2 Kings 16:10-17
The furniture of the tabernacle was to be of particular size and shape, as was every single thing about God’s tabernacle. Moses was given specific instructions pertaining to each item and there was to be no deviation. These measurements, colors and shapes all held deep spiritual significance, pointing forward in one way or another to the coming Messiah.
King Ahaz was a wicked king over Judah, and his decisions reflect a man depraved of the presence of the Lord. He visited Damascus to meet with the king of Assyria, a sworn enemy of Israel and Judah, and while he was there he became infatuated with the architecture of that nation. He sent word back to the high priest in Judah that he wanted a replica built of a magnificent altar that he had seen in Damascus. The high priest built the altar per the king’s specifications and the king began using it immediately upon returning home.
After arriving, the king ordered the priest to begin using the new altar for all of the sacrifices of Israel, and to leave the old brazen altar that sat in the temple for the king’s use only. Actually, he had the brazen altar moved closer to the new altar so that he could enquire at it whenever he wished. This combination of bad decisions leads to the premature death of Ahaz and the subsequent judgment of God. By building a new altar, he was considering the brazen altar out-dated and useless. This is a type of a “new Christianity”, where there is no need for a crucified Savior, or talk of His finished work. He also denied the nation and the people access to the brazen altar, thus making salvation a gift only for the aristocracy. Calvary leveled the playing field, so that everyone, great and small comes to God by the same means. There is no respecter of persons with God (Romans 2:11), and Calvary is no exception.
Ahaz made one more move that will link him forever with the doomed Pontius Pilate. There was a brazen laver outside of the door of the temple, which sat on 4 feet, lifted from the pavement. This laver contained water which the priest would use to wash his hands and feet so that he could enter the temple in a purified state. Ahaz cut the legs off of the laver and sit it on the floor, thus lowering the purification of God to the level of the common man. The laver sat up, separated from the floor, for God’s holiness was not common, and it could be approached only after the priest had offered a sacrifice on the altar. By placing the laver on the floor, it became average, and just like any other basin.
The text says that Ahaz sat it “upon a pavement of stones” (2 Kings 16:17), a statement that does not appear again in the Old Testament. However, we do find it in the New Testament, written in Hebrew, in regards to the trial of Jesus Christ. Pilate has tired of talking to Jesus and he brings Him into a place “called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha” (John 19:13). Gabbatha was a platform made of square stones. Pilate puts Jesus on a cross and numbers him with the transgressors, killing Him between two common criminals. Jesus was anything but common, but the world has tried to make Him as much ever since.
Lift Jesus high and to His rightful place in your own life and conversation. Don’t cheapen and lessen the price that Jesus paid by always emphasizing your sin and failure instead of His perfection and success. He suffered so that you would never suffer. All other forms of Christianity are alternate altars, like Ahaz’s creation. There is nothing cheap or common about the price paid for us and we would do well to give Him the honor that He paid for.
The furniture of the tabernacle was to be of particular size and shape, as was every single thing about God’s tabernacle. Moses was given specific instructions pertaining to each item and there was to be no deviation. These measurements, colors and shapes all held deep spiritual significance, pointing forward in one way or another to the coming Messiah.
King Ahaz was a wicked king over Judah, and his decisions reflect a man depraved of the presence of the Lord. He visited Damascus to meet with the king of Assyria, a sworn enemy of Israel and Judah, and while he was there he became infatuated with the architecture of that nation. He sent word back to the high priest in Judah that he wanted a replica built of a magnificent altar that he had seen in Damascus. The high priest built the altar per the king’s specifications and the king began using it immediately upon returning home.
After arriving, the king ordered the priest to begin using the new altar for all of the sacrifices of Israel, and to leave the old brazen altar that sat in the temple for the king’s use only. Actually, he had the brazen altar moved closer to the new altar so that he could enquire at it whenever he wished. This combination of bad decisions leads to the premature death of Ahaz and the subsequent judgment of God. By building a new altar, he was considering the brazen altar out-dated and useless. This is a type of a “new Christianity”, where there is no need for a crucified Savior, or talk of His finished work. He also denied the nation and the people access to the brazen altar, thus making salvation a gift only for the aristocracy. Calvary leveled the playing field, so that everyone, great and small comes to God by the same means. There is no respecter of persons with God (Romans 2:11), and Calvary is no exception.
Ahaz made one more move that will link him forever with the doomed Pontius Pilate. There was a brazen laver outside of the door of the temple, which sat on 4 feet, lifted from the pavement. This laver contained water which the priest would use to wash his hands and feet so that he could enter the temple in a purified state. Ahaz cut the legs off of the laver and sit it on the floor, thus lowering the purification of God to the level of the common man. The laver sat up, separated from the floor, for God’s holiness was not common, and it could be approached only after the priest had offered a sacrifice on the altar. By placing the laver on the floor, it became average, and just like any other basin.
The text says that Ahaz sat it “upon a pavement of stones” (2 Kings 16:17), a statement that does not appear again in the Old Testament. However, we do find it in the New Testament, written in Hebrew, in regards to the trial of Jesus Christ. Pilate has tired of talking to Jesus and he brings Him into a place “called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha” (John 19:13). Gabbatha was a platform made of square stones. Pilate puts Jesus on a cross and numbers him with the transgressors, killing Him between two common criminals. Jesus was anything but common, but the world has tried to make Him as much ever since.
Lift Jesus high and to His rightful place in your own life and conversation. Don’t cheapen and lessen the price that Jesus paid by always emphasizing your sin and failure instead of His perfection and success. He suffered so that you would never suffer. All other forms of Christianity are alternate altars, like Ahaz’s creation. There is nothing cheap or common about the price paid for us and we would do well to give Him the honor that He paid for.
