2 Kings 16
Ahaz ascends the throne of Judah at the age of twenty, heir to a century of Davidic kingship. But where his father Jotham kept the law of the Lord, Ahaz walks in the way of the kings of Israel - and worse. He commits his son to the fire, adopts pagan altars, and when faced with invasion, does not call out to God but sends tribute to Assyria. In his desperation and compromise, we see a king who has forgotten the covenant, forgotten that the Lord is his shield and stronghold. Yet God does not abandon His people. Even as Ahaz refuses to listen, the prophet Isaiah is sent with an offer: ask for a sign, any sign, and I will show you that God is with you. Ahaz refuses the sign. He refuses to trust. But the sign is given anyway: a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and His name shall be called Immanuel - God with us. In this chapter of darkness, we glimpse the Christ.
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2 Kings 16:1-4A King Who Does Evil
1In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah Ahaz the son of Jotham king of Judah began to reign. 2Twenty years old was Ahaz when he began to reign, and reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: and he did not that which was right in the sight of the Lord his God, like David his father. 3But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, yea, and made his son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the heathen, whom the Lord cast out from before the children of Israel. 4And he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree.
Ahaz reigns for sixteen years in Jerusalem - a long reign marked from the beginning by one word: evil. "He did not that which was right in the sight of the Lord his God." This is not a king struggling with weakness or temptation. This is a king who chooses a different path, who abandons the covenant his ancestor David made, who does not seek the Lord.123
Ahaz commits his own son to the fire - a practice associated with worship of Molech, a Canaanite deity to whom children were sacrificed. This is not mere religious confusion. This is the crossing of a terrible line. The king of God's people is now burning his own child as an offering to false gods. The text says he does this "according to the abominations of the heathen, whom the Lord cast out" - Ahaz is walking in the ways of the very nations God removed from the land, the very nations whose practices God has forbidden.
The high places - the hilltop altars where Israel has worshipped false gods since the beginning - continue under Ahaz. He sacrifices and burns incense in these places, and "under every green tree." The language suggests his idolatry is pervasive, visible, woven into the religious fabric of the nation. He is not hiding his apostasy; he is enshrining it.
2 Kings 16:5-9Terror and the Call to Assyria
5Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel came up to war against Jerusalem: and they besieged Ahaz, but could not overcome him. 6At that time Rezin king of Syria recovered Elath to Syria, and drave the Jews from Elath: and the Syrians came to Elath, and dwelt there unto this day. 7So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, I am thy servant and thy son: come up, and save me out of the hand of the king of Syria, and out of the hand of the king of Israel, which rise up against me. 8And Ahaz took the silver and the gold that was found in the house of the Lord, and in the treasures of the king's house, and sent it for a present to the king of Assyria. 9And the king of Assyria hearkened unto him: for the king of Assyria went up against Damascus, and took it, and carried the inhabitants thereof captive to Kir, and slew Rezin.
Rezin, king of Syria, and Pekah, king of Israel, form an alliance against Judah. The two kings lay siege to Jerusalem. The text notes that they "besieged Ahaz, but could not overcome him" - the city held. But Ahaz, terrified, does not trust in the Lord to deliver him. Instead, he reaches for another solution. He will call Assyria.
Pekah represents the northern kingdom of Israel, already compromised and soon to fall. Ahaz sees the crisis as proof that he needs allies, not that he needs God. He does not remember that the Lord is his refuge and strength.
Ahaz empties the treasuries of the temple and the palace to send as tribute to Tiglath-pileser of Assyria. He is literally stripping the house of God to buy military protection from a foreign king. This is not diplomacy; it is desperation. It is also idolatry of a different kind - the worship of power, the belief that security comes from Assyria, not from God. And Tiglath-pileser, true to form, accepts the tribute and moves against Damascus. The military solution works - for now.
This moment - Ahaz's fear and his refusal to trust God - is the context for one of the most beautiful passages in Scripture. At this very moment, the prophet Isaiah is sent to Ahaz with an offer. The Lord will give him a sign. Ask what you will, and the Lord will show you His power. But Ahaz refuses to ask. He refuses to trust. And in that refusal, he misses the sign that God is offering him anyway.
