2 Chronicles 28:1-27

13. THE REIGN OF AHAZ (Chapter 28)

TEXT

2 Chronicles 28:1. Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign; and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: and he did not that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah, like David his father; 2. but he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and made also molten images for the Baalim. 3. Moreover he burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burnt his children in the fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom Jehovah cast out before the children of Israel. 4. And he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree.

5. Wherefore Jehovah his God delivered him into the hand of the king of Syria; and they smote him, and carried away of his a great multitude of captives, and brought them to Damascus. 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 a hundred and twenty thousand in one day, all of them valiant men; because they had forsaken Jehovah, the God of their fathers. 7. And Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim, slew Maaseiah the king's son, and Azrikam the ruler of the house, and Elkanah that was next 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 Jehovah was there, whose name was Oded: and he went out to meet the host that came to Samaria, and said unto them, Behold, because Jehovah, the God of your fathers, was wroth with Judah, he hath delivered them into your hand, and ye have slain them in a rage which hath reached 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 even with you trespasses of your own against Jehovah your God? 11. Now hear me therefore, and send back the captives, that ye have taken captive of your brethren; for the fierce wrath of Jehovah 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 ye purpose that which will bring upon us a trespass against Jehovah, to add unto 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 assembly. 15. And the men that have been mentioned 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, unto 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. 18. The Philistines also had invaded the cities of the lowland, and of the South of Judah, and had taken Beth-shemesh, and Aijalon, and Gederoth, and Soco with the towns thereof, and Timnah with the towns thereof, Gimzo also and the towns thereof: and they dwelt there. 19. For Jehovah brought Judah low because of Ahaz king of Israel; for he had dealt wantonly in Judah, and trespassed sore against Jehovah. 20. And Tilgath-pilneser 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 Jehovah, and out of the house of the king and of the princes, and gave it unto the king of Assyria: but it helped him not.
22. And in the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against Jehovah, this same king Ahaz. 23. For he sacrificed unto the gods of Damascus, which smote him; and he said, Because the gods of the kings of Syria helped 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 Jehovah; and he made him altars in every corner of Jerusalem. 25. And in every city of Judah he made high places to burn incense unto other gods, and provoked to anger Jehovah, the God of his fathers. 26. Now the rest of his acts, and 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; for they brought him not into the sepulchres of the kings of Israel: and Hezekiah his son reigned in his stead.

PARAPHRASE

2 Chronicles 28:1. Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king and he reigned sixteen years, in Jerusalem. But he was an evil king, unlike his ancestor King David. 2. For he followed the example of the kings over in Israel and worshiped the idols of Baal. 3. He even went out to the Valley of Hinnom, and it was not just to burn incense to the idols, for he even sacrificed his own children in the fire, just like the heathen nations that were thrown out of the land by the Lord to make room for Israel. 4. Yes, he sacrificed and burned incense at the idol shrines on the hills and under every green tree.

