2Ch 28:3 | KingComments | STEP | Ahaz succeeds his God-fearing father Jotham as king ( ). He is then twenty years old. He reigns as long as his father, sixteen years ( ), but the contrast with his father is enormous. Just as nothing wrong is said of Jotham, nothing good is said of Ahaz. However, his life is not compared to that of his father Jotham, but to that of “David his father”. It is not written of Ahaz that he does what is evil in the sight of the LORD, but that he does not do what is right in the sight of the LORD. David did. David is the man after God’s heart, while God finds nothing in the life of Ahaz that is a joy to His heart. Ahaz completely lacks the good. Jotham has ordered his ways before the LORD, but Ahaz walks “in the ways of the kings of Israel” ( ). He rejects his father’s good example. The wicked kings of Israel, of whom not one does good in the sight of the LORD, are the examples that appeal to him. But that is not all. “Moreover”, so on top of that, he makes molten images for the Baals. Ahaz cancels the covenant with the LORD. His sins accumulate. He burns incense to the idols. He does so “in the valley of Ben-hinnom”. From the name of the valley and the practices that take place there, the name Gehenna, hell, is derived ( ; ). He also serves the Baals in a gruesome way by sacrificing his sons to them ( ). With this Ahaz completely follows in the footsteps of the heathen peoples who commit these atrocities. The LORD has driven out the nations before the eyes of the Israelites, and with them has shown His people His abhorrence of those nations, and their practices. That Ahaz unites himself with what God abhors by accepting their atrocities is again a great and gross insult to the LORD. His idolatry is so general that he makes any place he considers suitable for it, a place where can be sacrificed to the idols ( ). We may be surprised and wonder how it is possible that such a God-fearing father has such a godless son. There is no easy answer to that. We see it more often. David has had rebellious sons like Absalom and Adonijah. Even today there are God-fearing believers who have children who live in revolt against God. Sometimes there are demonstrable errors in upbringing, partly due to a lack of self-restraint, as with David. We must learn from that. But sometimes it cannot be explained. We must learn to accept that and not think that we can explain the causes. If we know those cases, the best response is that it brings us to prayer for them and their parents. It is certain that each child has its own responsibility in the choices it makes. If the child makes wrong choices, the parents should not be held liable. God does not do that either. Everyone is punished for his own sins, the parents not for those of the children and the children not for those of the parents ( ).

‏ 2 Chronicles 28:3

Ahaz King of Judah

Ahaz succeeds his God-fearing father Jotham as king (2Chr 28:1). He is then twenty years old. He reigns as long as his father, sixteen years (2Chr 27:1), but the contrast with his father is enormous. Just as nothing wrong is said of Jotham, nothing good is said of Ahaz. However, his life is not compared to that of his father Jotham, but to that of “David his father”. It is not written of Ahaz that he does what is evil in the sight of the LORD, but that he does not do what is right in the sight of the LORD. David did. David is the man after God’s heart, while God finds nothing in the life of Ahaz that is a joy to His heart. Ahaz completely lacks the good.

Jotham has ordered his ways before the LORD, but Ahaz walks “in the ways of the kings of Israel” (2Chr 28:2). He rejects his father’s good example. The wicked kings of Israel, of whom not one does good in the sight of the LORD, are the examples that appeal to him. But that is not all. “Moreover”, so on top of that, he makes molten images for the Baals. Ahaz cancels the covenant with the LORD. His sins accumulate. He burns incense to the idols. He does so “in the valley of Ben-hinnom”. From the name of the valley and the practices that take place there, the name Gehenna, hell, is derived (2Chr 33:6; Mk 9:43).

He also serves the Baals in a gruesome way by sacrificing his sons to them (2Chr 28:3). With this Ahaz completely follows in the footsteps of the heathen peoples who commit these atrocities. The LORD has driven out the nations before the eyes of the Israelites, and with them has shown His people His abhorrence of those nations, and their practices. That Ahaz unites himself with what God abhors by accepting their atrocities is again a great and gross insult to the LORD. His idolatry is so general that he makes any place he considers suitable for it, a place where can be sacrificed to the idols (2Chr 28:4).

We may be surprised and wonder how it is possible that such a God-fearing father has such a godless son. There is no easy answer to that. We see it more often. David has had rebellious sons like Absalom and Adonijah. Even today there are God-fearing believers who have children who live in revolt against God.

Sometimes there are demonstrable errors in upbringing, partly due to a lack of self-restraint, as with David. We must learn from that. But sometimes it cannot be explained. We must learn to accept that and not think that we can explain the causes. If we know those cases, the best response is that it brings us to prayer for them and their parents.

It is certain that each child has its own responsibility in the choices it makes. If the child makes wrong choices, the parents should not be held liable. God does not do that either. Everyone is punished for his own sins, the parents not for those of the children and the children not for those of the parents (Deu 24:16).