2 Kings Chapter 16

The Compromise of Ahaz

A. A Summary of the Reign of Ahaz

1. (2 Kings 16:1–2) The disobedience of Ahaz

In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, Ahaz the son of Jotham, king of Judah, began to reign. Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem, and he did not do that which was right in the sight of the LORD his God, like David his father

Explanation

Ahaz enters the biblical record as one of the darkest figures in Judah’s royal history. Unlike previous kings who were flawed yet retained some loyalty to the LORD, Ahaz rejected the covenantal heritage of David completely. His rebellion was not a matter of small failures or incomplete reforms. Scripture states that he did not do what was right in the sight of the LORD, an indictment that marks him as a willful apostate. He had the influence of a godly father in Jotham and the towering example of David, yet he turned away from both. His reign begins the final spiritual collapse of Judah that will culminate in the Babylonian captivity.

Ahaz’s failure demonstrates a theological reality repeatedly affirmed in Scripture, that personal lineage or religious heritage cannot substitute for genuine obedience and repentance. The covenant blessings tied to the Davidic throne did not give Ahaz immunity from divine judgment.

Notes on Key Phrases

a. “He did not do that which was right in the sight of the LORD”

This is the same language used for the wicked kings of Israel, showing Ahaz is spiritually aligned with the northern apostates rather than with the faithful kings of Judah.

This moral indictment parallels the principle stated in Proverbs 14:34,
“Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.”

Ahaz’s life is the embodiment of this truth. His disobedience lowered the moral and political standing of Judah and triggered divine chastening.

It also recalls the LORD’s evaluation in 2 Chronicles 28:22,
“And in the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against the LORD, this is that king Ahaz.”
Even under discipline, he hardened his heart instead of turning to the LORD.

b. “As his father David had done”

David provides the covenantal standard for all kings of Judah. Ahaz stands in direct opposition to that standard.

David’s heart for God is described in 1 Kings 15:5,
“Because David did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.”

A biblical theology of kingship makes the comparison clear. David set the pattern that righteousness brings blessing, whereas wicked kings like Ahaz bring judgment.

Ahaz stands outside the Davidic pattern, choosing idolatry instead of covenant faithfulness. His reign foreshadows the coming downfall of Judah, which will be fulfilled in the exile described in 2 Kings 24–25.

2. (2 Kings 16:3–4) The idolatry of Ahaz

But 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. And he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree

Explanation

Ahaz not only rejected the righteous pattern of David, he openly embraced the apostasy of the kings of the Northern Kingdom. Where Judah’s kings often tolerated high places out of compromise, Ahaz moved directly into full-scale paganism. He adopted the worship of Molech, committing the horrific act of child sacrifice, a sin expressly condemned under the Mosaic Law. He practiced idolatry everywhere, in high places, on hills, and beneath trees. This universal spread of idolatry reveals how deeply his heart was devoted to pagan worship.

Theologically, Ahaz represents a ruler who intentionally reverses the covenant identity of Judah. Instead of separating himself from the nations, he imitates them. Instead of leading Judah toward the LORD, he leads Judah toward the exact sins for which God destroyed the Canaanites.

This is more than personal wickedness. It is covenant rebellion. In the language of Deuteronomy, Ahaz “forsook the LORD,” aligning himself with the nations that God judged. His actions reflect demonic influence behind pagan worship, consistent with 1 Corinthians 10:20,
“But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God.”

Notes on Key Phrases

a. “He walked in the way of the kings of Israel”

This is the first time in Judah’s history that a Davidic king deliberately imitates the apostasy of the northern tribes. Israel under Jeroboam established a counterfeit religion to keep the people from going to Jerusalem. Ahaz goes further. He imports their corruption into Judah.

This fulfills the warning of Psalm 1:1,
“Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly.”
Ahaz walked in their counsel and received their judgment.

b. “He made his son to pass through the fire”

This refers to the worship of Molech, a demonic deity whose rites involved child sacrifice.

God condemned this practice with absolute severity in Leviticus 20:2–3,
“Again, thou shalt say to the children of Israel, Whosoever he be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, that giveth any of his seed unto Molech, he shall surely be put to death. And I will set my face against that man, and will cut him off from among his people.”

Ahaz defied this command outright. His actions resembled the nations God destroyed, proving that judgment would eventually fall on Judah as well.

The barbarity is described again in Jeremiah 7:31,
“And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart.”

This is the same valley that later became a symbol of final judgment, Gehenna, the picture Christ uses for hell.

c. “According to the abominations of the heathen”

This phrase roots Ahaz’s sins in the longstanding paganism of Canaan. The destruction of the Canaanites in Joshua’s day was a judicial act of God based on their wickedness, not on ethnic identity.

