2 Chronicles 28:1-27
1 Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: but he did not that which was right in the sight of the LORD, like David his father:
2 For he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and made also molten images for Baalim.
3 Moreover he burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burnta his children in the fire, after the abominations of the heathen whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel.
4 He sacrificed also and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree.
5 Wherefore the LORD his God delivered him into the hand of the king of Syria; and they smote him, and carried away a great multitude of them captives, and brought them to Damascus.b And he was also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel, who smote him with a great slaughter.
6 For Pekah the son of Remaliah slew in Judah an hundred and twenty thousand in one day, which were all valiantc men; because they had forsaken the LORD God of their fathers.
7 And Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim, slew Maaseiah the king's son, and Azrikam the governor of the house, and Elkanah that was nextd to the king.
8 And the children of Israel carried away captive of their brethren two hundred thousand, women, sons, and daughters, and took also away much spoil from them, and brought the spoil to Samaria.
9 But a prophet of the LORD was there, whose name was Oded: and he went out before the host that came to Samaria, and said unto them, Behold, because the LORD God of your fathers was wroth with Judah, he hath delivered them into your hand, and ye have slain them in a rage that reacheth up unto heaven.
10 And now ye purpose to keep under the children of Judah and Jerusalem for bondmen and bondwomen unto you: but are there not with you, even with you, sins against the LORD your God?
11 Now hear me therefore, and deliver the captives again, which ye have taken captive of your brethren: for the fierce wrath of the LORD is upon you.
12 Then certain of the heads of the children of Ephraim, Azariah the son of Johanan, Berechiah the son of Meshillemoth, and Jehizkiah the son of Shallum, and Amasa the son of Hadlai, stood up against them that came from the war,
13 And said unto them, Ye shall not bring in the captives hither: for whereas we have offended against the LORD already, ye intend to add more to our sins and to our trespass: for our trespass is great, and there is fierce wrath against Israel.
14 So the armed men left the captives and the spoil before the princes and all the congregation.
15 And the men which were expressed by name rose up, and took the captives, and with the spoil clothed all that were naked among them, and arrayed them, and shod them, and gave them to eat and to drink, and anointed them, and carried all the feeble of them upon asses, and brought them to Jericho, the city of palm trees, to their brethren: then they returned to Samaria.
16 At that time did king Ahaz send unto the kings of Assyria to help him.
17 For again the Edomites had come and smitten Judah, and carried away captives.e
18 The Philistines also had invaded the cities of the low country, and of the south of Judah, and had taken Bethshemesh, and Ajalon, and Gederoth, and Shocho with the villages thereof, and Timnah with the villages thereof, Gimzo also and the villages thereof: and they dwelt there.
19 For the LORD brought Judah low because of Ahaz king of Israel; for he made Judah naked, and transgressed sore against the LORD.
20 And Tilgathpilneser king of Assyria came unto him, and distressed him, but strengthened him not.
21 For Ahaz took away a portion out of the house of the LORD, and out of the house of the king, and of the princes, and gave it unto the king of Assyria: but he helped him not.
22 And in the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against the LORD: this is that king Ahaz.
23 For he sacrificed unto the gods of Damascus,f which smote him: and he said, Because the gods of the kings of Syria help them, therefore will I sacrifice to them, that they may help me. But they were the ruin of him, and of all Israel.
24 And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God, and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and shut up the doors of the house of the LORD, and he made him altars in every corner of Jerusalem.
25 And in every several city of Judah he made high places to burn incense unto other gods, and provoked to anger the LORD God of his fathers.
26 Now the rest of his acts and of all his ways, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.
27 And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city, even in Jerusalem: but they brought him not into the sepulchres of the kings of Israel: and Hezekiah his son reigned in his stead.
2 Chronicles 28:3. Burnt his children. In 2 Kings 16:3, it is said he made his son “pass through the fire.” The Hebrew term has a double meaning. Sometimes it implies the burning of children in the arms of Moloch till they were consumed, and so it is explained in Ezekiel 16:20. Others made their children pass between two fires, to dedicate them to Moloch. Hence it appears that Ahaz burnt one of his sons, and dedicated all the others by making them pass between the fires. The Talmud has legendary tales here, little worthy of credit.
2 Chronicles 28:5. They smote him. This was an expedition about three years after that mentioned in 2 Kings 16:5; for Ahaz then escaped.
2 Chronicles 28:19. Ahaz king of Israel. The kings of Judah sometimes continued the title of king of Israel, because of the Lord's covenant with David, and because many of the ten tribes still adhered to the house of David.
