2 Kings 16

2 Kings 16:2

AHAZ REIGNS OVER JUDAHPekah reigned twenty years before he was murdered. In the seventeenth year of Pekah’s reign in Israel, Ahaz began his reign as king of Judah. Ahaz was not a good king.

2 Kings 16:4

He walked in the wicked ways of the kings of Israel. He did the terrible thing of offering children as sacrifices to heathen godsprobably to Merodach (Marduk) or to Baal. This practice was about as low as a person could sink spiritually, and this is the thing Ahaz did. We are told that he “sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree.” In other words, Ahaz went the whole route into idolatry and pagan and heathen worship.

2 Kings 16:5

In the prophecy of Isaiah, chapter 7, there is an extended section on this. It is a very important section, because in it is the prophecy of the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. Isaiah is prophesying to this man Ahaz who will not listen to God. So Isaiah challenges him to trust God. Then Ahaz appeals to Assyria for help. This opens the door for Assyria to come down and ultimately take the northern kingdom into captivity.

2 Kings 16:6

“Unto this day” means, of course, up to the time that this record was written. In this verse the word Jew is used for the first time in the Bible. There are those who hold that Jew applies only to those of the tribe of Judah. However, notice that here it refers to folk in the northern kingdom of Israelin fact, up on the border of Syria. As we shall see, all twelve tribes were given that name.

2 Kings 16:7

And so the Assyrians are bribed. They come to Ahaz’ aid first by attacking Damascus in Syria and then by taking the city.

2 Kings 16:10

He wanted this altar copied and erected in the temple of God. All the while Isaiah was prophesying to him and against him for what he was doing.

2 Kings 16:17

Ahaz is showing his utter disrespect for the temple of the true and living God.

2 Kings 16:18

Ahaz mutilated the house of God and seems to have stripped it of its elaborate ornamentation. The chapter concludes with the death of Ahaz and the record of the fact that his son Hezekiah reigned after him. It is an amazing thing that a godless man like Ahaz would have a son like Hezekiah, the story of whose reign we shall see in a following chapter.