As I read through the story of the Kings of Judah and Israel I am struck by how much a shadow King David casts on all these Kings. Each King is compared to David. Did the King follow the ways of their father David or did the King not act like David? David seems to be the plum line by which all of these Kings are judged.
So what was so special about David? I think we can think of a couple things. 1) David was special because he was the anointed King. We remember the Prophet Samuel going to Jesse the father of David and asked to see all the sons. Samuel sees all the sons but none of them were the chosen one. Jesse calls his young, ruddy shepherd boy from the field. David was the special King because God chose him and God covenanted with David. We remember that God promised to make David's Kingdom last forever. 2) David was special because he led a life of faith. We remember his speech before the dirty philistines. "Who are you to defy, my God!" 3) David was also a man after God's own heart. This means that David was a repentant King. He was not perfect. OBVIOUSLY. But David did desire and actually did live a righteous life. Whenever David sinned, he called out in Psalm 51 that again God, and God only did he sin. David was a repenting King.
So here we read of King Ahaz and the writer of Chronicles says that he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as his father David had done. So we see here that David is the standard and David's standard was God's law. As each King fails, you can hear the hope and wonder of who is this King whose Kingdom will last forever. We have this same hope. Our hope is in King Jesus who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. We don't have to wonder how he will put all the nations under his feet. He already accomplished this at the cross and he is moment by moment and day by day doing this. He is reining right now. He is our good and eternal King whose Kingdom will last forever.