“Proud King”

Isaiah 7: 12, 13, 14a: “Ahaz said, ‘I will not ask, nor will I test the Lord!’ Then Isaiah said, ‘Listen now, O house of David, is it too slight a thing for you to try the patience of men, that you will try the patience of my God as well? Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign …’” Ahaz was one of Judah’s worst kings, having copied the religion of the Assyrians to the point of sacrificing his son to their God and modifying Solomon’s temple to fit their form of worship. So when this supreme tester of the Lord proudly claimed he would not ‘test the Lord’ by obeying a command of His prophet, Isaiah had no problem in putting him in his place. Something worked; Ahaz’s successor and son Hezekiah was one of the greatest kings Judah ever had.