2 Chronicles 28:22. This… king Ahaz. The silence of Ezra leaves the reader to fill up the dark shades of the portrait.
2 Chronicles 28:23. He sacrificed to the gods of Damascus, which smote him, as he said, and on the same superstitious principle as Amaziah had sacrificed to the gods of Seir, and as Scipio had done before Carthage. See 2 Chronicles 25:14.
2 Chronicles 28:24. Shut up the doors of the house of the Lord. Ahaz had no law for doing this: no king had ever done it before. The priests had lost all soul, and the nation all hope, under a doting monarch mad with superstition. To strip and desecrate the temple of the Lord, was the consummation of folly and of crime.
2 Chronicles 28:27. Ahaz slept they buried him in the city. The French wrote on the equestrian statue of Louis xvth, statua statuæ, the statue of a statue. Another wrote
Voyez notre Roi comme il est à Versailles, Sans vertu, sans loi, sans entrailles.
REFLECTIONS.
Ahaz, corrupted no doubt by some unhappy means, began his reign by apostasy. He was so superstitious as to worship almost every idol known in his country, and in the neighbouring nations. He was the first of bad kings who introduced human sacrifices into Judah, and burnt his son to Moloch, after the manner of the seven nations whom the Lord had expelled before his people. Thus by forsaking the Lord, he cast off the defence and protection of his people; and it is highly probable that Urijah the highpriest contributed not a little to his ruin.
After notorious crimes and grievous wickedness, punishment soon follows. Ahaz had not much time to rejoice in the fire he had kindled, nor to exult in his liberty, after throwing off the yoke of the Lord. Rezin king of Syria gave him a defeat, took Eloth the key to the Indian trade, and carried away a multitude of his people into captivity. Pekah, son of Ramaliah, slew of the best troops of Judah one hundred and twenty thousand in one day, among whom were the kings son, and two of the king's ministers or generals. And had it not been for the persuasive sermon of Oded the prophet, by which he moved the princes of Israel to restore the two hundred thousand captives, Judah had now received a fatal blow. The people had scarcely breathed from these disasters, before Philistia in the west, and Edom in the south, inflicted additional wounds on an apostate people. This is the fruit of leaving God; this is changing masters, and changing religion. Calamities so signal, and visitations so many, must have been sent by a supernatural hand. Yes, the God who gave his people, during the two preseding reigns, every blessing of the covenant, now in this time of apostasy, caused them to inherit all its curses.
Ahaz, mortified and oppressed on every hand, and what is worse, hardened to restless revenge, sent to Tilgath-pilneser king of Nineveh, who was then rising to great power: and when this prince had extended his victorious arms to Damascus, Ahaz went thither to congratulate him on his conquests, and invite him to Jerusalem. The king of Nineveh took all his presents, and marched to Jerusalem, which very much oppressed Judah with expenses, while it afforded them no real help. So it is with men that trust in an arm of flesh, and whose heart departeth from the Lord.
Ahaz, now in bondage to his idols, and tributary to Nineveh; (for the seat of government was not transferred from Nineveh to Babylon till the latter part of Hezekiah's reign) Ahaz corrupted by every crime, instead of seeking divine aid, as other men do in their afflictions, “trespassed yet more against the Lord.” He worshipped all the gods of Nineveh, he filled Jerusalem and the high places of Judah with altars, and shut the doors of the Lord's house. The mania seemed to take fast hold of his soul, to put his country under the protection of the idols of the heathen, to renounce the God of his fathers, and to dare his vengeance. By consequence, if superstition could have saved him, he would have been a happy man. But on the contrary, he was afflicted with a multitude of calamities, and appears to have been wholly abandoned of the Lord to a reprobate mind; for if there be a spark of grace unextinguished in the heart, the blasts of affliction will kindle it to a flame.
This prince is branded in the sacred volume with a name of infamy. “This is that king Ahaz,” who never discovered a single virtue worthy of record, who was guilty of every crime against the Lord, and who brought every calamity on his people. This is that Ahaz whom the Lord sent in anger to Judah, because under the pious reigns of Uzziah and of Jotham, the people would worship corruptly; and this is that Ahaz whom the Lord removed in compassion to his afflicted people. This is, in short, that most wicked Ahaz, who to complete his crimes, most profanely shut the doors of the Lord's house; and thereby, we fear, shut heaven against his own soul, and whose body was justly shut out from the sepulchre of his fathers.