2 Kings 16--Ahaz Reigns in Judah

2 Kings 16
English Standard Version

Ahaz Reigns in Judah
16 In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, Ahaz the son of Jotham, king of Judah, began to reign. 2 Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in the eyes of the LORD his God, as his father David had done, 3 but he walked in the way of the kings of Israel. He even burned his son as an offering, according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel. 4 And he sacrificed and made offerings on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree.

5 Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to wage war on Jerusalem, and they besieged Ahaz but could not conquer him. 6 At that time Rezin the king of Syria recovered Elath for Syria and drove the men of Judah from Elath, and the Edomites came to Elath, where they dwell to this day. 7 So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and rescue me from the hand of the king of Syria and from the hand of the king of Israel, who are attacking me.” 8 Ahaz also took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the LORD and in the treasures of the king's house and sent a present to the king of Assyria. 9 And the king of Assyria listened to him. The king of Assyria marched up against Damascus and took it, carrying its people captive to Kir, and he killed Rezin.

10 When King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, he saw the altar that was at Damascus. And King Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest a model of the altar, and its pattern, exact in all its details. 11 And Uriah the priest built the altar; in accordance with all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, so Uriah the priest made it, before King Ahaz arrived from Damascus. 12 And when the king came from Damascus, the king viewed the altar. Then the king drew near to the altar and went up on it 13 and burned his burnt offering and his grain offering and poured his drink offering and threw the blood of his peace offerings on the altar. 14 And the bronze altar that was before the LORD he removed from the front of the house, from the place between his altar and the house of the LORD, and put it on the north side of his altar. 15 And King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest, saying, “On the great altar burn the morning burnt offering and the evening grain offering and the king's burnt offering and his grain offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their grain offering and their drink offering. And throw on it all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the sacrifice, but the bronze altar shall be for me to inquire by.” 16 Uriah the priest did all this, as King Ahaz commanded.

17 And King Ahaz cut off the frames of the stands and removed the basin from them, and he took down the sea from off the bronze oxen that were under it and put it on a stone pedestal. 18 And the covered way for the Sabbath that had been built inside the house and the outer entrance for the king he caused to go around the house of the LORD, because of the king of Assyria. 19 Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 20 And Ahaz slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David, and Hezekiah his son reigned in his place.

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It's been a while since we've seen an entire chapter dedicated to only one king.  That's what we have today as we discuss Ahaz, son of Jotham, king of Judah.  He came to the throne in the 17th year of Pekah, son of Remaliah, king of Israel.  Ahaz came to the throne when he was 20 years old, and he reigned 16 years in Jerusalem.

Ahaz was not a good king, but instead the text tells us that he was just like the kings of Israel, worshiping the false gods that they worshiped and leading the people that he led into the worship of idols.  We read something new about him that we haven't read about any kings before him, not even from the kings of Israel.  Ahaz practiced child sacrifice offering his own son as a burnt offering to the gods that he worshiped (most likely Molech, for that is one of the gods that required child sacrifice by burnt offering).  Ahaz worshiped and made sacrifices in all the high places and the groves of trees that were used for these pagan practices.

It's not surprising that the LORD used other nations to judge Judah at this time and Syria and Israel joined forces to make war with Judah, and they marched on Jerusalem, its capital city.  While the LORD did not allow Jerusalem to fall into the hands of the Syrians or the northern kingdom of Israel, he did allow the Syrians to take the city of Elath, and it was given to the Edomites by the Syrians as a place for the Edomites to live.  Ahaz saw that he was outnumbered, so he cried to the king of Assyria for help promising to be both a servant and a son to Assyria if Assyria would come and rescue Judah from the hand of Syria and Israel.

As is typical for these pagan kings that put their trust in kinetic warfare and didn't put their hope or trust in the LORD, Ahaz took all the silver and gold from the LORD's treasury and his own treasury) and sent it along with his messengers as a present to the king of Assyria.  The king of Assyria listened to Ahaz and waged war against Damascus, the capital city of Syria, carrying the people of Damascus away as captives, and putting the king of Syria to death.

King Ahaz then went to Damascus to meet the king of Assyria (apparently he was there on a victory tour), and Ahaz saw the altar there in Damascus and wanted an exact copy of it for himself in Jerusalem, so he sent instructions to the priest (probably referring to the high priest at the time) to make it for him, and the priest did exactly as he was instructed.  Then, when the king of Assyria came to visit Ahaz in Jerusalem, he saw the altar that Ahaz had built and he offered sacrifices on it.  Not only did Ahaz build this altar to the false god he was worshiping, but he had the bronze altar of the LORD removed from its place, and ordered that this "great altar" that he ordered the priest to build be used for the morning offerings, evening grain and drink offerings, and that the blood of the peace offerings be thrown against this altar (all these were things that the Bronze Altar was designated for).  However, the king didn't want the Bronze Altar completely removed from the Temple--he just moved it aside but kept it around in case he ever needed to go there to make inquiry.  That is, he knew that there were times that he would still need to pray to the LORD, and he expected the LORD to answer him if he went and prayed at the Bronze Altar.  Making intercession is something the priest was to do in the Holy Place at the Altar of Incense though--Ahaz is all messed up here thinking that he can come to God any way he wants, any time he wants, and God has to answer him even if he doesn't worship the LORD or talk to Him unless he wants something.  That sounds a lot like people today.

Ahaz also took away the Bronze Basin that was used for the priests to wash their hands and feet before and after making sacrifices, and he wouldn't use the path that had been made for him to go directly from his palace to the Temple (my guess is that this was actually a tunnel that went from the palace to the Temple that provided cover from the elements as well as security for the king, and it made sure that he didn't have to travel further than necessary on the Sabbath).  However, Ahaz wouldn't take this direct route to the Temple because he insisted on taking the long way around because of the king of Assyria (I think this implies that he did this to show the king of Assyria that he did not obey the Sabbath laws, and he did this to impress the king of Assyria).

We can read more about Ahaz in the book of 2 Chronicles 28.  He too dies and is buried among the kings of Judah, and his son Hezekiah will reign in his place.  If that name sounds familiar to you, it's because he stands in stark contrast to his father, but we won't get to his story until chapter 18, because we'll spend chapter 17 talking about what's going to happen in Israel, as it is time for judgment to come upon them.