Ahaz
209
called the attention of the people to the weakness of their position
among the nations of earth, and he showed that this was the result of
wickedness in high places. “Behold,” he said, “the Lord, the Lord of
hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the
staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water, the mighty
man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent,
and the ancient, the captain of fifty, and the honorable man, and the
[324]
counselor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator. And I
will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them.”
“For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen: because their tongue and
their doings are against the Lord.”
Isaiah 3:1-4, 8
.
“They which lead thee,” the prophet continued, “cause thee to
err, and destroy the way of thy paths.”
Verse 12
. During the reign
of Ahaz this was literally true; for of him it is written: “He walked
in the ways of the kings of Israel, and made also molten images
for Baalim. Moreover he burnt incense in the valley of the son of
Hinnom;” “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.”
2 Chronicles 28:2, 3
;
2 Kings 16:3
.
This was indeed a time of great peril for the chosen nation. Only
a few short years, and the ten tribes of the kingdom of Israel were to
be scattered among the nations of heathendom. And in the kingdom
of Judah also the outlook was dark. The forces for good were rapidly
diminishing, the forces for evil multiplying. The prophet Micah,
viewing the situation, was constrained to exclaim: “The good man
is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among men.”
“The best of them is as a brier: the most upright is sharper than a thorn
hedge.”
Micah 7:2, 4
. “Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very
small remnant,” declared Isaiah, “we should have been as Sodom, and
... Gomorrah.”
Isaiah 1:9
.
In every age, for the sake of those who have remained true, as well
as because of His infinite love for the erring, God has borne long with
[325]
the rebellious, and has urged them to forsake their course of evil and
return to Him. “Precept upon precept; line upon line, ... here a little,
and there a little,” through men of His appointment, He has taught
transgressors’ the way of righteousness.
Isaiah 28:10
.
And thus it was during the reign of Ahaz. Invitation upon invitation
was sent to erring Israel to return to their allegiance to Jehovah. Tender