2 Kings 16:18

And the covert for the sabbath that they had built in the house,.... Used on the sabbath day, either for the people to sit under to hear the law explained by the priests; or for the course of the

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.

The covert for the sabbath; the form and use whereof is now unknown. It is generally understood of some building or covert; either that where the priests, after their weekly course was ended, abode until the next course came and relieved them, which was done upon the sabbath day; see ,7; or that in which the guard or watchmen of the temple kept their station; or that under which the king used to sit to hear God’ s word, and see the sacrifices; which is called the covert of the sabbath, because the chief times in which the king used it for those ends was the weekly sabbath, and other solemn days of feasting, or fasting, (which all come under the name of sabbaths in the Old Testament,) upon which the king used more certainly and solemnly to present himself before the Lord than at other times. The king’ s entry without; by which the king used to go from his palace to the temple: See Poole ",12". For the king of Assyria, i.e. that he might ingratiate himself with the king of Assyria, by his public contempt and rejection of that religion which had been the only partition-wall between the kings of Judah and other kings; and which possibly the present king of Assyria did vehemently dislike and hate, and therefore required these things from Ahaz.

2 Kings 16:18 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.Ver. 18. And the covert for the Sabbath.] Where the priests, who had served all the week before, reposed themselves on the Sabbath; and next day went home. This place was covered over to keep them from wind and weather. For the king of Assyria.] Either to make money for him, or to flatter with him, that he might appear profane enough, and alien from God’ s true service; or for fear of his force, lest by that entry he should break into the palace. Musach quoque sabbati. - Vulg.

(18) The covert for the sabbath.—A very obscure expression. The best interpretation is “the covered hall (or stand) set apart for the use of the king and his attendants when he visited the Temple on holy days” (reading, with the Hebrew margin, mûsak, which is attested by the Vulg., musach, and the Syriac “house of the sabbath”). The thing is not mentioned anywhere else. In the house—i.e., in the sacred precincts, probably in the inner forecourt. The king’s entry without.—The outer entry of the king, i.e., the gate by which the king entered the inner court (Ezekiel 46:1-2). Turned he from the house of the Lord.—Or, he altered in the house of the Lord, i.e., stripped them of their ornamental work. For.—Or, from fear of . . .—But comp. Genesis 6:13, “through them.” Ahaz durst not appear before Tiglath without a present. It is possible also that he anticipated a visit from the great king.

Verse 18. 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.

18. And the covert [R.V. the covered way] for the sabbath] The noun, which occurs nowhere else, signifies some colonnade along which the king could pass when on the sabbath he went to the temple. It is not mentioned in the description of the temple building, and must have been added afterwards, and most likely was richly adorned. that they had built in the house] i.e. in the temple court, not in the interior of the temple-building. and the king’s entry without] This is perhaps the ‘ascent’ mentioned 2 Chronicles 9:4 and which called forth the great admiration of the queen of Sheba. We may be sure it was made as beautiful as Solomon’s workmen and wealth could make it. This was outside the temple precincts but perhaps was closely joined to the covered way before mentioned so that the whole of the king’s progress might be made in private. turned he from [R.V. unto] the house of the Lord] There is considerable difficulty in this clause. One thing however is clear, that ‘from’ cannot be correct. The accusative is the case of direction, and there is no preposition expressed in the original. Hence ‘unto’ must be the sense. The A.V. seems to have intended to describe the removal or alteration of these two passages so as to separate them from the temple, the R.V., which gives in the margin ‘round’, appears to imply that both the erections, the one from the palace to the temple area, the other within the court, were brought into closer proximity to the temple-building. But the verb rendered ‘turned’ signifies ‘changed’ also, and it seems not unlikely that it refers to an alteration made in these colonnades similar to that which had been made with the bases and the brasen sea. From them all the decorative portion had been taken away lest it should excite the cupidity of the Assyrian. And in the richly decorated ascent and covered way a like dismantling took place and for a like reason. If this be the sense, then ‘unto the house of the Lord’ must be taken as an adverbial clause explaining that the removal of ornaments and gold took place throughout the whole length, even up to the very temple building. for [R.V. because of] the king of Assyria] The preposition=literally ‘from the face of’ is a form constantly employed after verbs of fleeing (Genesis 16:8), of seeking help (Isaiah 19:20) and so of fearing, humbling oneself, trembling, &c. This is its sense here. Ahaz did what he did, because he was fearful that otherwise the Assyrian king would seize on all that was choicest. The tribute already claimed had doubtless been large, and the subject monarch though glad of his deliverance from Rezin and Pekah, felt that the drain on his resources ought to be allowed to extend no farther, if he could prevent it. We need not suppose that Tiglath-pileser was about to come in person to visit Jerusalem.

The covert ... in the house - A canopied seat in the temple for the king and his family when they attended public worship on the sabbath. It stood no doubt in the inner court of the temple.

18. The covert for the sabbath — Keil renders, the covered sabbath-stand, and explains it with probable correctness as some “covered place, stand, or hall in the court of the temple, to be used by