God explained this clearly in Deuteronomy 9:4,
“Speak not thou in thine heart, after that the LORD thy God hath cast them out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness the LORD hath brought me in to possess this land, but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD doth drive them out from before thee.”

Ahaz revived these same abominations within Judah. He reversed the spiritual separation God commanded, guaranteeing eventual judgment.

d. “Under every green tree”

This phrase refers to idolatrous fertility rituals practiced in lush, wooded places. The prophets repeatedly condemned this practice.

Isaiah 57:5 describes it,
“Enflaming yourselves with idols under every green tree, slaying the children in the valleys under the clifts of the rocks.”

Ahaz imported these rituals into Judah, corrupting the land with paganism from border to border.

B. Ahaz Makes Judah a Subject Nation to Assyria

1. (2 Kings 16:5–6) The attack of the Israeli–Syrian confederation

Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to war, and they besieged Ahaz, but could not overcome him. At 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

Explanation

Ahaz’s reign quickly comes under divine chastening. The LORD allows the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the kingdom of Syria to form a confederation against Judah. Their purpose was not merely territorial expansion. According to Isaiah 7, their goal was regime change. They intended to overthrow the Davidic king, place a puppet ruler on the throne, and thereby remove the Messianic line. This assault was not merely political. It was Satanically inspired opposition against the covenant promise that the Messiah would come through the line of David.

Judah suffered devastating losses. According to 2 Chronicles 28:5–8, more than one hundred twenty thousand soldiers were slain and two hundred thousand civilians were taken captive. The nation stood on the brink of destruction and it appeared, from a human perspective, that the Davidic line might collapse entirely. Yet in the providence of God, Jerusalem remained unconquered. Rezin and Pekah could besiege the city but they could not overcome it. God Himself restrained them in order to preserve the promise He made to David.

In an extraordinary act of divine mercy, God stirred the conscience of leaders in the Northern Kingdom when the prophet Oded rebuked them. The captives were returned to Judah with compassion and provision for their journey. Even in judgment God remembered mercy, and He would not allow the covenant line to be extinguished.

Notes on Key Phrases

a. “Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to war”

This assault was driven by an anti Assyrian agenda. Israel and Syria wanted Judah to join their coalition against Assyria. When Ahaz resisted, they chose to remove him.

Isaiah reveals the fuller intent in Isaiah 7:6,
“Let us go up against Judah, and vex it, and let us make a breach therein for us, and set a king in the midst of it, even the son of Tabeal.”
Their plan was to depose Ahaz and replace him with a puppet ruler aligned with Syria. This was a direct threat to the Messianic promise given to David.

b. “They besieged Ahaz, but could not overcome him”

Though Judah suffered catastrophic losses, God did not permit Jerusalem to fall. This was not because of Ahaz, who was wicked, but because of the LORD’s covenant with David.

God had promised in Psalm 132:11,
“The LORD hath sworn in truth unto David, he will not turn from it, of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne.”

And again in 2 Samuel 7:16,
“And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee, thy throne shall be established for ever.”

Therefore, regardless of Ahaz’s unbelief, the LORD would not allow the Davidic line to be destroyed. The preservation of Jerusalem was an act of divine faithfulness, not human merit.

c. “Recovered Elath to Syria, and drave the Jews from Elath”

Elath was a vital southern port on the Red Sea. Losing it weakened Judah economically and militarily. The occupation of Elath by Syria and its subsequent transfer to the Edomites demonstrated Judah’s vulnerability under Ahaz’s idolatrous leadership.

This fulfilled the principle stated in Deuteronomy 28:25,
“The LORD shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies.”
Ahaz’s rebellion brought divine discipline. The LORD used foreign powers to humble Judah and reveal the emptiness of trusting in idols.

d. The remnant preserved during this crisis

Isaiah’s prophecy during this siege included the famous Immanuel sign, demonstrating that the LORD Himself would preserve the Davidic line until the birth of the virgin born Messiah.

Isaiah 7:14 declares,
“Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign, Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”

This verse is both a rebuke to Ahaz’s unbelief and an affirmation that despite Judah’s failures, God’s redemptive plan cannot be thwarted.