5. That is why the Lord God allowed the king of Syria to defeat him and deport large numbers of his people to Damascus. The armies from Israel also slaughtered great numbers of his troops. 6. On a single day, Pekah, the son of Remaliah, killed 120,000 of his bravest soldiers because they had turned away from the Lord God of their fathers. 7. Then Zichri, a great Warrior from Ephraim, killed the king's son Ma-aseiah and the king's administrator Azrikam, and the king's second-in-command Elkanah.
8. The armies from Israel also captured 200,000 Judean women and children, and tremendous amounts of booty which they took to Samaria. 9. But Oded, a prophet of the Lord, was there in Samaria and he went out to meet the returning army. Look! he exclaimed. The Lord God of your fathers was angry with Judah and let you capture them, but you have butchered them without mercy, and all heaven is disturbed. 10. And now are you going to make slaves of these people from Judah and Jerusalem? What about your own sins against the Lord your God? 11. Listen to me and return these relatives of yours to their homes, for now the fierce anger of the Lord is upon you. 12. Some of the top leaders of Ephraim also added their opposition. These men were Azariah the son of Johanan, Berechiah the son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkaih the son of Shallum, and Amasa the son of Hadlai. 13. You must not bring the captives here! they declared. If you do, the Lord will be angry, and this sin will be added to our many others. We are in enough trouble with God as it is. 14. So the army officers turned over the captives and booty to the political leaders to decide what to do. 15. Then the four men already mentioned distributed captured stores of clothing to the women and children who needed it, and gave them shoes, food, and wine, and put those who were sick and old on donkeys, and took them back to their families in Jericho, the City of Palm Trees. Then their escorts returned to Samaria.
16. About that time King Ahaz of Judah asked the king of Assyria to be his ally in his war against the armies of Edom. For Edom was invading Judah and capturing many people as slaves. 17, 18. Meanwhile, the Philistines had invaded the lowland cities and the Negeb and had already captured Beth-shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, Soco, Timnah, and Gimzo with their surrounding villages, and were living there. 19. For the Lord brought Judah very low on account of the evil deeds of King Ahaz of Israel, for he had destroyed the spiritual fiber of Judah and had been faithless to the Lord. 20. But when Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria, arrived, he caused trouble for King Ahaz instead of helping him. 21. So even though Ahaz had given him the Temple gold and the palace treasures, it did no good.
22. In this time of deep trial, King Ahaz collapsed spiritually. 23. He sacrificed to the gods of the people of Damascus who had defeated him, for he felt that since these gods had helped the kings of Syria, they would help him too if he sacrificed to them. But instead, they were his ruin, and that of all his people. 24. The king took the gold bowls from the Temple and slashed them to pieces, and nailed the door of the Temple shut so that no one could worship there, and made altars to the heathen gods in every corner of Jerusalem. 25. And he did the same in every city of Judah, thus angering the Lord God of his fathers. 26. The other details of his life and activities are recorded in The Annals of the Kings of Judah and Israel. 27. When King Ahaz died, he was buried in Jerusalem but not in the royal tombs, and his son Hezekiah became the new king.

COMMENTARY

Ahaz became king of Judah about 736 B.C. He was in office during the lifetime of Isaiah, the prophet. The great Immanuel prophecy which was so important in Isaiah's ministry (Isaiah, chapter 7). was announced first of all to Ahaz. This king may also have known Hosea and Micah, although no direct reference is made to them. Ahaz was not a good king. He never followed the ideals of David. He turned, instead, to the Baalism that in his day ruined the northern kingdom. Jeroboam, son of Nebat, had set the pattern for the kings of Israel. He did as he pleased with regard to religion and he disregarded the law of Jehovah. Jeroboam set up calf worship (molten images) at Bethel and Dan. This was repetition of what Israel had done at Sinai in Moses-' day. Ahab and Jezebel compounded the troubles of the northern kingdom by bringing in special kinds of Baalism from Phoenicia. There were no limits to Ahaz-' idolatry. The valley of Hinnom bounded Jerusalem on the west and the south. Ahaz desecrated this valley with idol worship. Burning children in the fire describes Molech worship. Solomon, at an earlier time, (1 Kings 11:7-8), had sinned in the same way by the worship of Chemosh and Molech. The god, Molech, has been described as resembling an ox with outstretched human arms and with a built-in furnace. Whether or not a child placed in the arms of this heathen god perished depended on the control of the flames by the priests of Molech. How any man could so deal with his own children or the children of other parents is beyond our understanding. This king of inhuman conduct was one of the main reasons Jehovah drove the native Canaanites from their homeland. High places were special mounds constructed as places of worship. Usually idol worship was practiced in these places. Sometime Jehovah might be worshiped at the high place. The worship of Baal was often practiced on the hills where the devotees could look out over fertile fields supposedly blessed by Baal. Certain features of the worship of Baal and the Asherah (female Baal) could most appropriately be shared under green trees. Sexual intercourse and the employment of priestesses were characteristics of Canaanite worship from earliest times. Ahaz followed his own pleasure in all of these matters.

