You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source, of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth.
17 The
LORD [Yahovah] shall bring [bow'] upon
thee, and upon thy people, [`am] and upon thy
father's ['ab] house, [bayith] days [yowm] that have not
come, [bow'] from the day [yowm] that Ephraim ['Ephrayim]
departed [cuwr] from Judah; [Yahuwdah] even the king [melek] of
Assyria. ['Ashshuwr] KJV-Interlinear
17
"The Lord will bring on you, on your people, and on your father's house
such days as have never come since the day that Ephraim separated from Judah,
the king of Assyria." NASB
Ahaz had received the promise of safety from invasion, but Ahaz rejected this promise and thus the consequences of that rejection will result in even greater suffering for both Ahaz and the nation from the very source in which they chose to place their trust.
From the time of the splitting up of the nation into two separate nations when Jeroboam rebelled and took with him ten of the tribes leaving only Benjamin and Judah, (1 Kings 12:16-24), to the time of the impending future judgment of the nation at the hands of Assyria in whom Ahaz had placed his trust, then there will be an even greater violence against Judah from Assyria.
Initially, Judah was under threat from Syria and Israel. They invaded and attempted a failed siege against Jerusalem. They returned a year later as a result of Ahaz's continued and growing wickedness, and again laid siege against the city. Tens of thousands were killed or taken captive, 2 Chron. 28.
From this second seige, Ahaz stripped the temple of its treasures and ornaments, and sent them to Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, to induce him to come and defend him from Syria and Ephraim. The consequence of that was that the king of Assyria took advantage of this to bring increasing sufferings on Judah, but he first killed Rezin, and took Damascus; 2 Kings 16:7.
After this, Assyria now controlled both Syria, and the northern kingdom of Israel also called Ephraim. And that set the stage for a more formidable enemy against Judah and Ahaz, and that means even greater hardships and suffering for Judah.
Both enemies of Ahaz are now dead as promised, but instead of relying on God, Ahaz rejected God and as a result, will now have an even greater and far more dangerous enemy.
When you continually reject Gods will, then the difficulties in your life will continue to increase against you until you either change your ways and turn to that which is right and expected of you, or until your death, in which case you will lose far, far more than you realize or expect.
Escaping your difficulties through death or by some other means, namely drugs or alcohol for example, is never an escape, for the price of that escape will affect your entire eternal future, and that is a huge price to pay, when simply complying with Gods will, will produce certain and guaranteed blessings, far greater that you can begin to imagine.
Nevertheless, during the time of your rejection, you will indeed experience suffering in whatever appropriate form God deems for you, so that you can either reform your thinking, or demonstrate your utter stubbornness toward change.
A wise person will yield to suffering and change.
A fool will maintain their stubbornness and simply refuse to learn even as their losses pile up.
To receive notice of each days Bible Study, please go to my twitter page and sign up.
