CHAPTER 16

(740 B.C.)

REIGN OF AHAZ OVER JUDAH

¹In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah (king of Israel) Ahaz the son of Jotham king of Judah began to reign. (Ahaz was one of the worst of all the kings of Judah. He imitated the worst of the kings of the ten Tribes Ahab and Ahaziah by establishing Baal worship in Judah, when it had been rooted out of the ten Tribes by Jehu [10:19-31], and out of Judah by Jehoiada [11:17-21]. Ahaz even made his sons to pass through the fire, according to all the abominations of the heathen.)

²Twenty years old was Ahaz when he began to reign, and reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem, and did not that which was right in the sight of the LORD his God, like David his father. (In all that the Holy Spirit says about King Ahaz in the Books of Kings, Chronicles, and Isaiah, there is a throbbing of anguish, which the reader can feel, and also a note of indignation, as, for example, in the words, This is that king Ahaz [II Chron. 28:22]. His full name, as it appears in the Assyrian state records, was Jehoahaz, which means the possession of Jehovah, but the Spirit of God strikes the Jehovah-syllable out of his name, and invariably calls him Ahaz, which means possession. Such was his life, for he was led, influenced, and possessed by anyone or anything except God.)

³But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, yes, 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. (This refers to the heathen idol, Moloch, the god of fire. A fire would be built in its bulbous belly, until its outstretched arms became red-hot. Little children, as sacrifices to these demonic images, would be tied to its outstretched arms, and burned alive, while black-robed priests beat drums to drown out the screams of these little ones. The horror of Ahaz sin knows no bounds.)

⁴And he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree.

⁵Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to war: and they besieged Ahaz, but could not overcome him (no doubt, Ahaz was lifted up in pride because of his successful defense against the kings of Syria and Israel; however, his victory had nothing to do with his ability or righteousness, but, instead, was because of the promise that the Lord had made to the house of David).

⁶At that time Rezin king of Syria recovered Elath to Syria, and drove the Jews from Elath: and the Syrians came to Elath, and dwelt there unto this day.

AHAZ MAKES AN ALLIANCE WITH ASSYRIA

⁷So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, I am your servant and your 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, who rise up against me. (The Lord through the Prophet Isaiah earnestly counseled him not to invite the king of Assyria to help him against the confederate kings of Israel and Damascus; however, he followed his own counsel with success, but with the ultimate result of ruin. His history illustrates how disastrous it is to the spiritual profit of a man when his own plans succeed.)

⁸And Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the House of the LORD, and in the treasures of the kings house, and sent it for a present to the king of Assyria.

⁹And 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 killed Rezin.

AHAZ BUILDS A HEATHEN ALTAR

¹⁰And 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. (Ahaz was not satisfied with the great Altar which sat in front of the Temple in Jerusalem, and which had been designed by the Lord, and which was a Type of Calvary. He desired a heathen altar, and the priesthood of Judah helped him carry out this evil design.

This is the sin of modern Church. It has not totally forsaken the Altar, i.e., the Cross, but has substituted another sacrifice, in fact, the same as did Cain of old [Gen., Chpt. 4].)

¹¹And 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 (the modern Church is presently building its new altars; they go under the names of psychological counseling, Word of Faith, seeker-sensitive, the government of twelve, etc.).

¹²And when the king was come from Damascus, the king saw the altar: and the king approached to the altar, and offered thereon (having no confidence in the Altar designed by the Lord, which typified the Cross, he would build his own altar, which was more to his liking; it is true that the Cross of Christ is an offense, but offense or not, the Cross of Christ alone can deliver men from sin; everything else is a mere window-dressing [Gal. 5:11]).

¹³And 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 (upon the heathen altar, which God would never accept, and will never accept).

¹⁴And he brought also the Brasen Altar (the Altar designed by the Lord, on which alone sacrifices were to be offered), which was before the LORD (in front of the Temple), from the forefront of the House, from between the altar and the House of the LORD, and put it (put the Brazen Altar) on the north side of the altar (the heathen altar; so now he has two altars, but with the true Altar unused, which, again, so very much typifies the modern Church).

¹⁵And king Ahaz commanded Urijah the Priest, saying, Upon the great altar (the heathen altar) burn the morning burnt offering, and the evening meat offering, and the kings 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 (the true Altar) shall be for me to enquire by (I shall hereafter determine what use, if any, it shall be put to; once again, this is the exact state of the modern Church; it hasnt totally abandoned the Cross, but it has set it aside, while the sacrifices are offered on the modern altars, which will ultimately bring the judgment of God).

¹⁶Thus did Urijah the Priest, according to all that king Ahaz commanded (all too often the modern ministry apes Urijah of old!).

¹⁷And king Ahaz cut off the borders of the bases (the stands of the ten brazen lavers), and removed the laver (ten brazen lavers) from off them; and took down the sea (the great Brazen Laver) from off the brasen oxen that were under it, and put it upon a pavement of stones. (The Laver is a Type of the Word of God. Even though it remained, the oxen, which had been designed by the Holy Spirit, on which it sat, were given away. The oxen represented the Power and Assurance of the Word of God.

Basically, Ahaz is saying that he has no more confidence in the Word of God. All too often, the modern Church is saying the same thing. The Bible has not been completely thrown away; it has just been discarded to the place of no confidence. The Church as a whole has turned to psychology. The degradation of the Laver illustrates the hostility of mans heart to the great Bible Doctrine of Jesus Christ and Him Crucified as the only answer for mans sin [Rom. 6:3-14; I Cor. 1:17-18, 21, 23; 2:2; Eph. 2:13-18; Gal. 6:14; Col. 2:14-15].)

¹⁸And the covert for the sabbath that they had built in the House, and the kings entry without, turned he from the House of the LORD for the king of Assyria (this appears to mean that a building inside the Temple area, having some relation to the Temple itself, was divorced from that purpose, and fitted up as a palace for the king of Assyria).

DEATH OF AHAZ; HEZEKIAH HIS SUCCESSOR OVER JUDAH

¹⁹Now 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?

²⁰And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David: and Hezekiah his son reigned in his stead. (The writer of Chronicles tells us that even though this evil man was buried in Jerusalem, still, they brought him not into the sepulchres of the kings. Like Uzziah, he was not thought worthy of burial in the royal catacomb [II Chron. 28:27].)