Jehovah has always judged His own people when they have despised His Word. His judgment may be delayed or it may come quite suddenly. In Ahaz-' day the Syrians attacked Judah and led great number of them away captive. Damascus, the capital of Syria, was about one hundred thirty miles north northeast of Jerusalem. The Israelites of the northern kingdom under their king, Pekah, came against Judah and killed one hundred and twenty thousand people in one day. This was certainly a judgment for Judah. Judgment came even into the King's house with the death of Maaseiah, the king's son, at the hands of the Ephraimite warrior, Zichri. Azrikam and Elkanah, both of whom were very close to king Ahaz, were killed. Ahaz should have understood that Jehovah was not pleased with him.
Not only did Pekah and Israel kill many people in the southern kingdom, they also took two hundred thousand captives. They took whatever goods were available to them and brought prisoners of war and goods back to their main city. Samaria was about thirty five miles north of Jerusalem.

Since the days of Jeroboam I there had been much bitterness between the northern and southern kingdoms of the Hebrews. They often engaged in civil war. Jehovah used Israel at this time to chastise Ahaz; however, Pekah and his people did more than Jehovah intended. The pent-up fury of many years was turned loose. Jehovah intervened in behalf of Judah by sending the prophet, Oded. The slaughter of one hundred twenty thousand of Judah was within Jehovah's will. The captivity and cruel treatment of the two hundred thousand was excessive vengeance. So Oded charged Israel with trespass and warned them that Jehovah would turn His wrath upon them. Wise princes of the tribes of Ephraim, Azariah, Berechiah, Jehizkiah, and Amasa rescued the captives from Judah. Their spoil was restored to them. Their physical needs of food and clothing were provided. Their people who were weak and sick were given attention and the entire army of captives was returned to Jericho and released. Jericho was called the city of palm trees even in Moses-' time (Deuteronomy 34:3). The city was located in the Jordan valley about seven miles above the Dead Sea and about fifteen miles from Jerusalem.

Isaiah urged Ahaz to trust Jehovah (Isaiah, chapter 7). Ahaz stubbornly refused. He faced real trouble in Pekah of Israel and Rezin of Syria. He attempted an alliance with the Assyrians which failed miserably. Ahaz had to contend with the Edomites and the Philistines. Judah's people in the vicinity of Beersheba, Beth-shemesh, and Timnah suffered because of these enemies. Tiglath-pilneser; the Assyrian king, did not keep faith with Ahaz. He took the king's money, but he would not fight Ahaz's enemies. In order to pay the heathen king, Ahaz robbed Jehovah's Temple. Ahaz was a genuine outlaw in his relationship to Jehovah. He dealt wantonly in Judah.
In the days of the Judges when Jehovah's people were terribly oppressed by their enemies because of their sins, the Hebrews finally would repent and Jehovah would send relief. As Ahaz-' troubles increased he compounded his sins by adding to the list of gods he served. He observed that the Syrians had been successful in their military engagements. He reasoned that if he served their gods, his luck might change.[70] He saw a heathen altar in Damascus (2 Kings 16:10). Urijah, the priest at Jehovah's Temple, was ordered to make a Damascus altar. This heathen altar replaced Jehovah's altar in the Temple. In due time Ahaz impoverished the Temple and closed the doors. Idolatrous altars in every corner of Jerusalem and high places in every city of Judah were Ahaz-' most notable building projects. So he lived and so he died. He never repented. He was one of Judah's most wicked kings. His history was written not to honor the king or the people, but to describe his obstinate refusal to do Jehovah's will and to detail the judgment sent by God. Even in his funeral he was given a dishonorable discharge from life's duties. He was buried in Jerusalem, but not in that plot reserved for those who had served Jehovah well. Judah needed a strong and righteous king. By God's grace such a man was to sit in Ahaz-' seat.

[70] Clarke, Adam, A Commentary and Critical Notes, Vol. II, p. 688