Daily Devotional for Tuesday, August 4

Ahaz’s Pact

“So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, I am thy servant and thy son: come up, and save me out of the hand of the king of Syria, and out of the hand of the king of Israel, which rise up against me,” 2 Kings 16:7.
Prior to the United States joining in on World War II, the US had mainly adopted an isolationist stance towards the war in Europe though they had been urged to join in the fight. Although the US was already sending aid to help the allies, we did not want to get mixed up in the war. But on December 7, 1941, Japan attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor and the US was drawn into the war. We had made a pact with the allied nations that we would go after Germany first while we simultaneously fought Japan in the Pacific.
King Ahaz had found himself in a precarious position with the king of Syria and the king of Israel both waring against him. Though they had not been able to overcome him yet, he thus reached out to the king of Assyria and tried making a pact with him to save him from the king of Syria (2 Kings 16:7). While it may have seemed important at the time, it came at great cost and he did not really help him; “And Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria came unto him, and distressed him, but strengthened him not. For Ahaz took away a portion out of the house of the Lord, and out of the house of the king, and of the princes, and gave it unto the king of Assyria: but he helped him not” (2 Chronicles 28:20, 21). Ahaz’s pact was with someone who did not owe him any allegiance, but it came at the expense of Judah’s allegiance with the Lord.

JUST A THOUGHT
Making a pact with unrighteous people will never bring about a righteous outcome. Trust the Lord to help you in your battles.

Tim Chambers