2. (2 Kings 16:7–9) Ahaz Trusts in Assyria

So 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. And Ahaz took the silver and 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. And the king of Assyria hearkened unto him, for the king of Assyria went up against Damascus, and took it, and carried the people of it captive to Kir, and slew Rezin

Explanation

Instead of turning to the LORD for deliverance during the joint invasion of Israel and Syria, Ahaz looked horizontally to Assyria. The prophet Isaiah had confronted him directly and offered divine assurance. God Himself commanded Ahaz to ask for a confirming sign, even to the extent of asking for something supernatural “in the depth, or in the height above.” But Ahaz refused. His refusal was not humility, it was rebellion. He had already purposed in his heart to trust in Tiglath Pileser rather than in the covenant keeping God of Israel.

By sending tribute and by addressing Tiglath Pileser as “my lord,” “my servant,” and “my son,” Ahaz voluntarily placed Judah under foreign domination. This was not merely political submission. It was a theological betrayal that rejected the promises God had given to David. Ahaz stripped the house of the LORD of its silver and gold, treating the sacred vessels of God as bargaining chips in geopolitical strategy. The king of Assyria responded by crushing Damascus and killing Rezin, the Syrian king. Yet this “victory” planted the seed of deeper bondage. Assyria would not be a temporary ally. It would become Judah’s oppressor, and Ahaz’s compromise would haunt the nation long after he was gone.

This section exposes a tragic reality. Ahaz sought salvation from man and not from God. He bought a fleeting deliverance but forfeited spiritual stability and national independence. The king of Assyria could kill Rezin. Only the LORD could save Judah.

Notes on Key Phrases

a. “So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath Pileser king of Assyria”

Isaiah had already confronted Ahaz and commanded him to trust the LORD. God had offered a miraculous sign to strengthen his faith.

Isaiah 7:10–12 says,
“Moreover the LORD spake again unto Ahaz, saying, Ask thee a sign of the LORD thy God, ask it either in the depth, or in the height above. But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the LORD.”
This was false piety. Ahaz did not want a sign because he did not want divine intervention. He had already chosen the king of Assyria as his deliverer.

Ahaz rejected God’s call, and in doing so he rejected the security that only God can give.

b. “I am thy servant and thy son, come up, and save me”

This phrase expressed complete political submission and placed Judah under Assyria’s authority. It was the opposite of what God had called Israel to be.

Compare the humility of a righteous king in
Psalm 18:6,
“In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God, he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears.”

David cried to God for deliverance.
Ahaz cried to Assyria.

Instead of appealing to the LORD, Ahaz appealed to a pagan empire and became its vassal.

c. “Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the LORD”

This was robbery against God. The treasures dedicated to the worship of Yahweh were seized and handed to a pagan king. This anticipates later judgments, because removing the treasures from the temple was always a sign of spiritual decay.

This violates the principle in Exodus 23:22,
“But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries.”
Ahaz forfeited this divine protection and sought an earthly substitute.

d. “The king of Assyria hearkened unto him”

The Assyrian king responded because the tribute was valuable and the political advantage clear. He destroyed Damascus and executed Rezin.

However, Assyria was not Judah’s savior. Ahaz purchased temporary relief at the cost of future bondage. Assyria would later invade Judah in the days of Hezekiah and threaten Jerusalem directly.

e. The theological irony

Ahaz refused to say to the LORD, “I am Your servant, save me,” yet he eagerly said it to Assyria.
The LORD would have delivered Judah fully.
Assyria delivered Judah partially and then enslaved them.

Ahaz achieved a short term victory and long term destruction.

C. Ahaz Perverts Worship at the Temple

1. (2 Kings 16:10–11) He Has a Heathen Altar Made and Set Up in the Temple Court

And king Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath Pileser king of Assyria, and saw an altar that was at Damascus, and king Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest the fashion of the altar, and the pattern of it, according to all the workmanship thereof. And Urijah the priest built an altar according to all that king Ahaz had sent from Damascus, so Urijah the priest made it against king Ahaz came from Damascus.

Explanation

Ahaz went to Damascus not simply to congratulate Tiglath Pileser after his victory over Syria, but to publicly present himself as a loyal vassal. His visit was an act of political surrender and theological compromise. While in Damascus, he became enamored with the pagan altar used in Syrian worship and sent its exact measurements, design, and pattern back to Jerusalem. Urijah the high priest, instead of rebuking the king, cooperated fully and constructed the foreign altar in God’s holy temple courts.

This moment marks one of the darkest turning points in Judah’s worship. The Davidic king commissioned a pagan altar, and the priest of the LORD built it. The temple, designed by God and consecrated by Solomon, now stood defiled by a structure patterned after a demon god. Ahaz was not simply curious about foreign worship. According to Scripture, he believed the pagan gods who defeated him were stronger than Yahweh. In unbelief and apostasy he sought power, victory, and security from idols that could not save.

