# Ahaz: A Bad King - The Book of 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles

An episode of [Kids Bible in a Year with Julia Jeffress Sadler](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1696638708), 27 Dec 2023, 11 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/f8ddd7fd-69c6-48d0-804f-b4d6010c327c/e9f91c98-86d0-4849-a997-b4d6018a04df/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=14e8ed60-20b2-4d5c-a832-b4d6010c3283

Join Julia Jeffress Sadler as she takes us on an incredible adventure in Episode 118. Unlike his father Jotham and grandfather Uzziah, Ahaz strayed far from God, engaging in disturbing practices and worshipping false gods. When faced with threats from Aram and Israel, Ahaz makes a desperate alliance with Assyria, sacrificing Judah's treasures and integrity. His fascination with a foreign altar leads to drastic changes in the temple, further angering God. Despite his royal lineage, Ahaz's actions lead to a legacy of disgrace. Yet, there's hope on the horizon as his son Hezekiah takes the throne, promising a return to better days. Sign up to receive Kids Bible in a Year devotionals in your inbox every weekday: https://www.kidsbibleinayear.com/ Get ready to experience the Bible designed specifically for children with the official KidsBibleinaYear.com podcast, led by Julia Jeffress Sadler. This captivating audio series presents the age-old wisdom of the Bible in an engaging format that will captivate your kids. Each episode Julia translates biblical teachings into real-life applications, making Bible comprehension a breeze for young minds. And if you want more Christian resources and content, you can download the Pray.com app. Pray.com is the digital destination for faith, offering over 5,000 daily prayers, meditations, bedtime Bible stories, and cinematic stories inspired by the Bible. For more resources on how to live a successful Christian life, visit Julia Jeffress Sadler's website at https://ptv.org/julia/. This episode is sponsored by Little Passports. Visit LittlePassports.com/blessed and use promo code BLESSED to receive 20% off. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Dear God, please give us wisdom when it comes to
[0:02] Speaker 1: who we should spend time with. Help us remember that
[0:06] Speaker 1: when we are with people who do the right thing,
[0:30] Speaker 1: we will want to do the right thing too. Please
[0:33] Speaker 1: show us the people in our lives you want us
[0:36] Speaker 1: to follow. We know that who we hang out with matters.
[0:40] Speaker 1: Thank you so much for your truth.
[0:43] Speaker 2: We love you.
[0:44] Speaker 1: In Jesus' name we pray.
[0:46] Speaker 2: Amen.
[0:48] Speaker 3: Thank you for praying with us today. The Kids Bible
[0:51] Speaker 3: in a Year podcast is sponsored by Little Passports, delivering
[0:55] Speaker 3: monthly activity kit subscriptions that help kids explore the world.
[0:59] Speaker 3: Cultivate curiosity and discover new interests with hands-on crafts and
[1:03] Speaker 3: activities in cooking, science, crafts, and more. All with a
[1:07] Speaker 3: unique cultural twist. Visit littlepassports.com slash blessed to learn more
[1:13] Speaker 3: and save 20% with code blessed.
[1:22] Speaker 2: Ahaz, a bad king. In our last story, we learned
[1:27] Speaker 2: about Uzziah, and how after being a great king, decided
[1:31] Speaker 2: to burn incense on his own and was struck with leprosy.
[1:37] Speaker 2: In this story, we learn about King Ahaz and his idolatry,
[1:42] Speaker 2: influenced by the king of Assyria, as inspired by 2
[1:46] Speaker 2: Kings and 2 Chronicles.
[1:52] Speaker 1: Hi there, welcome back. This is Julia Sadler, and thanks
[1:55] Speaker 1: for listening to the Kids Bible in a Year podcast.
[1:59] Speaker 1: Today we're going to hear all about King Ahaz and
[2:02] Speaker 1: what happened to him when he chose the wrong person
[2:05] Speaker 1: to follow. The lesson? Who we spend time with matters.
[2:10] Speaker 1: Listen in and you'll see what I mean.
