2 Kings · chapter 16 of 25
Updated on
2 Kings 16 tells the reign of Ahaz of Judah, who follows the ways of the kings of Israel and even burns his son as an offering. Attacked by Rezin of Aram and Pekah of Israel, he sends silver and gold from the temple to Tiglath-pileser of Assyria for help. He then copies an altar from Damascus, installs it in the temple and alters the sacred furnishings.
Ahaz inherits a kingdom threatened by Aram and Israel, who had attacked Judah in his father Jotham's time. The prophet Isaiah spoke to him at that time with words of encouragement, as Isaiah 7 tells, but 2 Kings 16 relates above all the king's political and religious decisions. He is one of the most unfaithful kings of Judah, and the chapter shows how much worship can change when a king seeks security far from God.
Ahaz, son of Jotham, becomes king at twenty and reigns sixteen years in Jerusalem. He does not do what is right like David his father but walks in the way of the kings of Israel; he even makes his son pass through the fire, following the abominable practices of the nations, and offers sacrifices at the high places, on the hills and under every green tree.
Rezin, king of Aram, and Pekah, king of Israel, go up against Jerusalem and besiege it, but cannot overcome it. At that time Rezin recovers Elath for Aram and drives out the men of Judah. Ahaz sends messengers to Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, saying that he is his servant and son, and asking him to come and save him from Aram and Israel. He takes the silver and gold found in the temple and the palace and sends them as a present. The king of Assyria listens, goes up against Damascus, captures it, carries its people into exile and kills Rezin.
Ahaz goes to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser. There he sees an altar and sends Uriah the priest a pattern and plan so he can build one like it. Uriah does so before Ahaz returns. Ahaz goes up to the altar, offers sacrifices and keeps it. He moves the bronze altar that stood before the Lord and puts it on the north side of the new altar. He orders Uriah to offer the burnt offerings on the new altar, and the bronze altar will be for him to inquire by. He also cuts off the frames of the stands, removes the basin from the bronze oxen and sets it on a stone pavement, and removes the covered way from the temple because of the king of Assyria.
Ahaz dies and is buried with his fathers. His son Hezekiah reigns in his place.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Ahaz walks in the way of the kings of Israel and even makes his son pass through the fire, according to the despicable customs of the nations. It is the darkest moment of his reign, because he hands over what is most precious to false gods.
Ahaz tells Tiglath-pileser that he is his servant and son, and asks him to save him. The king of Judah submits to Assyria instead of trusting the Lord, trading his freedom for help that will cost him dearly.
Ahaz sees an altar in Damascus and sends Uriah the priest the design to copy, and Uriah builds it. A priest who obeys the king without question shows how far worship had been subordinated to politics.
Ahaz moves the Lord's bronze altar from its central place and sets it to one side. Replacing what God commanded with a foreign model is a symbol of how he had displaced the Lord from the center.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Twenty years old. — 2 Kings 16:2
Answer: He made him pass through the fire, according to the despicable customs of the nations. — 2 Kings 16:3
Answer: Rezin of Aram and Pekah of Israel. — 2 Kings 16:5
Answer: The silver and gold found in the temple and in the treasuries of the palace. — 2 Kings 16:8
Answer: An altar, whose pattern he sent to Uriah the priest. — 2 Kings 16:10-11
Answer: His son Hezekiah. — 2 Kings 16:20
Ahaz faced a real threat and answered with human solutions: money, alliances and a fashionable altar. Instead of trusting the Lord, he sold the temple and made himself a servant of an empire. We often trade our freedom and our faithfulness for quick security. In a small group you can ask what we have given up to have peace of mind.
The chapter also warns that religion that bends to political or social convenience ends up emptied out. It is worth checking whether our practices of faith follow what God commanded or what is in fashion. And the fact that Hezekiah came from Ahaz shows that God can raise up faithfulness in the next generation.
2 Kings 16 ends with the death of Ahaz and the rise of Hezekiah, one of the most faithful kings of Judah. In chapter 17, meanwhile, the northern kingdom comes to its end when Assyria conquers Samaria.
The expression refers to a sacrifice, probably to the god Molech, which the law of Moses expressly forbade. The text presents it as one of the despicable practices of the nations God had driven out, and it is one of the gravest charges against Ahaz.
According to Isaiah 7, Isaiah told him not to fear Rezin and Pekah and offered him a sign from the Lord, but Ahaz refused to ask for one. Isaiah then announced the sign of Immanuel. The book of Kings does not record that conversation.
Because worship in the temple was to follow what God had commanded, not patterns of other nations. Bringing in a foreign altar showed submission to Assyria and displaced the Lord's altar. A priest allowed it without resistance.