The corruption moved quickly from the throne to the priesthood. Ahaz’s compromise became Urijah’s compromise. The leaders of Judah adopted foreign methods, pagan design, and idolatrous principles, treating the worship of the LORD as something to be reinvented according to the trends of the nations. What God had established by revelation was replaced by what Ahaz admired by sight.

This is not merely ancient history. It stands as a sober warning: whenever God’s people adopt the world’s patterns, methods, and aesthetics in worship, they inevitably corrupt the purity of their devotion and betray the holiness of God. The gods of Damascus still call to the modern church, and many answer them.

Notes on Key Phrases

a. “Now king Ahaz went to Damascus”

This was not an innocent state visit. It was a formal humiliation before Assyria. In doing so, Ahaz broke the pattern of righteous kings who sought the LORD rather than foreign alliances.

God had already rebuked Ahaz through Isaiah during this crisis.
Isaiah 7:9 says,
“If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established.”
Ahaz refused to believe and therefore could not stand in strength before the pressures of the nations.

b. “And saw an altar that was at Damascus”

Ahaz’s eyes were captured by the beauty, sophistication, or perceived power of a pagan altar. This reveals his heart. He was drawn to what appeared successful rather than to what was true.

2 Chronicles explains Ahaz’s mindset in chilling detail:
2 Chronicles 28:23 says,
“For he sacrificed unto the gods of Damascus, which smote him, and he said, Because the gods of the kings of Syria help them, therefore will I sacrifice to them, that they may help me, but they were the ruin of him, and of all Israel.”
Ahaz believed the victory of Syria meant their gods were stronger than the LORD. Instead of repenting, he switched gods.

c. “King Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest the fashion of the altar”

Ahaz commanded that this pagan altar be reproduced exactly. This reveals how fully his heart turned away from the LORD. He did not merely borrow an idea, he imported another religion.

This parallels the warning given in
Deuteronomy 12:30,
“Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee, and that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise.”
Ahaz did exactly what God prohibited. He studied the worship of the nations and copied it.

d. “Urijah the priest built an altar”

This compromise extended beyond the throne into the priesthood. Urijah, who should have opposed such wickedness, submitted to the king and replicated a pagan altar inside God’s house.

Isaiah later called upon faithful witnesses, and Urijah is named among them:
Isaiah 8:2 says,
“And I took unto me faithful witnesses to record, Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.”
This indicates that even men known for faithfulness can fall when national leadership turns apostate. Spiritual compromise spreads quickly when priests seek the approval of kings more than the approval of God.

e. “Before king Ahaz came back from Damascus”

Urijah built the altar quickly. Instead of resisting evil, he was eager to please the king. This mirrors a broader pattern in Scripture: when wicked rulers rise, weak spiritual leaders often become accomplices.

This stands opposite faithful priestly examples like
Exodus 32:26,
“Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the LORD’S side? Let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him.”
Urijah was no Levi. He chose the king’s side instead of the LORD’s.

2. (2 Kings 16:12–20) Ahaz Directs the Renovation of the Temple Court, Giving Preference to the New Altar

Full KJV Text

And when the king was come from Damascus, the king saw the altar, and the king approached to the altar, and offered thereon. And 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. And he brought also the brasen altar, which was before the LORD, from the forefront of the house, from between the altar and the house of the LORD, and put it on the north side of the altar. And 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 offering, 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. Thus did Urijah the priest, according to all that king Ahaz commanded. And 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. And 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. Now 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? And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David, and Hezekiah his son reigned in his stead.

Explanation

When Ahaz returned from Damascus, he immediately approached the pagan-style altar he had commissioned and personally performed priestly rituals upon it. This was a direct violation of God’s commands, for the king of Judah was forbidden to function as a priest. Ahaz offered burnt offerings, grain offerings, drink offerings, and peace offerings on an altar that God had neither designed nor sanctioned. He treated the pagan altar as superior, moving the original bronze altar of the LORD aside and placing it in a diminished position.

Ahaz’s actions demonstrate the depth of his apostasy. He reordered the worship of Judah through Urijah the priest, commanding that all official sacrifices—including the daily offerings, the king’s personal offerings, and the offerings of the people—be performed on the new heathen altar. The original bronze altar, ordained by God and sanctified by Scripture, was reduced to a personal instrument for Ahaz’s own inquiries, perhaps some syncretistic form of divination.

