Thus Did Urijah the Priest

Day 108 – A Year in the Bible – 2 Kings 16-18

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2 KINGS 16 – THUS DID URIJAH THE PRIEST

According to ALL that King Ahaz Commanded
And king Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser 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. And king Ahaz commanded Urijah the priest, saying, Upon the great altar burn the morning burnt offering, and the evening meat offering, and the king’s burnt sacrifice, and his meat offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their meat offering, and their drink offerings; and sprinkle upon it all the blood of the burnt offering, and all the blood of the sacrifice: and the brasen altar shall be for me to inquire by. Thus did Urijah the priest, according to all that king Ahaz commanded. – 2 Kings 16:10-16

King Ahaz did not worship God. He wanted an altar like he saw in Damascus and ordered Urijah the priest to build it, adding to and taking away parts of the altar that God designed. Urijah, the high priest, did anything the king commanded, disobeying the law of Moses. Moses was commanded to make the tabernacle according to what God showed him, and then the temple was constructed according to the plans God gave to David. God does not like compromise or mixture.

Urijah, the priest, followed the King’s command rather than God’s. The king ordered the changes, but Urijah is the one that made the changes.

This kind of mixture still happens today. Somebody sees something out in the world that would “fit” into the Lord’s work and perhaps make it more pleasing to the outside world, thus drawing the people in. The church starts to imitate that and, slowly, one compromise at a time, starts to look more like the world than the church God designed.

Like Urijah, the same type of compromise and mixture can happen in our hearts if we aren’t more tuned to God’s Word and God’s voice than we are to man’s. Urijah knew God’s laws, as do we. Each time there is known compromise, we have a choice to cooperate with the changes or to stand firm in God’s commands. We are the temple of the Holy Ghost, and we should take as much care of lining our hearts and souls to His, as Moses took of obeying God’s designs for the tabernacle and David for the temple.

Please help us, Lord, to see our own compromise and address it swiftly as You reveal these things. I ask this in Jesus’ Name! Amen!!!

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2 KINGS 17 – THE LORD WAS VERY ANGRY AT ISRAEL AND REMOVED THEM OUT OF HIS SIGHT

They Followed Vanity and Became Vain
And the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right against the LORD their God, and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city. And they set them up images and groves in every high hill, and under every green tree: and there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the heathen whom the LORD carried away before them; and wrought wicked things to provoke the LORD to anger: for they served idols, whereof the LORD had said unto them, Ye shall not do this thing. Yet the LORD testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets. Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the LORD their God. And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the LORD had charged them, that they should not do like them. And they left all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal. And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger. Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only. – 2 Kings‬ ‭17‬:‭9‬-‭18‬ ‭

One translations says in 2 Kings 17:15 – They worshiped worthless idols, and became worthless themselves.

An idol is anything you desire more than God. – Tim Kellar

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2 KINGS 18 – HEZEKIAH REMOVED THE HIGH PLACES

Hezekiah Did that Which Was Right in the Sight of the Lord
Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. Twenty and five years old was he when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name also was Abi, the daughter of Zachariah. And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David his father did. He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan. He trusted in the LORD God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him. For he clave to the LORD, and departed not from following him, but kept his commandments, which the LORD commanded Moses. And the LORD was with him; and he prospered whithersoever he went forth: and he rebelled against the king of Assyria, and served him not. He smote the Philistines, even unto Gaza, and the borders thereof, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city.
2 Kings 18:1-8