2 Kings 16:10-14 KJV
And king Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, and saw an altar that was at Damascus: and king Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest the fashion of the altar, and the pattern of it, according to all the workmanship thereof.
And Urijah the priest built an altar according to all that king Ahaz had sent from Damascus: so Urijah the priest made it against king Ahaz came from Damascus.
And when the king was come from Damascus, the king saw the altar: and the king approached to the altar, and offered thereon.
And he burnt his burnt offering and his meat offering, and poured his drink offering, and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings, upon the altar.
And he brought also the brasen altar, which was before the LORD, from the forefront of the house, from between the altar and the house of the LORD, and put it on the north side of the altar.
What an ungodly thing when the people who are supposed to love and follow the Lord choose instead to imitate the worship of the world. Ahaz is the king of Judah. He makes a trip to Assyria (a people who will in a short while decimate the Northern kingdom) in an attempt to form an alliance and friendship. Probably to secure his nation from the same fate that the Northern Kingdom was facing. While there he sees this altar. He has forgotten that the altar in Jerusalem was designed by God Himself and that those who crafted it were especially gifted of the Lord. He is amazed with the altar in Assyria and sends back instruction to have one like it made in his own land. When he returned home that altar took the spotlight and the altar that God had given them was set back in obscurity.
Friendships with this world too often lead us to compromise our worship of the Lord with worldly wisdom and then to hide those things we know God would have to less prominent places in our lives.
And king Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, and saw an altar that was at Damascus: and king Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest the fashion of the altar, and the pattern of it, according to all the workmanship thereof.
And Urijah the priest built an altar according to all that king Ahaz had sent from Damascus: so Urijah the priest made it against king Ahaz came from Damascus.
And when the king was come from Damascus, the king saw the altar: and the king approached to the altar, and offered thereon.
And he burnt his burnt offering and his meat offering, and poured his drink offering, and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings, upon the altar.
And he brought also the brasen altar, which was before the LORD, from the forefront of the house, from between the altar and the house of the LORD, and put it on the north side of the altar.
What an ungodly thing when the people who are supposed to love and follow the Lord choose instead to imitate the worship of the world. Ahaz is the king of Judah. He makes a trip to Assyria (a people who will in a short while decimate the Northern kingdom) in an attempt to form an alliance and friendship. Probably to secure his nation from the same fate that the Northern Kingdom was facing. While there he sees this altar. He has forgotten that the altar in Jerusalem was designed by God Himself and that those who crafted it were especially gifted of the Lord. He is amazed with the altar in Assyria and sends back instruction to have one like it made in his own land. When he returned home that altar took the spotlight and the altar that God had given them was set back in obscurity.
Friendships with this world too often lead us to compromise our worship of the Lord with worldly wisdom and then to hide those things we know God would have to less prominent places in our lives.
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