The accession of Ahaz to the throne brought Isaiah and his associates face to face with conditions more appalling than any that had hitherto existed in the realm of Judah. Many who had formerly withstood the seductive influence of idolatrous practices were now being persuaded to take part in the worship of heathen deities. Princes in Israel were proving untrue to their trust; false prophets were arising with messages to lead astray; even some of the priests were teaching for hire. Yet the leaders in apostasy still kept up the forms of divine worship and claimed to be numbered among the people of God.
(PK 322.1)
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The prophet Micah, who bore his testimony during those troublous times, declared that sinners in Zion, while claiming to “lean upon the Lord,” and blasphemously boasting, “Is not the Lord among us? none evil can come upon us,” continued to “build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity.”Micah 3:11, 10. Against these evils the prophet Isaiah lifted his voice in stern rebuke: “Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto Me? saith the Lord.... When ye come to appear before Me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread My courts?”Isaiah 1:10-12.
(PK 322.2)
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