[2:15] Speaker 2: King Ahaz was a young king who started ruling at
[2:18] Speaker 2: the age of 20. He wasn't like his father Jotham,
[2:23] Speaker 2: nor like his grandfather Uzziah. They followed the true God,
[2:28] Speaker 2: Ahaz did not. Instead, King Ahaz did many things that
[2:34] Speaker 2: did not sit well with God. He sacrificed some of
[2:38] Speaker 2: his own children, burned incenses in places other than the temple,
[2:42] Speaker 2: and even worshipped other gods. One day, the armies of
[2:47] Speaker 2: Aram and Israel went and surrounded Judah to attack. Although
[2:52] Speaker 2: these two armies could not defeat Ahaz's army, They still
[2:56] Speaker 2: were doing a lot of damage. Two of Ahaz's sons
[3:00] Speaker 2: were killed in battle along with almost 100,000 soldiers. Ahaz
[3:06] Speaker 2: became worried and looked for help from another city. So
[3:09] Speaker 2: he decided to ask Assyria for help. He then said
[3:13] Speaker 2: to Tiglath-Pileser, the king of Assyria, I'll do anything you
[3:17] Speaker 2: ask me to do. Just please save me from the
[3:20] Speaker 2: kings of Aram and Israel. Those kings want to take
[3:24] Speaker 2: over Judah. Ahaz also offered gifts in gold and silver
[3:29] Speaker 2: to Assyria for the king so that it might help
[3:32] Speaker 2: his plea. Tiglath-Pileser heard the request of Ahaz and decided
[3:38] Speaker 2: to help him. He sent out his very strong army
[3:41] Speaker 2: to Syria and saved Judah from being attacked even more.
[3:45] Speaker 2: Once that was over and Judah was safe from being
[3:48] Speaker 2: attacked anymore, King Ahaz decided to visit the king of
[3:52] Speaker 2: Assyria in a city called Damascus, to say thank you.
[3:56] Speaker 2: When Ahaz got there, however, there were a lot of
[3:59] Speaker 2: things that caught his eye that would later make the
[4:01] Speaker 2: Lord very upset. Ahaz saw an altar that he liked
[4:05] Speaker 2: so much that he decided he wanted an exact same one.
[4:09] Speaker 2: He made a copy and sent plans back to Judah
[4:12] Speaker 2: to make one just like it to put in the temple.
[4:16] Speaker 2: The high priest, Uriah, was given the job to make it.
[4:19] Speaker 2: The altar was done just in time for King Ahaz
[4:22] Speaker 2: to arrive back from his visit. When Ahaz saw the altar,
[4:26] Speaker 2: he was very happy with the way it looked. He
[4:29] Speaker 2: poured wine over it and made sacrifices to it as well.
[4:33] Speaker 2: At the temple, there was a bronze altar in the
[4:35] Speaker 2: front that Ahaz had removed and placed his own altar
[4:39] Speaker 2: there instead. Ahaz also removed the tent that was made
[4:43] Speaker 2: for worship on Sabbath days and closed the doors of
[4:47] Speaker 2: the temple again. that was for the kings to enter through.
[4:50] Speaker 2: From that point forward, King Ahaz did many things that
[4:54] Speaker 2: really angered God. Many people viewed him as a bad king,
[4:59] Speaker 2: and when he died, he was not buried in the
[5:01] Speaker 2: royal graves along with the other kings. Thankfully, his son
[5:06] Speaker 2: Hezekiah became king afterwards and was a much better, more
[5:11] Speaker 2: obedient king.
[5:16] Speaker 1: Wow, today's story teaches us a very important lesson. Let's
[5:21] Speaker 1: talk about what we heard. This young king Ahaz proved
[5:25] Speaker 1: himself to be a pretty bad king immediately by not
[5:29] Speaker 1: following God's rules, doing evil things to his family, worshiping
[5:34] Speaker 1: other gods, and getting his army into trouble. So he
[5:37] Speaker 1: called for help. But instead of calling the great, all-powerful,
[5:42] Speaker 1: all-knowing creator of heaven and earth, Beginning and the end,
[5:47] Speaker 1: king of kings and the lord of lords, I could
[5:50] Speaker 1: go on. He asked the king of Assyria for help.
[5:55] Speaker 1: This king in Damascus helped get him out of trouble
[5:59] Speaker 1: for the time being. So Ahaz visited him to say thanks.
[6:04] Speaker 1: And that's when he saw it. An altar that he really,
[6:08] Speaker 1: really wanted for himself. Ahaz must have thought this king
[6:13] Speaker 1: of Assyria was pretty cool because he wanted what he had.
[6:17] Speaker 1: He followed him, cried out to him, listened to him,
[6:21] Speaker 1: and traveled to visit him. But there was one problem.
