King Ahaz of Judah was a notably bad and faithless ruler. He encouraged idolatry to the point of having images cast of the Baals; he had some of his own sons burned alive as child sacrifices; he traveled to all the villages to take part in all the local fertility rituals (II Chronicles 28:1-4).

“Therefore the Lord his God gave him into the hand of the king of Aram, who defeated him and took captive a great number of his people … He was also given into the hand of the king of Israel, who defeated him with great slaughter. Pekah son of Remaliah killed one hundred and twenty thousand in Judah in one day, all of them valiant warriors, because they had abandoned the Lord” (28:5-6). Again we notice that a military event is understood by the Chronicler in theological terms: the army of the Judah lost the battle, but the reason they lost was the faithlessness of Ahaz and the people of Judah.

In addition, the victorious warriors of the northern kingdom had captured 200,000 women and children civilians as slaves, and had taken them to Samaria (28:8). Then the Samaritan prophet Oded stood up against the army, declaring that Israel had defeated Judah because God was angry with Judah for its sins: but Israel’s sins were also great, and if they did not let these captives return home, Israel too would experience the fierce wrath of the Lord (28:9-11).

His words were sufficient to persuade several of the chieftains of Ephraim, and they stood and insisted that the captive women and children must be released: and so these civilian captives were escorted back to Judah (28:12-15). We know nothing more about this prophet Oded, yet he stands as one of the heroes of the faith, with the courage to oppose the whole army to persuade them to obey the Lord.

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We give you thanks, O Lord, for those who stand up for your truth, even when they stand alone. Grant me the courage to speak boldly in my turn, even when it seems I might be the only one; and to believe that there may be others who will also speak up if only I will go first.