2 Kings 16:10-16The Altar of Damascus
10And king Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria: and when he saw an altar that was at Damascus, king Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest the fashion of the altar, and the pattern of it, according to all the workmanship thereof. 11And Urijah the priest built an altar according to all that king Ahaz had sent from Damascus: so Urijah the priest made it against the coming of king Ahaz from Damascus. 12And when the king was come from Damascus, the king saw the altar: and the king approached to the altar, and offered upon it.
The end approaches, and judgment falls - yet grace finds a remnant.
13And he burnt his burnt offering and his meat offering, and poured his drink offering, and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings, upon the altar. 14And as for the brasen altar that was before the Lord, he brought it from the forefront of the house, and put it on the north side of the altar. 15And king Ahaz commanded Urijah the priest, saying, Upon the great altar burn the morning burnt offering, and the evening meat offering, and the king's burnt sacrifice, and his meat offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their meat offerings, and their drink offerings; and sprinkle upon it all the blood of the burnt offering, and all the blood of the sacrifice: and the brasen altar shall be for me to enquire by. 16Thus did Urijah the priest, according to all that king Ahaz commanded.
Ahaz sees an altar in Damascus - likely a pagan altar serving Assyrian religion. And instead of being repelled, he is drawn. He sends the pattern and design to Urijah the priest and commands him to build a copy. Urijah, whether out of fear of the king or confusion about his role, obeys. A pagan altar is now constructed in the temple of the Lord.
The original bronze altar - the altar that Solomon built, the place where generations of righteous kings have offered sacrifices - is moved to the north side. It is displaced. And Ahaz announces that he will "enquire" by it - that is, use it for divination, for seeking signs through occult means. The sacred has been replaced by the profane.
Urijah is the priest of God, sworn to uphold the law, to protect the sanctity of the temple. Yet he obeys the king. He builds the pagan altar. He presides over its use. The text says, "Thus did Urijah the priest, according to all that king Ahaz commanded." We are not told that Urijah protested, that he pled with the king, that he reminded him of the covenant. He complied. And in that compliance, he became complicit in the desecration of the temple.
2 Kings 16:17-18Plundering the House of God
17And king Ahaz cut off the borders of the bases, and removed the laver from off them; and took down the sea from off the brasen oxen that were under it, and put it upon a pavement of stones. 18And the covert for the sabbath that they had built in the house, and the king's entry without, turned he from the house of the Lord for the king of Assyria.
The laver - the bronze basin used for ritual washing, for the purification of the priests before they offer sacrifice - is removed. It is a practical item, yes, but its removal signals a change in spiritual priority. The temple is no longer a place of sacred ritual and communion with God. It is a place of political accommodation.
The brasen sea - the great bronze vessel that held water for the priests' ablutions - is taken down from the bronze oxen that supported it and placed on a pavement of stones. It is a downgrade, a loss of grandeur, a diminishment of the temple's magnificence. The removal of these vessels suggests that Ahaz is not just introducing new elements; he is also stripping the temple of its glory to meet the demands of his overlord.
The final indignity: the covert for the sabbath - architectural features of the temple itself - are altered or removed "for the king of Assyria." The temple, the house of the Lord, is being remodeled to suit the preferences of Ahaz's political master. Piece by piece, the sacred is being dismantled. The Lord's house has become a vassal's possession, stripped of its holiness to placate a foreign king.
2 Kings 16:19-20The Death of a Faithless King
19Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 20And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David: and Hezekiah his son reigned in his stead.
Ahaz sleeps with his fathers - the phrase that closes a reign - and is buried in the city of David. But he does not rest easily. His name will be remembered as a name of shame, a king who turned from God and led his nation into idolatry. The temple that his ancestor David built has been corrupted. The covenant has been broken.
And yet, immediately after Ahaz comes his son Hezekiah. Where Ahaz walked in darkness, Hezekiah will walk in light. Where Ahaz destroyed the temple, Hezekiah will repair it. Where Ahaz turned to Assyria, Hezekiah will turn to God. The cycle of apostasy and faithfulness that marks the Davidic line continues. One king fails; the next one, given the grace to repent, seeks the Lord.
Further study
- Elisha the ProphetSefariaElisha's ministry of miraculous healing and prophecy succeeding Elijah.
- Elisha: Miracles and MinistryBible Odyssey/SBLElisha's role as prophet in Israel's northern kingdom during the period of decline.
- Archaeology of Northern KingdomIsrael Antiquities AuthorityExcavation evidence for cities and settlements in the northern kingdom of Israel.