For the Lord brought Judah low because of Ahaz king of Israel, for he had encouraged moral decline in Judah and had been continually unfaithful to the Lord. v.19
Read chapter 28
Ahaz is an evil king of Judah. Yet interesting to note that in this verse (v.19) he's called the king of Israel. There are a few different thoughts to why this seemingly mistake: 1.) the translators made an error, 2.) the southern kingdom although called Judah is still Israel as a whole, 3.) because God was with the line of David which is Judah and Ahaz did wicked like the northern tribes, so God calls him king of Israel as to say He was not with him anymore. We see this same occurrence in 2 Chronicles 21:2 of Jehoshaphat who was king of Judah but called king of Israel after he died. Jehoshaphat's end was one of alliance with the king of Israel instead of trusting in God, which causes me to assume the third possibility of why the change of title for both these kings of Judah. Ahaz is described as a leader who had "encouraged moral decline" or in other translations and Hebrew meaning as "dealt loosely" or "allowed to break lose from all restraints." When left to our own desires and no discipline our evil nature will always overpower. When the people have no morals, there is no order, everything is justified by each persons own desires. For example, one person my think that it's ok to molest children, and if there are no morals by which to govern, than that becomes an okay act. Messed up.
How have you seen moral decline in our country and it's effects on governing the nation?
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