"and I will not make the feet of Israel wander anymore from the land which I gave their fathers—only if they are careful to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that My servant Moses commanded them."

But they paid no attention, and Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than the nations whom the LORD had destroyed before the children of Israel.

And the LORD spoke by His servants the prophets, saying,

"Because Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominations ( he has acted more wickedly than all the Amorites who were before him, and has also made Judah sin with his idols), "therefore thus says the LORD God of Israel: 'Behold, I am bringing such calamity upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whoever hears of it, both his ears will tingle.

And I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line of Samaria and the plummet of the house of Ahab; I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. 'So I will forsake the remnant of My inheritance and deliver them into the hand of their enemies; and they shall become victims of plunder to all their enemies,

'because they have done evil in My sight, and have provoked Me to anger since the day their fathers came out of Egypt, even to this day.'"

2 Kings 21:3-15

This is where 2 kings ends talking about Manasseh. However the writer of 2 Chronicles reveals something the writer of 2 kings does not, and no not a contradiction but Chronicles just gives more detail in this certain area. the writers of 2 Chronicles and 2 Kings both agree and state the evil that Manasseh has done(Obviously not contradicting each other) both stating Manasseh did evil in the sight of the Lord.

2 Chronicles says Manasseh was carried off to babylon by Assyria, and there he was tortured, and it was in this torture that he humbled himself before the Lord, in fact it says he humbled himself "Greatly before the Lord" and the Lord heard his prayers and forgave him and brought him back to Jerusalem. Obviously we see Gods forgiveness here in 2 Chronicles, we see Manasseh being in the state of repentance and God forgiving. Manasseh was not someone who made a few mistakes, Manasseh was not a man who had faith in God, Manasseh was a blasphemer a murder of innocent blood who turned a whole country away from the one true God, and still he was shown mercy when he earnestly

sought the Lord God and repented of his ways.NOTICE what repentance here is…it is not only being sorry for what you have done,

BUT A TURNING AWAY FROM THE THINGS YOU HAVE DONE.

And the LORD spake to Manasseh, and to his people: but they would not hearken. Wherefore the LORD brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, which took Manasseh among the thorns, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon.

And when he was in affliction, he besought the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, And prayed unto him: and he was intreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD he [was] God.

Now after this he built a wall without the city of David, on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, even to the entering in at the fish gate, and compassed about Ophel, and raised it up a very great height, and put captains of war in all the fenced cities of Judah. And he took away the strange gods, and the idol out of the house of the LORD, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of the LORD, and in Jerusalem, and cast [them] out of the city. And he repaired the altar of the LORD, and sacrificed thereon peace offerings and thank offerings, and commanded Judah to serve the LORD God of Israel.

Nevertheless the people did sacrifice still in the high places,

[yet] unto the LORD their God only.

2 Chronicles 33:10-17