The king then dismantled temple furnishings, disfiguring Solomon’s sacred architecture. He removed the artistic bronze panels and lavers, lowered the Sea from its position upon the twelve bronze oxen, and reversed structural features intended for Sabbath worship. He modified the king’s outer entrance to accommodate Assyrian preferences. All these changes systematically weakened biblical worship, discouraged reverence for the temple, and demonstrated Ahaz’s complete submission to Assyrian influence.

Ahaz’s reign concludes with the somber note that he died and was buried in Jerusalem, but without honor. His actions darkened Judah spiritually, desecrated sacred space, and nearly extinguished the Davidic line. Yet God preserved the line through Hezekiah, demonstrating divine faithfulness even when kings turned completely away from Him.

Notes on Key Phrases

a. “He burnt his burnt offering… poured his drink offering… sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings on the altar”

Ahaz personally performed priestly functions, something expressly forbidden for kings.

Numbers 18:7 says,
“Therefore thou and thy sons with thee shall keep your priest’s office for every thing of the altar, and within the vail, and ye shall serve, I have given your priest’s office unto you as a service of gift, and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death.”
Ahaz was a “stranger” to the priesthood. He transgressed God’s boundaries as Uzziah did, but with deeper apostasy.

Uzziah’s sin is recorded in
2 Chronicles 26:16,
“But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction, for he transgressed against the LORD his God, and went into the temple of the LORD to burn incense upon the altar of incense.”
But unlike Uzziah, Ahaz performed idolatrous sacrifices on a pagan altar.

b. “He brought also the brasen altar… and put it on the north side of the altar”

Ahaz physically moved the original bronze altar ordained by God. This was symbolic: the divinely established center of worship was displaced to make room for a foreign invention.

The bronze altar was commanded by God:
Exodus 27:1 says,
“And thou shalt make an altar of shittim wood, five cubits long, and five cubits broad, the altar shall be foursquare, and the height thereof shall be three cubits.”
Ahaz pushed aside what God prescribed in order to exalt what men admired. This reflects a timeless danger: when the church elevates external trends above God’s revelation, true worship is compromised.

c. “Upon the great altar burn the morning burnt offering…”

Ahaz replaced God’s ordained sacrificial practices with his own redesigned liturgy. The daily burnt offerings were central acts of worship commanded by God.

Exodus 29:38–39 says,
“Now this is that which thou shalt offer upon the altar, two lambs of the first year day by day continually. The one lamb thou shalt offer in the morning, and the other lamb thou shalt offer at even.”
Ahaz redirected these sacred offerings onto a foreign altar, invalidating the worship that God commanded.

His statement, “the brasen altar shall be for me to enquire by,” suggests magical or divinatory purposes—a corruption resembling pagan practices condemned in
Deuteronomy 18:10,
“There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination…”

d. “Thus did Urijah the priest, according to all that king Ahaz commanded”

Urijah willingly complied with the king’s idolatrous reforms. This is a tragic contrast to the priests who resisted Uzziah’s intrusion.

2 Chronicles 26:18 says,
“And they withstood Uzziah the king, and said unto him, It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the LORD… then Uzziah was wroth.”
In Ahaz’s day, no such resistance occurred.

Corrupt rulers often find compliant religious leaders.

Paul warned Timothy of this pattern:
2 Timothy 4:3,
“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears.”

e. “Ahaz cut off the borders of the bases… removed the lavers… took down the sea… removed the sabbath pavilion…”

Ahaz dismantled sacred elements of temple worship, proving that apostasy is not merely additive but subtractive. The introduction of idolatry requires the removal of what is holy.

This dismantling reversed Solomon’s God-directed construction:
1 Kings 7:23 records the Sea,
“And he made a molten sea, ten cubits from the one brim to the other… it stood upon twelve oxen.”
Ahaz removed the Sea from its ordained setting, degrading what God established.

2 Chronicles describes this era of full-scale apostasy:
2 Chronicles 28:24,
“And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God, and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and shut up the doors of the house of the LORD, and he made him altars in every corner of Jerusalem.”

f. “For the king of Assyria”

All his renovations were performed to please a pagan overlord. Ahaz conformed the worship of God to the desires of a foreign empire.

This directly violates the warning of
Exodus 23:32,
“Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.”

Ahaz made a covenant with both.

g. “So Ahaz slept with his fathers…”

Though buried in the City of David, his name is remembered in Scripture as one of the most destructive kings Judah ever had.

The prophets testified against his era:
Micah 7:3,
“That they may do evil with both hands earnestly…”
Ahaz embodied this.

Yet his son Hezekiah would bring revival, proving God's grace exceeds man's corruption.