2 Kings
16
– 20
Verse 16:3 caught my eye as odd:
He walked the wicked path
of Israel’s kings, and he even made his own son go through the fire as
a child sacrifice. He did this, modeling the abhorrent
practices of nations whom the Eternal had exiled to make way for the
Israelites.
Here the king actually sacrifices his own son which seemed odd. Other
translations make it more blatant on what was supposedly done, until you dig
into history a bit. This was a common practice in these times to walk between
two fires of Molech which often times burns the person going through the fire.
It is a symbolic sacrifice and not a blood one. Although detestable to God it
was not giving his son in death, but rather just putting him through pain.
Verse 17:17 has this practice show up again:
They made their children pass
through the fire, they performed witchcraft and divining, and they committed
evil in the eyes of the Eternal and provoked Him to burn with anger.
I can see why God’s anger is starting to boil.
Verse 18:5 has a new king of Judah:
Hezekiah put his trust in the
Eternal One, Israel’s God. Before and after his righteous reign, no
other king ever compared to him in Judah.
Interesting how “no other king ever compared” to Hezekiah.
You would think they would dedicate more pages to his history, although I guess
3 chapters are ok. What he is remembered for the most is the defeat God gave
the Assyrians during his reign. The coolest think about this is you find
mention of Hezekiah’s situation in King Sennacherib and the battle in the
writing of a Greek historian, Herodtus. Often people dismiss the Bible as tales
purposefully woven together, but reading stories like this we see historical
accounts outside scripture.
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