Ahaz, a very evil king of Judah (even sacrificing his own son – 16:3), sees an altar in Damascus that is very impressive to him. Immediately he sent orders to his priest, Uriah, for a copy this altar to be built in Jerusalem. This 'great altar' replaces the bronze altar for all the sweet aroma sacrifices made to the Lord. The bronze altar is moved from the entrance to the Temple on the west side to the north side of the Temple. The bronze altar is now to be used for 'special inquires' by Ahaz (read: divinations). If we are not following the Lord, we can be convinced to do some of the most outrageous things. As we read this story, we know that what Ahaz is doing is very wrong, yet he goes on and does it anyway. There are things that the Lord explicitly tells his people to do, and yet, some manage to worm their way around them and not think much about it. Recently there was a bishop of a particular branch of the Lutheran church who advocated the practices of polygamy and homosexuality "provided they promote the cause of the Gospel." Likewise, Ahaz probably thought that God would be impressed with this new altar and he maybe thought that God would give him special wisdom now that there was an altar dedicated for that very task. We need to be careful to know the Lord (Joshua 23:11) otherwise our worship will be idolatrous, because we are doing the very things that the Lord despises.
