_A.M. 3262. B.C. 742._ The idolatry of Ahaz, 2 Kings 16:1. Being assailed by Rezin and Pekah, he hires Tiglath- pileser against them, 2 Kings 16:5. Causes an altar to be built in the temple, according to the form of one he had seen at Damascus, 2 Kings 16:10. Gives the treasures of the temple to Ti... [ Continue Reading ]
_Ahaz did not that which was right in the sight of the Lord_ Contrary to what might have been expected, considering the good education which, doubtless, Jotham, his pious father, gave him, and the excellent example he set him. _Like David his father_ Or progenitor. It was his honour that he was of t... [ Continue Reading ]
_He walked in the way of the kings of Israel_ Who all worshipped the calves, and were therefore idolaters. He was not joined in any affinity with them, as Jehoram and Ahaziah were with the house of Ahab, but of his own accord and voluntary motion, and, without any instigation, he walked in their way... [ Continue Reading ]
_He sacrificed, &c., in the high places_ If his father had but had zeal enough to take them away, it might have prevented the corrupting of his sons. They that connive at sin, know not what dangerous snares they lay for those that come after them.... [ Continue Reading ]
_But could not overcome him_ Because God, of his own mere grace, undertook the protection of Judah, as he promised to do, and disappointed the designs and hopes of their enemies, Isaiah 7:1. _At that time Rezin recovered Elath_ Took it from the Jews, who had not long been in possession of it, having... [ Continue Reading ]
_So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser_ Having forsaken God, he had neither courage nor strength to make head against his enemies, and therefore made his court to the king of Assyria, and endeavoured to prevail on him to come to his relief. But was it because there was not a God in Israel that... [ Continue Reading ]
_And Ahaz took the silver_, &c. The treasures of the house of the Lord, and of the king's house, had been sent some years before by Jehoash to the king of Syria, 2 Kings 12:18. It seems, however, they had been well replenished again by the piety of his successors, Amaziah, Azariah, and especially Jo... [ Continue Reading ]
_And carried the people of it captive to Kir_ Not Kir of Moab, (Isaiah 15:1,) but a part of Media, which was then subject to the king of Assyria. It is remarkable, that this taking of Damascus, and carrying the inhabitants of it captive to this place, nay, and the slaying of Rezin the king, was expr... [ Continue Reading ]
_And King Ahaz went to meet Tiglath-pileser_ To congratulate his victory, acknowledge his favour and help, and to beg the continuance of it. _And saw an altar that was at Damascus_ Of an excellent structure, as he supposed, upon which the Syrians used to offer to their idols, 2 Chronicles 28:23. _Ah... [ Continue Reading ]
_And Urijah built an altar_, &c. He complied with the king's command against his own conscience, and against the express command of that great God to whom the king and he both were subject. _The priest made it against Ahaz came from Damascus_ He made haste and delayed not to do it, to please the kin... [ Continue Reading ]
_And he burned his burnt-offering_, &c. For the heathen, and Ahaz, in imitation of them, offered the same sorts of offerings to their false gods which the Israelites did to the true. _He brought also the brazen altar_ Namely, the altar of burnt-offerings made by Solomon, and placed there by God's ap... [ Continue Reading ]
_Ahaz commanded, Upon the great altar burn the morning burnt-offering_, &c. He made a solemn injunction, that all the public sacrifices, of what sort soever they were, whether made by himself or by the people, should be constantly offered upon his altar, which he calls _the great altar_, because it... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thus did Urijah the priest_, &c. Having once begun to defile his conscience, he could not now make an honourable retreat, and therefore proceeds to execute all the king's commands.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Ahaz cut off the borders of the bases, and took down the sea from off the brazen oxen_, &c. Probably that he might dispose of them, or of the brass of them, in some other way; perhaps that he might turn them into money, either by casting them into such pieces as were current, or by selling them as... [ Continue Reading ]
_The covert for the sabbath, turned he from the house of the Lord_ There is a great variety of opinions concerning this מוסךְ השׂבת, _musach hahsabbath_, or _covert of_, or _for the sabbath_, here spoken of, and why it is so called. Mr. Locke says, It was something made for the purpose of covering t... [ Continue Reading ]
_And Ahaz slept with his fathers_ Resigning his life in the midst of his days, at thirty-six years of age, and leaving his kingdom to a better man, Hezekiah his son, who proved as much a friend to the temple as Ahaz had been an enemy to it.... [ Continue Reading ]