LETTERS FROM OUR READERS

This story is scary, especially the part about Molech worship and the strange parties the idol worshippers had. (Brent P., Indianapolis, Indiana)

Idol worship is scary! The boys shouldn’t have gone to the high places at all. Sometimes, like Ezra, we think that we can get away with doing things we know are wrong. But there are consequences to dabbling in evil. Ezra found that out when his friend Hezekiah was almost sacrificed to the evil god Molech.

Unfortunately, people aren’t very different today. They start out doing things they think are innocent, such as reading horoscopes, playing with Ouija boards, or developing a fascination with entertainment that makes the occult look fun. Once they get caught up in these things, it’s easy to get deeper and deeper into it until they’re hooked, just like the Molech worshippers. The Bible tells us to stay away from idols and evil practices (see Deuteronomy 18:10-12; 1 Corinthians 10:14, 20-21; Galatians 5:19-21).

Where can I find this story in the Bible, anyway? (Josh R., Cheyenne, Wyoming)

You’ll find the basis for this story in the book of Isaiah, 2 Chronicles 28, and 2 Kings 16, all in the Old Testament. Isaiah was a prophet who wrote during the reigns of King Ahaz and King Hezekiah, when the Assyrian Empire was expanding into Canaan. Isaiah warned the people about worshipping the Assyrian gods, which didn’t make him very popular. Isaiah had at least two sons, Shear-Jeshub (Isaiah 7:3) and Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz (Isaiah 8:3).

You won’t find any mention of Ezra or his dad, Tola, in the Bible, though. We imagined what it would be like to be a prophet’s kid. What if this boy got tired of everyone expecting him to be supergood, like his father and the prophet Isaiah? What if he was just a bit too curious and wanted to find out if all those stories about idol worship were true? What if he thought nothing bad could happen to him? Maybe you know someone like that.

Did King Ahaz really sacrifice his children to a false god? (Danielle M., Greenville, South Carolina)

Unfortunately, yes. The Bible says, “He [Ahaz] walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and also made cast idols for worshiping the Baals. He burned sacrifices in the Valley of Ben Hinnom and sacrificed his sons in the fire, following the detestable ways of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites” (2 Chronicles 28:2-3).

The boys mentioned the prophecy that says, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given.” They said it was about Hezekiah, but I thought that prophecy was about Jesus. (Justin M., Chicago, Illinois)

Many interpreters of Scripture think that Isaiah’s immediate thoughts were focused on present-day events when he uttered those words. That he really was hoping and expecting that Ahaz’s son would turn around the sad state of affairs that had developed under Ahaz. Many centuries later, we can look back and see that his words had a much larger meaning —a reference point that he himself was perhaps unaware of. Much of Old Testament prophecy is like that. For example, God tells David that his “son” will “build a house” to the Lord’s name, and that his throne or dynasty will never end (2 Samuel 7). The obvious immediate reference is to Solomon and the temple. But in the long run, Solomon turned out to be a big disappointment, the temple was destroyed, Judah ceased to be a nation, and the line of her kings failed. So the prophecy must have had some larger reference —to Jesus and the “house” that He would build in the form of His church.

Did Bible-era kids really talk back to their parents the way Ezra did in this story? My parents wouldn’t let me do that, and I don’t even live in Bible times. (Matthew M., Anchorage, Alaska)

Since no one can say exactly how kids acted and spoke back in Bible times, authors have to use their imaginations and what they know about the culture to guess at what life might have been like. Kids tend to be the same in any time period, so maybe they disobeyed sometimes and talked back to their parents. No matter what culture or era we live in, though, God wants us to respect our parents and others. (See Leviticus 19:3; 1 Peter 2:17.)

It seems like many of the kings of Israel and Judah worshipped false gods. How about Hezekiah? What happened when he grew up? (Kyle H., Toledo, Ohio)

He’s called “good King Hezekiah” for a reason. In 2 Kings 18:5-6, it says, “Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him. He held fast to the LORD and did not cease to follow him; he kept the commands the LORD had given Moses.” It also says that he removed the high places and the Asherah poles and broke up the sacred stones and the bronze snake Moses had made. You can read the story of Hezekiah’s reign in 2 Kings 18–20 and 2 Chronicles 29–32.