Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
2 Kings 16:7-11
The Appeal Of Ahaz To Tiglath-pileser III, King Of Assyria, And His Total Submission To Him In Both Word And Behaviour (2 Kings 16:7).
Having expressed his unwillingness to rely on YHWH Ahaz had no alternative but to turn to the King of Assyria as the only one powerful enough to help him. As the servant and ‘son' of YHWH he should, of course, have looked to YHWH. But instead he voluntarily transferred his loyalty to Tiglath-pileser and the gods of Assyria. He thereby ceased to be YHWH's servant and son, openly confessing himself as the servant and son of the king of Assyria, and thus forfeited any claim on the Davidic covenant. While his appeal was outwardly successful it was at great cost. Judah lost its independence and became a vassal state of Assyria, all its treasures were transferred to the Assyrian treasury, and Judah had to introduce into YHWH's Temple symbols of the god of Assyria who would have to be paid due honour, at least by the king and his leading courtiers.
a And Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son, come up, and save me out of the hand of the king of Aram, and out of the hand of the king of Israel, who rise up against me (2 Kings 16:7).
b And Ahaz took the silver and gold which was found in the house of YHWH, and in the treasures of the king's house, and sent it for a present to the king of Assyria (2 Kings 16:8).
c And the king of Assyria listened to him, and the king of Assyria went up against Damascus, and took it, and carried its people captive to Kir, and slew Rezin (2 Kings 16:9).
b And king Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, and saw the altar which was at Damascus, and king Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest the fashion of the altar, and the pattern of it, according to all its workmanship (2 Kings 16:10).
a And Urijah the priest built an altar, according to all that king Ahaz had sent from Damascus, so did Urijah the priest make it against the coming of king Ahaz from Damascus (2 Kings 16:11).
Note that in ‘a' Ahaz surrendered his position as son of David and ‘son' of YHWH in favour of being the ‘son' of the king of Assyria (2 Samuel 7:14; Psalms 2:7), and in the parallel he surrendered the Temple, either to the kings and gods of Assyria, or to the gods of Aram (2 Chronicles 28:22). In ‘b' Ahaz sent a present to the king of Assyria as an act of submission, and in the parallel he himself submitted to the king of Assyria. Centrally in ‘c' the king of Assyria dealt with Aram on his behalf.
‘And Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son, come up, and save me out of the hand of the king of Aram, and out of the hand of the king of Israel, who rise up against me.'
This abject message from Ahaz to Tiglath-pileser finally confirmed his refusal to look to YHWH for help. Instead of pleading with YHWH on the basis of his sonship (2 Samuel 7:14; Psalms 2:7) and as ‘the son of David' (on the basis of the Davidic covenant), he submitted to Tiglath-pileser by describing himself as his ‘servant and son'. In the passage Tiglath-pileser is only named here and in 2 Kings 16:10 where Ahaz made his personal submission, otherwise he is ‘the king of Assyria. This emphasises the personal nature of his submission in this letter. There is here a clear transfer of his loyalty from YHWH to the king and gods of Assyria. And it is to Tiglath-pileser that he appeals as his saviour (‘save me' - compare 2 Kings 13:5) against the kings of Aram and Israel who are attacking him.
Communications between kings by means of letters sent by the hands of messengers are well attested at this time, especially with regard to Assyria.
This submission may well have been made while he was co-regent but in total control because his father, who died at a relatively young age, was ailing According to an Assyrian eponym list Damascus fell in around 732 BC, which was around the time when Ahaz became sole ruler of Judah. Thus his appeal to Assyria must have taken place prior to this, as is confirmed by an Assyrian record of his paying tribute to Tiglath-pileser along with some of Judah's neighbours (which do, however, exclude Israel and Aram).
‘And Ahaz took the silver and gold which was found in the house of YHWH, and in the treasures of the king's house, and sent it for a present to the king of Assyria.'
But it cost Judah dearly, for once again the treasury of Judah was emptied, something which to the author was a constant sign of YHWH's displeasure. Compare 2 Kings 12:18; 2Ki 14:14; 2 Kings 18:15; 2 Kings 24:13; 1Ki 14:6; 1 Kings 15:18. Officially it was given as a ‘present' because it had not been demanded but the king of Assyria would see it as tribute, and as an indication of vassalship. Note how the Temple treasury is regularly paralleled with the treasury in the king's palace. The emphasis is on the emptying of the treasury, not on the Temple.
‘And the king of Assyria listened to him, and the king of Assyria went up against Damascus, and took it, and carried its people captive to Kir, and slew Rezin.'
The king of Assyria responded to his request, probably by continuing to do what he had already intended to do. This verse is very much a summary of that response. He had in fact firstly invaded Philistia as far as the borders of Egypt, then he turned back and invaded Israel, with Pekah being replaced by Hoshea, an exchange which saved Israel from final destruction, and finally he crushed Aram, killing Rezin, and carrying the cream of the people of Aram captive to Kir (in Elam - Isaiah 22:5). The process took some time, but it relieved the pressure on Jerusalem.
‘And king Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, and saw the altar which was at Damascus, and king Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest the fashion of the altar, and the pattern of it, according to all its workmanship.'
As a result of his appeal king Ahaz then had to go to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser in person and make his submission. Such a submission would confirm his vassalship, and would inevitably result in Assyrian gods being required to be introduced into the Temple in Jerusalem. Thus the altar that Ahaz saw in Damascus may have been an Aramaean one, now ‘converted' to being an altar used for the worship of the Assyrian gods (Damascus had been incorporated within an Assyrian province under Assyrian governors), or it may have been an Assyrian one introduced into Damascus by the victorious king of Assyria. Either way it was the one of which he was required to introduce a copy into the Temple, for part of his obligations under his vassalship would be to introduce an altar, and probably an image, into the Temple as bidden by the king of Assyria, in order that Assyrian gods might be worshipped there, alongside the national God. This would be an acknowledgement of the superiority of the Assyrian gods who had given Assyria dominance over Judah. And presumably the one that he was required to introduce was the one of which he sent details to Urijah the priest. By this means Ahaz had voluntarily brought himself into covenant with Assyria and its gods, and had accepted the king of Assyria as his overlord and ‘father' thus demoting YHWH. He had forfeited the possibility of any help from YHWH.
‘And Urijah the priest built an altar, according to all that king Ahaz had sent from Damascus, so did Urijah the priest make it against the coming of king Ahaz from Damascus.'
Having received his instructions Urijah ‘the Priest' did what was required of him, and built an altar in accordance with Ahaz's specifications, ready for when the king returned. The Temple takeover was in process. In Isaiah 2 Urijah is mentioned as a reliable witness to Isaiah's ‘advertisement' concerning the name of his son, but not necessarily as in favour of Isaiah's position. Here he is depicted as meekly submitting to what he knew to be wrong. (Isaiah would not have done it).