1 In the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam’s reign over Israel, Azariah son of Amaziah became king of Judah. 2 He was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-two years. His mother’s name was Jecoliah; she was from Jerusalem. 3 And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father Amaziah had done.
4 Nevertheless, the high places were not taken away; the people continued sacrificing and burning incense there.
5 And the LORD afflicted the king with leprosy until the day he died, so that he lived in a separate house while his son Jotham had charge of the palace and governed the people of the land.
6 As for the rest of the acts of Azariah, along with all his accomplishments, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
7 And Azariah rested with his fathers and was buried near them in the City of David. And his son Jotham reigned in his place.
8 In the thirty-eighth year of Azariah’s reign over Judah, Zechariah son of Jeroboam became king of Israel, and he reigned in Samaria six months. 9 And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, as his fathers had done. He did not turn away from the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had caused Israel to commit.
10 Then Shallum son of Jabesh conspired against Zechariah, struck him down and killed him in front of the people, and reigned in his place.
11 As for the rest of the acts of Zechariah, they are indeed written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. 12 So the word of the LORD spoken to Jehu was fulfilled: “Four generations of your sons will sit on the throne of Israel.”
REFLECTIONS
Written by Gus Cameron
God demands wholehearted devotion, and none of us do that.
In this Bible reading, Azariah king of Judah “did what was right in the eyes of the Lord”, and yet he did not remove the “high places” where the people continued to offer idolatrous sacrifices. He was a lot better than Zechariah king of Israel in the north, who followed in the idol-worship of his great-great grandfather Jehu. Jehu had “destroyed Baal worship in Israel”, but then turned to worshipping other gods (2 Kings 10:28-29). Ahaziah in the south only worshipped the Lord, which seemed impressive, but he didn’t stop his people’s idol-worship.
We can sometimes lull ourselves into a false sense of security that because we have done well in one area of life, God must be pleased with us. Sometimes we might look at other people and be so impressed by the good and noble things that they do that we excuse the sin in their life. We can’t put our ultimate hope in of this world’s leaders. Some of them will be more helpful than others, but there is no king who perfectly obeys God except Christ Jesus. There is no king who will free us from our old idols and lead us to love and obey God except Christ Jesus. His reign will not come to an end like Azariah’s or Zechariah’s. His rule and reign will go on into eternity. Long live King Jesus!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Gus is our Senior Assistant Minister.