[6:25] Speaker 1: This king did not follow God, and this altar was
[6:29] Speaker 1: not pleasing to the Lord. After he copied this altar
[6:34] Speaker 1: back in Judah, Ahaz continued to do evil things. breaking
[6:39] Speaker 1: the rules God had set for his temple and not
[6:42] Speaker 1: worshiping God. And as usual, he was punished, died, and
[6:47] Speaker 1: wasn't even honored in his burial. The good news is
[6:50] Speaker 1: that his son was a wonderful king and was about
[6:53] Speaker 1: to take the throne. But more about that next time.
[6:57] Speaker 1: Today's lesson is that who we follow and look up
[7:00] Speaker 1: to matters. Do you have a hero? Maybe a role
[7:03] Speaker 1: model or someone older you look up to? It's so
[7:07] Speaker 1: important to choose people that love God and follow His ways.
[7:11] Speaker 1: You know why? Because when we watch other people do that,
[7:16] Speaker 1: it makes us want to do it too. The people
[7:19] Speaker 1: you follow are the people you will act like, good
[7:23] Speaker 1: or bad. We also see this lesson in Proverbs 13
[7:26] Speaker 1: 20 when it says, One who walks with wise men
[7:31] Speaker 1: grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm. That
[7:36] Speaker 1: means that when you choose to be around wise people,
[7:40] Speaker 1: they will actually make you wise. But if you choose
[7:43] Speaker 1: to be around people who break God's laws and do
[7:46] Speaker 1: things that do not make God happy, you will start
[7:50] Speaker 1: doing the same things. But wait, does this mean that
[7:54] Speaker 1: we can never talk to people who make wrong choices? No,
[7:58] Speaker 1: not at all. We should be kind and loving to everyone.
[8:02] Speaker 1: It just means that your closest friends and the people
[8:05] Speaker 1: you spend the most time with should be those who
[8:09] Speaker 1: make you more like Jesus. One last thing. Sometimes as kids,
[8:14] Speaker 1: we don't get to choose people that might be in
[8:17] Speaker 1: our family or around us a lot. Sometimes we have
[8:20] Speaker 1: to be with those who are not making great choices.
[8:23] Speaker 1: And there's not much we can do about it. First
[8:27] Speaker 1: of all, if anyone's hurting you or someone else, you
[8:30] Speaker 1: need to tell an adult so that you can be safe.
[8:34] Speaker 1: But if you feel like no one knows or no
[8:36] Speaker 1: one cares or understands, remember this. God knows. He sees
[8:42] Speaker 1: you and He will help you. And He helps us
[8:45] Speaker 1: a lot of times through other people, especially when we're kids.
[8:50] Speaker 1: He promises to always be with you. And so if
[8:53] Speaker 1: this is true for you, stop right now and just
[8:56] Speaker 1: ask God in your heart to help you show his
[8:59] Speaker 1: love to others, no matter who they are. Well, I
[9:03] Speaker 1: don't know about you, but I am ready to hear
[9:06] Speaker 1: about a good king for a change. It's coming. I promise.
[9:10] Speaker 1: Thanks for listening today. I hope you'll be back next
[9:13] Speaker 1: time to hear what happens to Israel next. Now, say
[9:17] Speaker 1: it loud.
[9:19] Speaker 2: Ready?
[9:19] Speaker 1: One, two, three. The Bible is the best story ever told.
[9:25] Speaker 1: It's God's story to you, and it's all true. Can't
[9:30] Speaker 1: get enough of our podcast? Stay tuned for new adventures
[9:34] Speaker 1: by subscribing to Kids Bible in a Year, your companion
[9:37] Speaker 1: in exploring God's Word. Thanks for listening to Pray.com's Kids
[9:42] Speaker 1: Bible in a Year. For more inspiring stories and wisdom
[9:46] Speaker 1: to last a lifetime, download the Pray.com app for free today.
[10:00] Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to Kids Bible in a Year. I
[10:02] Speaker 1: want to invite our adult listeners to check out my
[10:05] Speaker 1: other show, Unapologetic, God's Truth on Today's Topics. It's unfiltered, important, inspiring,
[10:13] Speaker 1: and we have awesome conversations and amazing guests such as
[10:17] Speaker 1: Candice Cameron Bray, Vice President Mike Pence, Dr. Robert Jeffress,
[10:22] Speaker 1: Shannon Bream, Maddie Pruitt, and so many others. We are
[10:27] Speaker 1: helping you have conversations that empower you to have bold
[10:31] Speaker 1: faith in a broken world. You'll be excited, inspired, and
[10:36] Speaker 1: encouraged in your faith as you check out Unapologetic. Remember
[10:40] Speaker 1: that you can tune in wherever you get your podcasts
[10:43] Speaker 1: and on Pray.com.

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