2 Chronicles 28

2 Chronicles 28:1

L. King Ahaz (Chap. 28)28:1-4 To get the full story of Ahaz, one should read 2 Kings 16 and Isaiah 7. He was the most wicked king that Judah had yet known, reigning sixteen years in Jerusalem. After Ahaz became king, he wasted no time plunging into idolatry. He chose the evil kings of Israel as his pattern instead of David. Ahaz revived the abominable ritual of child sacrifice in the valley of the Son of Hinnom, outside Jerusalem. The worship of Molech, of which this was a part, had not been practiced since the days of Solomon (1Ki_11:7), but now all forms of idolatry and abominations were widely practiced and encouraged. 28:5-8 Because of this the LORD brought many adversaries against Judah. Isaiah tells us that Rezin, king of Syria, and Pekah, king of Israel, were allies against Jerusalem. They did not succeed in overthrowing the capital city but they did great damage to Judah. The Israelites killed one hundred and twenty thousand . . . men . . . in one day and carried off two hundred thousand people captive. Many noblemen were slain at this time. It was when Ahaz was threatened by Rezin and Pekah that God in grace gave to the house of Israel through him the promise of the virgin-born Immanuel (Isa_7:14). 28:9-15 The Israelites intended to enslave their brethren from Judah, which was forbidden in the Law of Moses, but the Lord sent a prophet to warn them not to do so, for the fierce wrath of the LORD was against them. True, Israel had been God’s instrument of judgment, but their cruelty had been unwarranted. Some of the heads of Ephraim had enough sense to heed Oded the prophet and secure the release of the captives, who were then fully equipped and fed from the spoil, and returned to their land. 28:16-27 At this same time King Ahaz was also troubled by those nations which his fathers had subdued, Edom and Philistia. But rather than turn to the Lord in his extremity, Ahaz turned to the king of Assyria, Tiglath-Pileser. He hired the Assyrians with gold from the temple and the king’s house. The king of Assyria then attacked Syria and killed Rezin in Damascus (2Ki_16:9). When Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-Pileser, he became enamored with the gods of the Syrians (2Ki_16:8-10). Ahaz’s alliance with the king of Assyria proved costly, since Assyria deceived him and exacted heavy tribute.

But his alliance with the idols of Syria proved fatal because it provoked Jehovah to great anger. King Ahaz established idolatry so strongly in Judah that not even good Hezekiah, his son, would be able to root it out. When Ahaz died, he was not . . . buried in the tombs of the kings. Ahaz is called the king of Israel in verse 19. Sometimes the kings of Judah were given this name (see 2Ch_21:2).