Ahaz now becomes king of Judah at the age of twenty and he reigned in Judah from 732 B.C. to 716 B.C. 2 Chronicles 28:1-27. The writer informs us that he did three things wrong as leader and king of Judah.
1. He didn’t walk in the way of David, that is a man after God’s own heart, who was obedient to God, Acts 13:22.
2. He offered his son as a burnt offering to Molech, 1 Kings 11:7 / 2 Kings 3:27, which was condemned by the prophets, 2 Kings 23:10 / Psalm 106:38 / Jeremiah 7:31 / Ezekiel 16:21.
3. He participated in the immoral worship in the high places, although just before he died, he did close the temple hall and suspended the temple worship, 2 Chronicles 28:24.
The kings before him accepted Canaanite worship in the high places, but Ahaz is the first king to actually get involved in it. When we compare the words, ‘under every spreading tree’ used here, with the way Jeremiah uses the phrase over in Jeremiah 3:6, we quickly learn that this phrase is used metaphorically for prostitution, which gives us an insight to the kind of worship Ahaz was involved with.
Rezin and Pekah weren’t successful in their attack against Jerusalem because of the strong fortifications of the city. Although most translations have the word Edomites, some translations use the word Syrians, but it really doesn’t make any difference as to how they are described.
Coffman says the following in his commentary.
‘2 Kings 16:5 here is practically identical with Isaiah 7:1. In fact, Isaiah probably is the author of a great many passages in Kings. From the account in Isaiah we learn the reason for this war against Judah. Syria, mentioned first here, was the leader of a coalition in which they had also enlisted Pekah with a projected purpose of forming a widespread alliance against the rising authority of Assyria. They desperately wanted Judah to join this coalition, and when Ahaz refused, Syria and Israel under Pekah decided to replace Ahaz on the throne of Judah with a man of their own choice, Ben-Tabeel, Isaiah 7:6.’
Cook in his commentary says the following.
‘A large party in Judah were weary of the house of David, Isaiah 7:13, and were ready to join the coalition. Their siege of Jerusalem was for that purpose, but although they inflicted great damage and casualties upon Judah, they could not compel the removal of Ahaz.’
Notice that Ahaz took the gold and silver he found in the temple, throughout Israel’s history, the stores of wealth in Jerusalem were often plundered by foreign kings or used by the kings of Judah to buy the allegiance of foreign powers, 1 Kings 14:26 / 1 Kings 15:18 / 2 Kings 12:18.
Because Tiglath-Pileser killed Rezin, the king of Syria, this meant that the nation of Syria no longer acted like a boundary between Syria and Israel.
Snaith in his commentary says the following.
‘Rezin of Syria-Damascus and Pekah of Israel tried to bully Ahaz into joining their coalition against their common Assyrian overlord. Ahaz called for help from Assyria, buying it with great treasure and was saved from his immediate enemies. Damascus was captured, its people deported, and their king Rezin killed. This was the end of Syrian Damascus as a power. This destruction of Damascus had been prophesied by Amos, Amos 1:3-5.’
Please note that the word translated ‘gift’ in 2 Kings 16:8 is the same word also rendered ‘bribe’. The sad thing concerning Ahaz, is that he could have easily avoided all of this, if he had listened to and took Isaiah’s advice, Isaiah 7:4-25.
Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria and he saw a pagan god altar.
However, he didn’t just like the altar, he went as far as having a copy of it made and placed in the courtyard of the temple in Jerusalem. It’s possible that he is now introducing these foreign gods to Israel as a way of showing his allegiance to the Assyrians and the Syrians.
Notice that Uriah the priest built the altar, he is mentioned as a witness in Isaiah 8:2, but make no mistake about it, by building this altar, he was demonstrating how evil as priest he really was. He should have refused to build it, just as Azariah did when he refused to obey the king, 1 Chronicles 26:17.
The bronze altar was the original bronze altar found within the temple, Exodus 25:40 / Exodus 26:30 / 1 Chronicles 28:19. It wasn’t destroyed as some commentators suggest, Jeremiah 52:17-20, but it appears that all of its purposes were transferred to the new altar designed after Ahaz’s orders.
It appears that the original bronze altar now has second place, in the eyes of Ahaz, he moves it to a place where he can inquire of the Lord, Ezekiel 21:36.
After the death of Ahaz, Hezekiah now becomes king of Judah.
"Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted."