Deeper Commentary
2Ch 28:1 Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign; and he
reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: and he didn’t do that which was right in
the eyes of Yahweh, as David his father did-
Isaiah, Hosea and Micah all prophesied during his evil reign and
provide more details about the awful nature of his sins.
2Ch 28:2 but he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and additionally
made molten images for the Baals-
Although Israel is often described as the source of Judah's apostacy,
we must give due weight to Ezekiel's word that Judah was in fact more wicked
than Israel. This could have been because Judah fell further, from greater
spiritual potential. Or maybe because sinners can provoke people to sin
worse than they do.
2Ch 28:3 Moreover he burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and
burnt his children in the fire, according to the abominations of the
nations whom Yahweh cast out before the children of Israel-
Hezekiah his son somehow survived this, but may have reacted to his
father's murder of his brothers by turning right against such idolatry.
This means that his apparent zeal for Yahweh [remembering that he turned
away from Him in the end and raised Manasseh] was partly due to a
psychological reaction against his father and traumatic childhood
experiences. For he would have lived in constant fear that he would also
be offered, at the whim of the gods of his father. It was common to make
children pass through fire as a kind of dedication ceremony; but he
actually burnt his children in the fire, such was his obsession.
The valley of Hinnom, Ge Hinnom, was to later be known as Gehenna, and became a symbol used by the Lord for complete destruction (Mt. 5:22). As they burnt their children there, to destruction, so sinners would be burnt to destruction in that same place.
2Ch 28:4 He sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places and on the
hills, and under every green tree-
Large, flourishing green trees weren't so common in the landscape, and
they therefore came to be seen as the presence of fertility gods. This is
the huge significance of the old covenant promising fertility from Yahweh-
for most of the pagan gods were seen as fertility gods, and this is why
they were worshipped by largely agricultural people.
2Ch 28:5 Therefore Yahweh his God delivered him into the hand of the king
of Syria; and they struck him, and carried away from him a great multitude
of captives, and brought them to Damascus. He was also delivered into the
hand of the king of Israel, who struck him with a great slaughter-
Heb. 11:16 says that God was not ashamed to be called the God of His
faithful people. The implication is that He has been ashamed of some who
call Him their God, and Ahaz would be a parade example. The problem with
Israelite idolatry was that they still considered Yahweh as their God. But
Yahweh wanted his reformation, and repeated situations twice in this area-
He "delivered" him to his enemies, who "struck" him. But still he didn't
learn. "He", Ahaz, was "struck with a great slaughter". But he didn't die
himself; other people did. Lots of them. We see here the nature of sin;
that it brings suffering to others. Although in this case it is confirmed
that "they" who were struck in this great slaughter had themselves
forsaken Yahweh (:6). This would explain why R.V. has the correct but
otherwise strange rendering: "carried away of his a great multitude of
captives". If we enquire why Ahaz himself wasn't struck down, the answer
surely is that God wanted him to repent; but he didn't. See on :7. Kings
adds that the Syrians took Elath, and also shut up Ahaz in Jerusalem,
presumably by siege.
2Ch 28:6 For Pekah the son of Remaliah killed in Judah one hundred and
twenty thousand in one day, all of them valiant men; because they had
forsaken Yahweh, the God of their fathers-
The large numbers we read of are nearly all in the context of military
men being slain. This is because a "thousand" was not a literal 1000, but
a name for some kind of military unit, even quite a small one, perhaps the
size of a modern 'fire team' of up to five men.
2Ch 28:7 Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim, killed Maaseiah the king’s son,
and Azrikam the ruler of the house, and Elkanah who was next to the king-
As pondered on :5, we wonder why Ahaz somehow escaped. The reason
ultimately was that through this salvation by grace, when he was not at
all believing, Ahaz was being appealed to. Just as Manasseh was. It worked
with him, eventually, but not with Ahaz. Truly God took the initiative
with that man, time and again, over many years.
2Ch 28:8 The children of Israel carried away captive of their brothers two
hundred thousand, women, sons and daughters, and took also away much spoil
from them, and brought the spoil to Samaria-
Again, "thousand" may mean something like 'families' or some group
definition, and not literally 1000. This was in studied disobedience to 2
Chron. 11:4: “You shall not… fight against your brothers”. Yet God
empowered them to defeat Judah, because that was part of His agenda. We
see here just something of the amazingly multi factorial manner in which
God operates in human affairs.
2Ch 28:9 But a prophet of Yahweh was there, whose name was Oded. He went
out to meet the army that came to Samaria and said to them, Behold,
because Yahweh, the God of your fathers, was angry with Judah, He has
delivered them into your hand, and you have slain them in a rage which has
reached up to heaven-
The allusion is how the blood of Abel, slain by his brother, was a vice
which reached to heaven (Gen. 4:10). As noted on :8, God works in a very
complex manner with people. He empowered Israel to defeat Judah, but then
He was angry with them for murdering their brothers and now abusing their
families as slaves. Just as Assyria was used by God to punish Judah but
was then punished for doing so. It would be a willfully simplistic person
who accuses God of injustice here. This kind of multi factorial judgment
and action is going to be typical of a Divine being, and it is obvious
that tiny man, seeing only some fragments of His operations on earth, is
not going to get the full picture nor completely understand. Those who
vent against the supposed injustice of God are really guilty of arrogance
before the court of Heaven.
2Ch 28:10 Now you purpose to oppress the children of Judah and Jerusalem for
bondservants and bondmaids for yourselves. Aren’t there even with you
trespasses of your own against Yahweh your God?-
The implication was that they were justifying oppression of their
brethren because those brethren had sinned against Yahweh. But they had
themselves done so, indeed it is Israel who are represented as having led
Judah into sin. All oppression and abuse of brethren arises from this
failure to realize that we are all sinners. "Oppress" is s.w. "bring into
bondage" in Neh. 5:5. Chronicles was written from the exiles, and they had
failed to learn from this historical example that they were not to
"oppress" their brethren.
2Ch 28:11 Now hear me therefore, and send back the captives, that you have
taken captive from your brothers; for the fierce wrath of Yahweh is on
you-
As discussed on :8,9, Israel were used by God to punish Judah, but
they went too far, as did Assyria. And the fierce wrath of God is upon all
those who abuse people. The idea of taking the families captive "from your
brothers" could be arguing that they were effectively breaking up
families; although it could be pointing out the inappropriacy of having
our brother in captivity to us in any sense.
2Ch 28:12 Then some of the heads of the children of Ephraim, Azariah the
son of Johanan, Berechiah the son of Meshillemoth, and Jehizkiah the son
of Shallum, and Amasa the son of Hadlai, stood up against those who came
back from the war-
They were brave and humble to do this, because in their culture,
killing the men and taking the families captive was the done thing. And so
they had to 'stand up against' men returning from the battlefield in
triumph. When they who withstood them had not been on the front line. But
this is the kind of bravery we have to show in standing up against abuse
of brethren.
2Ch 28:13 They said to them, You shall not bring in the captives here; for
you purpose that which will bring on us a trespass against Yahweh, to add
to our sins and to our trespass; for our trespass is great, and there is
fierce wrath against Israel-
The basis of the appeal was that, as Oded had told them, they were
serious sinners. And there would be fierce wrath, indeed that wrath was
already against them, unless they immediately dropped their plans. The
situation recalls how Amaziah paid money for Israelite mercenaries, but
was told not to use them, and lose his money (2 Chron. 25:9). So often,
spiritual argument means apparent loss of what is legitimately ours, in
secular terms. We notice that sin can be 'added to'. There are degrees of
sin, and God is sensitive to every sin, even in the lives of those who
appear far gone in sin.
2Ch 28:14 So the armed men left the captives and the spoil before the
princes and all the assembly-
"The armed men" are mentioned because it would have been so difficult
for all concerned, to just allow the loss of war booty won in armed
combat. The soldiers were being told by those who had not fought at the
front to now resign their booty; and the soldiers agreed. Even though
Israel were idolatrous, there was a conscience within them about their own
sins. And this should encourage us in our witness to apparently
conscienceless people. In fact, somewhere, everyone has a conscience which
we can appeal to.
2Ch 28:15 The men mentioned by name rose up and took the captives, and
with the spoil clothed all who were naked among them, dressed them, gave
them sandals, and gave them something to eat and to drink, anointed them,
carried all the feeble of them on donkeys, and brought them to Jericho,
the city of palm trees, to their brothers. Then they returned to Samaria-
Jericho was apparently a border town between Israel and Judah. The war
booty which was to be resigned was not just the captives, but the clothes
they had taken. And clothing was valuable in those times, being a form of
wealth (2 Kings 5:5,22). The giving of food to captives and sending them
back is exactly what happened in 2 Kings 6:23. The Israelites of 2 Chron.
28:15 were intended to learn from the grace which had been shown to the
Syrian captives. This is a great theme of the historical books; that
situations in essence repeated, because God's people are expected to learn
from Biblical history. And that is the relevance of these records for us
today.
2Ch 28:16 At that time king Ahaz sent to the kings of Assyria to
help him-
To Tiglath-pileser III (2 Kings 16:7). "Kings" therefore may be an
intensive plural for 'the one great king'. 2 Kings 16:7-9 says that he
paid Assyria with the gold stripped from the temple. 2 Kings 16:7 "Syria"
is LXX "Edom". Although Kings then records the Assyrian attack upon Syria.
So perhaps the idea is that the Edomites of :17 were in fact under the
control of Syria.
2Ch 28:17 For again the Edomites had come and struck Judah, and carried
away captives-
As explained on :16, it seems Edom was under the control of Syria. And
so Ahaz paid Assyria to attack Syria. Or it could be [putting the Kings
record together with this] that Ahaz paid Assyria to help him against
Edom, but Assyria instead attacked Syria, claiming that was good enough
work done for the money. Even though Assyria had their own agenda for
attacking Syria (Aram).
2Ch 28:18 The Philistines also had invaded the cities of the lowland, and
of the South of Judah, and had taken Beth Shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, Soco
with its towns, Timnah with its towns, Gimzo also and its towns; and
settled there-
The continual experience of attack and loss of people and territory was
surely intended to teach Ahaz something. It kept on happening, and he kept
on in his sins, stubbornly refusing to accept these things as God's
knocking on his personal door. The achievements of others in subjugating
Edom (2 Chron. 25:11,14) and the Philistines (2 Chron. 26:6,7) was all
undone due to the stubbornness of Ahaz. One man brought so much suffering
to so many. And yet God allowed him to continue, because He was so intent
on searching for the lost sheep until He found him. Which He did not, in
the end.
2Ch 28:19 For Yahweh brought Judah low because of Ahaz king of Israel; for
he had dealt wantonly in Judah, and trespassed severely against Yahweh-
Ahaz king of Judah is called king of Israel, perhaps because he
followed their idolatry. And yet the term is also used of Jehoshaphat (2
Chron. 21:2), and may reflect how God ultimately did not recognize the
division of His people into Judah and Israel; just as He doesn't recognize
the artificial divisions of His true people today, thanks to the sin of
denominationalism.
Flesh must be humbled- either we do it now, we humble ourselves that we
may be exalted in due time; or it will have to be done to us through the
terror of rejection. Time and again ‘bringing low’ or ‘humiliation’ is the
result of condemnation (Dt. 28:43; 2 Chron. 28:19; Job 40:12; Ps. 106:43).
2Ch 28:20 Tilgath Pilneser king of Assyria came to him and distressed him,
but didn’t strengthen him-
Giving God's money to Gentile powers never achieved anything but only
ever made matters worse (2 Chron. 16:2; 2 Kings 12:18; 18:15). But even
Hezekiah refused to learn this clearly taught theme in the history of
God's people.
2Ch 28:21 For Ahaz took away a portion out of the house of Yahweh, and out
of the house of the king and of the princes, and gave it to the king of
Assyria: but it didn’t help him-
"It didn't help him" was to be Judah's later experience in seeking help
from Egypt against Babylon (s.w. Is. 31:1; Lam. 4:17). Again, they failed
to learn the lessons from history, unwilling to see that these historical
situations spoke directly to their own situations and lives. We too can
fail to perceive this. In fact the choice of histories and biographies we
have in the Bible have been carefully selected in order that man need
never feel alone; in essence, every life situation has been met at some
point and time in the past.
2Ch 28:22 In the time of his distress, he trespassed yet more against
Yahweh, this same king Ahaz-
The "time of distress" is the phrase used in Neh. 9:27; but there the
point is made that in the time of distress, a sinful Judah had called to
God and He had answered them. So the even worse trespass of Ahaz was that
in his distress he did not repent and turn to Yahweh, but rather devoted
himself even more to idolatry (:23).
2Ch 28:23 For he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus which struck him. He
said, Because the gods of the kings of Syria helped them, so I will
sacrifice to them, that they may help me. But they were the ruin of him,
and of all Israel-
As discussed on :22, the increasing distress upon Ahaz was intended to
elicit his repentance and turning to Yahweh. But instead he turned even
more to idolatry. This mad obsession with idolatry is described in Ezekiel
and Hosea as like a kind of sexual addiction, whereby the more partners a
sex addict has, the more they require. Most nations had a set of national
gods, and they only changed them if they were conquered by other nations
and forced to accept their gods. But God's people had an obsession with
every kind of god, until the Jerusalem temple was filled with all manner
of shrines to various gods at the time of its destruction. And the bizarre
thing was that Syria was to fall at this time to Assyria (2 Kings 16:9);
their gods didn't ultimately help them, and in fact Ahaz had paid money to
Assyria to attack the Syrians.
"And of all Israel" may be an example of where God calls Judah "Israel" because He never recognized the division amongst His people, as He doesn't today. Or the idea could be that Ahaz of Judah did what Israel had done, and worshipped the gods of Syria.
2Ch 28:24 Ahaz gathered together the vessels of God’s house, cut in pieces
the vessels of God’s house, and shut up the doors of the house of Yahweh;
and he made him altars in every corner of Jerusalem-
The destruction of the vessels was not complete as some were retained,
perhaps for worshipping Yahweh in the name of the idols (2 Chron.
29:18,19). The cutting in pieces perhaps solely referred to the cutting
off of the bases of the laver (2 Kings 16:17). This closure of the temple
was presumably because he thought that the other gods wouldn't like the
idea of a huge temple devoted to another god. But perhaps 2 Kings 16:18
helps understand this as meaning that he shut up one door or gate of the
temple and devoted it to the idols of Assyria; without meaning that all
the doors or gates of the temple were closed. It's doubtful Ahaz resigned
all belief in Yahweh, but rather wanted to treat all his gods equally.
Lest he offend any of them. The fundamental teaching that Yahweh is one,
the one and only God, was ignored. The 'gathering together' of the vessels
may mean he melted them down. However 2 Kings 16:17 implies this was only
done to the huge supports of the laver. I suggest Ahaz retained some level
of belief in Yahweh, for the temple services continued on some level (2
Kings 16:13,15), although Ahaz had brought idols into the holy place of
the temple (2 Chron. 29:5). He had mixed Yahweh worship with idolatry,
which in essence is the temptation we all have. Scientific atheism, a
total rejection of our God, is likely not our biggest temptation; rather
is it to mix His ways with those of the flesh and the secular world.
2Ch 28:25 In every city of Judah he made high places to burn incense to
other gods, and provoked to anger Yahweh, the God of his fathers-
This was the situation which continued until Jer. 2:28, and led to
their final destruction. God can be grieved [s.w. 'provoke to anger']. He has emotions, and His
potential foreknowledge doesn't mean that these feelings are not
legitimate. They are presented as occurring in human time, as responses to
human behaviour. This is the degree to which He has accommodated Himself
to human time-space limits, in order to fully enter relationship and
experience with us. As He can limit His omnipotence, so God can limit His
omniscience, in order to feel and respond along with us.
2Ch 28:26 Now the rest of his acts, and all his ways, first and last,
behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel-
His "last" ways were so significant, for God had set him up to
repent- but he didn't. Manasseh is an example of a similarly evil man, who
at the end of his life did repent. Clearly it had been God's hope that
Ahaz would be a similar case.
2Ch 28:27 Ahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city, even
in Jerusalem; for they didn’t bring him into the tombs of the kings of
Israel; and Hezekiah his son reigned in his place-
Kings says Ahaz was "buried with his fathers", but 2 Chron. 28:27 says he
was not brought into the tombs of the kings of Israel. This suggests that
sleeping or being buried with ones' fathers was therefore an idiom for
death, which should not be taken literally.
Previous Chapter
