2 Kings 16

Notes on the verses

Chap. XVI. Ver. 1—20. The wicked reign of Ahaz, who restores idolatry in Judea.—Ahaz is branded as the worst character among all the kings of Judah hitherto. “This is that king Ahaz!” ((2 Chronicles 28:22).) And the worst part of his character respects his cruel and gross idolatry. “He walked in the way of the (idolatrous) kings of Israel; yea, and made his son to pass through the fire, according to the abomination of the heathen.” Whether the son here mentioned was Hezekiah, who succeeded him, we have no means of ascertaining; but if so, we have a striking instance of the Argob and Arieh were slain with the king, conspirators with Pekah. ]—Bagster. Ver. 29. Tiglath-pileser.—[Some suppose Tiglath-pileser to be the son of Sardanapalus; but the learned Prideaux makes him the same as Arbaces the Mede, called by Man, Thelgamus, and by Castor, Ninus Junior, who with Belesis, headed the conspiracy against Sardanapalus, and fixed his royal seat at Nineveh, as Belesis, called in Scripture Baladan, did his at Babylon.] Ver.

30. Reigned in his stead.— After an anarchy of some years,” Chap., | (Isaiah 7:1), &c. leave them, than to puzzle our readers with a variety of conjectures, Chap. XVI. Ver. 2. Twenty years old.—Here occurs another chronological difficulty. If Ahaz came to the throne at 20, and reigned but 16 years, he must have died at 36; if, therefore, Hezekiah was 25 when he began to reign, ((2 Kings 18:1).) he must have been born when his father was little more than 11 years old, which to us appears incredible. It was, however, very common for the heir to be taken in as partner of the throne some years before his father’s death: and something of the kind is intimated in the present instance; for, against them.

10 Ahaz, sending a pattern of an altar from to Urijah q Is.7.1,4,9. 1 Ahaz’s wicked reign. 5 Ahaz, assailed by Rezin and Pekah, hireth KY forge and diverteth the brazen altar to his own devotion. 17 He spoileth the temple, 19 Hezekiah succeedeth him. r Is.9.1. N «the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, Ahaz the son of Jotham king of Judah began to reign. 2 Twenty years old was Ahaz when he began to reign, and reigned sixteen years in Jeru- Hos, 10.3. salem, and did not that which was right in the sight of the Lord his God, like David his father, t The 4th year of 3 But he walked in the way of the kings of Ahaz, the 20th after Israel, yea, and made his son to pass through had begun the fire, according © to the abominations of the to reign: heathen, whom the Lord cast out from before ( Usher.) the children of Israel.

A. M. 3246. B. C. 758. 4 And he sacrificed and burnt incense in the u 2Ch.27.1, high places, and “on the hills, and under every green tree. A. M. 3262. B. C, 742. 5 Then *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. 6 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. b Le.18.21, 7 So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath- Ps. 106.37, pileser king of Assyria, saying, I am thy e De.12.31, servant and thy son: come up, and save me Ps. 106.35, d De.12.2, out of the hand of the king of Syria, and out 1 Ki.14.23, of the hand of the king of Israel, which rise e Is.7.1,&c, up against me.

f c.14.22, g Eloth. 8 And Ahaz took the silver and gold that h Tilgath was found in the house of the Lord, and in the treasures of the king’s house, and sent it for 2 Ch.28, a present to the king of Assyria. 9 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. B. C. 740, 10 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 it.

Power of ace beyond that of Satan. His father devoted him to idolatry but the Lord consecrated him to himself.

The general practice of idolaters was to pass hastily through a fire, between two fires, with their children in their arms: by way of dedication, to their idols; but it is also certain, that, either through excess of zeal, or perhaps by accident, sometimes these children were absolutely consumed. (See (Psalms 106:38). (Jeremiah 7:31). (Ezekiel 23)) And this appears to have been the case as to some of Ahaz’s children, though not with Hezekiah. (See (2 Chronicles 28:3).) It will perhaps startle some of our readers to be told that these abominable rites were formerly practised in the British Isles, and are, indeed, not wholly extinct at the present day. The following citations, while they prove this fact, will also in a good degree illustrate the manner of these idolatries.

Jamieson (in his Dictionary of the Scottish Language) mentions a festival held annually in Scotland, on the 1st of (O. S.) May, which is called Beltane, or Beltein. A town inshire is called Tillee Beltein; i.e. the eminence (or high place) of the fire of Baal. Near this are two Druidical temples of upright stones, with a well adjacent to one of them, still held in count visited [sic] veneration for its sanctity, and on that account vast numbers of superstitious people. In the and that the fifty Gileadites were ch, xviii. 1. it is said, Hezekiah began to reign in the 3d year of Hoshea; and of Hoshea, that he began to reign in the 12th of Ahaz, 1 ch. xvii. 1. It is evident, therefore, that Hezekiah began to reign in the 14th year of Ahaz; and this allows for his father being at least thirteen or fourteen years old at the birth of Hezekiah, before which age matrimony often takes place in those warm countries. Ver. 5. But could not overcome him.—It is probable, that at this time Isaiah was sent to support Ahaz, by predicting the death of both his enemies. See rebuilt by Azariah (or Uzziah) ch. xiv. 22. and added to Judah; and now, perhaps, taken possession of by the king of Syria in the name of Edom; yet, however, Aram (Syria) and Edom differ but one letter in the original, and that very similar; some MSS. for Syria read Edom, and for Syrians, Edomites. Ver. 9. Kir.—Josephus informs us, that this place was in Upper Media; and it is clear that it must be understood of some city or country in the dominions of the king of Assyria.

It is highly probable, that it was the country on the banks of the river Cyrus or Kyrus, now called Kur, or Kura; and we find cities called Cyropotis, Cyrena, and Carine, mentioned by writers as lying in these parts; and a part of Media, called Syromedia, as it is thought, from the Syrians, who were carried captive thither. | —Bagster. Ver. 13. Of his peace-offering.—Rather, perhaps, “the peace-offerings which (were placed) for him on the altar.” Ver. 15. For me to inquire by.—Some suppose that he meant to consult this, as a sort of oracle: see ch. viii. 4. But it may be translated—“and (as to) the brazen altar, that shall be (left) for me to inquire (concerning).” Dr. Boothroyd renders it, “As to the brazen altar, it shall be for me to inquire what must be done.”

See ver. 14. which states what he did do. Ver. 18. The covert for the sabbath.—(There are a great number of conjectures concerning this covert; but it is probable, that it was either, as Locke supposes, a sort of shelter or canopy erected for the people on the sabbath, when the crowd was too great for the porch to contain them; or, as Dr. Geddes supposes, a seat, covered with a canopy, in his court when they attended public worship.)—Bagster