2 Kings 16:18 Kommentar

This chapter is wholly taken up with the reign of Ahaz; and we have quite enough of it, unless it were better. He had a good father, and a better son, and yet was himself one of the worst of the kings of Judah. I. He was a notorious idolater (Kg2 16:1-4). II. With the treasures of the temple, as well as his own, he hired the king of Assyria to invade Syria and Israel (Kg2 16:5-9). III. He took pattern from an idol's altar which he saw at Damascus for a new altar in God's temple (Kg2 16:10-16). IV. He abused and embezzled the furniture of the temple (Kg2 16:17, Kg2 16:18). And so his story ends (Kg2 16:19, Kg2 16:20).

INTRODUCTION TO 2 KINGS 16 This chapter contains the reign of Ahaz only, relates his idolatry, Kg2 16:1 his hiring the king of Assyria with the treasure of the temple, and his own, to assist him against the kings of Israel and Syria, who besieged him, Kg2 16:5, his seeing the altar of an idol at Damascus, the fashion of which he took, and ordered one like it to be built at Jerusalem, Kg2 16:10, his defacing and removing some things in the temple, Kg2 16:17, and the chapter is concluded with his death and burial, Kg2 16:19.

I certainly do not think that he built [the altar] for the God of all things but just for certain of those who are falsely called gods. This is what the book of Chronicles points out. It reads, “In the time of his distress this king Ahaz became yet more faithless to the Lord. For he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus, which had defeated him, and said, “Because the gods of the kings of Aram helped them, I will sacrifice to them so that they may help me.” But they were the ruin of him and of all Israel.” And this is also signified by the next verse: “Ahaz gathered together the utensils of the house of God and cut in pieces the utensils of the house of God. He shut up the doors of the house of the Lord and made himself altars in every corner of Jerusalem.” He did these and other similar things, as is also confirmed in the book of Chronicles: “When King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria, he saw the altar that was at Damascus. King Ahaz sent to the priest Uriah a model of the altar, and its pattern, exact in all its details.” He removed the genuine altar of bronze, which Solomon had built, and put in its place another one recently made. And what happened to the stands is revealed by what follows: “King Ahaz cut off the frames of the stands,” the text says, “and removed the laver from them.” And he even dared to commit another act of impiety: he moved the entrance of the royal house into the divine temple, transforming the sacred enclosure into a thoroughfare.

Ahaz begins to reign, acts wickedly, and restores idolatry in Judea, Kg2 16:1-4. Rezin, king of Syria, besieges Jerusalem, but cannot take it; he takes Elath, and drives the Jews thence, Kg2 16:5, Kg2 16:6. Ahaz hires Tiglath-pileser against the king of Syria and the king of Israel, and gives him the silver and gold that were found in the treasures of the house of the Lord, Kg2 16:7, Kg2 16:8. Tiglath-pileser takes Damascus and slays Rezin, Kg2 16:9. Ahaz goes to meet him at Damascus: sees an altar there, a pattern of which he sends to Urijah, the priest; and orders him to make one like it, which he does, Kg2 16:10-15. He makes several alterations in the temple; dies; and Hezekiah his son reigns in his stead, Kg2 16:16-20.

And the covert for the Sabbath - There are a great number of conjectures concerning this covert, or, as it is in the Hebrew, the מוסך musach, of the Sabbath. As the word, and others derived from the same root, signify covering or booths, it is very likely that this means either a sort of canopy which was erected on the Sabbath days for the accommodation of the people who came to worship, and which Ahaz took away to discourage them from that worship; or a canopy under which the king and his family reposed themselves, and which he transported to some other place to accommodate the king of Assyria when he visited him. Jarchi supposes that it was a sort of covert way that the kings of Judah had to the temple, and Ahaz had it removed lest the king of Assyria, going by that way, and seeing the sacred vessels, should covet them. If that way had been open, he might have gone by it into the temple, and have seen the sacred vessels, and so have asked them from a man who was in no condition to refuse them, however unwilling he might be to give them up. The removing of this, whatever it was, whether throne or canopy, or covered way, cut off the communication between the king's house and the temple; and the king of Assyria would not attempt to go into that sacred place by that other passage to which the priests alone had access.

AHAZ' WICKED REIGN OVER JUDAH. (2Ki. 16:1-16) Ahaz . . . did not that which was right in the sight of the Lord--[See on Ch2 28:1.] The character of this king's reign, the voluptuousness and religious degeneracy of all classes of the people, are graphically portrayed in the writings of Isaiah, who prophesied at that period. The great increase of worldly wealth and luxury in the reigns of Azariah and Jotham had introduced a host of corruptions, which, during his reign, and by the influence of Ahaz, bore fruit in the idolatrous practices of every kind which prevailed in all parts of the kingdom (see Ch2 28:24).

the covert for the Sabbath--the portico through which the priests entered the temple on the Sabbath. the king's entry without--a private external entrance for the king into the temple. The change made by Ahaz consisted in removing both of these into the temple from fear of the king of Assyria, that, in case of a siege, he might secure the entrance of the temple from him. Next: 2 Kings Chapter 17

Reign of King Ahaz of Judah - 2 Kings 16 With the reign of Ahaz a most eventful change took place in the development of the kingdom of Judah. Under the vigorous reigns of Uzziah and Jotham, by whom the earthly prosperity of the kingdom had been studiously advanced, there had been, as we may see from the prophecies of Isaiah, chs. 2-6, which date from this time, a prevalence of luxury and self-security, of unrighteousness and forgetfulness of God, among the upper classes, in consequence of the increase of their wealth. Under Ahaz these sins grew into open apostasy from the Lord; for this weak and unprincipled ruler trod in the steps of the kings of Israel, and introduced image-worship and idolatrous practices of every kind, and at length went so far in his ungodliness as to shut up the doors of the porch of the temple and suspend the temple-worship prescribed by the law altogether. The punishment followed this apostasy without delay. The allied Syrians and Israelites completely defeated the Judaeans, slew more than a hundred thousand men and led away a much larger number of prisoners, and then advanced to Jerusalem to put an end to the kingdom of Judah by the conquest of the capital. In this distress, instead of seeking help from the Lord, who promised him deliverance through the prophet Isaiah, Ahaz sought help from Tiglat-pileser the king of Assyria, who came and delivered him from the oppression of Rezin and Pekah by the conquest of Damascus, Galilee, and the Israelitish land to the east of the Jordan, but who then oppressed him himself, so that Ahaz was obliged to purchase the friendship of this conqueror by sending him all the treasures of the temple and palace. - In the chapter before us we have first of all the general characteristics of the idolatry of Ahaz (Kg2 16:2-4), then a summary account of his oppression by Rezin and Pekah, and his seeking help from the king of Assyria (Kg2 16:5-9), and lastly a description of the erection of a heathen altar in the court of the temple on the site of the brazen altar of burnt-offering, and of other acts of demolition performed upon the older sacred objects in the temple-court (Kg2 16:10-18). The parallel account in 2 Chron 28 supplies many additions to the facts recorded here.