2 Kings 16:18

And the covert[R.V. the covered way] for the sabbath The noun, which occurs nowhere else, signifies some colonnade along which the king could pass when on the sabbath he went to the temple. It is not mentioned in the description of the temple building, and must have been added afterwards, and most likely was richly adorned.

that they had built in the house i.e. in the temple court, not in the interior of the temple-building.

and the king's entry without This is perhaps the -ascent" mentioned 2 Chronicles 9:4 and which called forth the great admiration of the queen of Sheba. We may be sure it was made as beautiful as Solomon's workmen and wealth could make it. This was outside the temple precincts but perhaps was closely joined to the covered way before mentioned so that the whole of the king's progress might be made in private.

turned hefrom [R.V. unto] the house of the Lord There is considerable difficulty in this clause. One thing however is clear, that -from" cannot be correct. The accusative is the case of direction, and there is no preposition expressed in the original. Hence -unto" must be the sense. The A.V. seems to have intended to describe the removal or alteration of these two passages so as to separate them from the temple, the R.V., which gives in the margin -round", appears to imply that both the erections, the one from the palace to the temple area, the other within the court, were brought into closer proximity to the temple-building. But the verb rendered -turned" signifies -changed" also, and it seems not unlikely that it refers to an alteration made in these colonnades similar to that which had been made with the bases and the brasen sea. From them all the decorative portion had been taken away lest it should excite the cupidity of the Assyrian. And in the richly decorated ascent and covered way a like dismantling took place and for a like reason. If this be the sense, then -unto the house of the Lord" must be taken as an adverbial clause explaining that the removal of ornaments and gold took place throughout the whole length, even up to the very temple building.

for[R.V. because of] the king of Assyria The preposition=literally -from the face of" is a form constantly employed after verbs of fleeing (Genesis 16:8), of seeking help (Isaiah 19:20) and so of fearing, humbling oneself, trembling, &c. This is its sense here. Ahaz did what he did, because he was fearful that otherwise the Assyrian king would seize on all that was choicest. The tribute already claimed had doubtless been large, and the subject monarch though glad of his deliverance from Rezin and Pekah, felt that the drain on his resources ought to be allowed to extend no farther, if he could prevent it. We need not suppose that Tiglath-pileser was about to come in person to visit Jerusalem. His emissaries were sure to be there, and the report of existing treasure was sure to give rise to enlarged demands.