Study Desk

He commanded Uriah the priest, "Use the large altar to burn the morning burnt offerings, the evening grain offerings, and the drink offerings from all the people of this country. Sprinkle all the blood from the burnt offering and other sacrifices on the large altar. But I will use the bronze altar to get answers from God."

Workers had built a covered place inside the Temple area for the Sabbath meetings. But Ahaz removed the covered place and the outside entrance for the king. He removed all these from the Lord 's Temple. Ahaz did this because of the king of Assyria.

He did what the Lord said was wrong, but he was not as bad as the kings of Israel who had ruled before him.

These things happened because the Israelites had sinned against the Lord their God. And it was the Lord who brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt! He saved them from the power of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. But the Israelites began worshiping other gods.

But the people would not listen. They were very stubborn like their ancestors. Their ancestors did not believe the Lord their God.

They refused to follow his laws and the agreement he made with their ancestors. They would not listen to his warnings. They worshiped idols that were worth nothing and they themselves became worth nothing. The Lord had warned them not to do the evil things that the people in the nations around them did. But they lived the same way those people lived.

But even the people of Judah did not obey the commands of the Lord their God. They lived just as the Israelites had.

But all those people made gods of their own. They put them in the temples at the high places that the people of Samaria had made. They did this wherever they lived.

But they also worshiped the Lord . They chose priests for the high places from among the people. These priests made sacrifices for the people in the temples at those places of worship.

They respected the Lord but also served their own gods, just as they did in their own countries.

But you must follow the Lord , who brought you out of Egypt. He used his great power to save you. You must worship him and make sacrifices to him.

But the Israelites did not listen. They kept on doing the same things they did before.

So now those other nations respected the Lord , but they also served their own idols. Their children and grandchildren did the same thing their ancestors did. They still do these things to this day.

These men called for the king, but Eliakim son of Hilkiah, Shebna, and Joah son of Asaph went out to meet them. Eliakim was the palace manager, Joah was the record keeper, and Shebna was the royal secretary.

Maybe you will say, "We trust the Lord our God to help us." But I know that Hezekiah destroyed the altars and high places where people worshiped the Lord. Hezekiah told the people of Judah and Jerusalem, "You must worship only at this one altar here in Jerusalem."

But even then you couldn't beat one of my master's lowest ranking officers. So why do you still depend on Egypt's chariots and horse soldiers?

But the commander said, "My master sent me to speak to everyone, not just to you and your master. I must also speak to those people sitting there on the wall. When we surround your city, they will suffer too. Like you, they will become so hungry they will eat their own waste and drink their own urine!"

But the people were silent. They did not say a word to the commander, because King Hezekiah had commanded them, "Don't say anything to him."

They said to Isaiah, "King Hezekiah has commanded that today will be a special day for sorrow and sadness. It will be a very sad day, like the time a child should be born, but is not strong enough to come from its mother's womb.

They did throw the gods of those nations into the fire. But they were not real gods. They were only wood and stone—statues that people made. That is why the kings of Assyria could destroy them.