As you read God’s word you discover interesting things. In the past, I’ve described them as nuggets, shiny pieces of gold. This morning the one I discovered was a picture, one not all that difficult to recognize.
With my friend Matthew Henry, I was in 2 Chronicles. In verse 28 you begin to see troubling lines and colors. Take a look and see if you can make out the complete picture.
At first, it looks like an old and dusty canvas rolled up in a corner of the Old Testament, over there slightly hidden by Esther, Nehemiah, and Ezra and just in front of First & Second Kings. As you look closer, you see the troubling lines and dark shades of color as the image begins to take shape.
Those shapes and colors show us the evil king of Judah, Ahaz.
Let me unroll the old canvas and prop it up so you can see it better.
Wikipedia helps by telling us the name Ahaz is an abbreviation of Jehoahaz II, “Yahweh has held” and that the king was the twelfth king of Judah, the son, and successor of Jotham. Ahaz was 20 when he became king of Judah and reigned for 16 years. Ahaz is portrayed as an evil king in the Second Book of Kings.
The inspired writer adds additional bold and troubling lines to our canvas with the following words. “And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and he shut up the doors of the house of the lord….”2 Chronicles 28.24
My friend Matthew, insightful as always, adds shading and definition to both the lines and colors. “Let us see what his trespass was,” Matthew says.“ (1.) He abused the house of God; for he cut in pieces the vessels of it, that the priests might not perform the service of the temple, or not as it should be performed, for want of vessels; and, at length, he shut up the doors, that the people might not attend it. This was worse than the worst of the kings before him had done. (2.) And in the cities of Judah, either by his power or by his purse, perhaps by both, he erected high places for the people to burn incense to what idols they pleased, seemingly as if on purpose to provoke the God of his fathers, (3.) He cast off God himself; for he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus, not because he loved them, for he thought they smote him; but because he feared them,…”
Let’s take these lines by number as Matthew does.
(1) He abused the House of God! He cut up the vessels of worship. It’s not difficult to see this picture today. Look just at our main “vessel” of worship, the Bible. For decades it has been burned, torn, neglected, and degraded by political leaders, the media, and even some religious leaders. Effectively it is “cut up.”He also “shut up the doors, that the people might not attend.” The COVID virus has become a convenient tool for those in our nation who seek to destroy our nation’s spiritual heritage, be they political, media, or occasionally even religious. Houses of worship have with great publicity been closed while certain businesses and other activities have by government decree been allowed to remain open and in many like our large box store chains, to even prosper.
(2) ..”by his power or his purse” he created other places to worship.” You can’t attend your traditional worship service, but you can burn your “incense” over there on that hill, and even better, to whichever convenient god you chose. Recognize anything yet?
(3) This might arguably be the most dangerous one. When the people finally turned away from God, Ahaz “cast off God himself” as if by his actions he had not already done so. He “sacrificed” to foreign powers. In the case of Ahaz, it was to Damascus. In our case it is China. Is the dusty old canvas becoming any clearer now? Kind of like reading today’s paper or watching the “news” isn’t it?
That’s your art lesson for today.