FRAMEWORKS:
2 Chronicles 28: Ahaz
king of Judah
[Introductory
Notes: Nothing
good can be said about Ahaz the next king of Judah and his unfaithful
acts are clearly recorded – together with the discipline that
the Lord brought on him through neighbouring enemies. Nevertheless
he refused to turn to the Lord and died in disgrace.]
v.1-4
The bad of Ahaz
v.1
Ahaz
was
twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem
for sixteen years. Unlike David his father, he did not do what
was right in the eyes of the Lord.
v.2
He
[i] followed
the ways of the kings of Israel and also [ii] made
idols for worshipping the Baals.
v.3
He
[iii] burned
sacrifices in the Valley of Ben Hinnom and [iv] sacrificed
his children in the fire, engaging in the detestable practices
of the nations that the Lord
had driven
out before the Israelites.
v.4
He
[v] offered
sacrifices and burned incense at the high places, on the hilltops
and under every spreading tree.
v.5-8
He was disciplined by defeats
v.5
Therefore
the Lord
his God [i] delivered
him into the hands of the king of Aram. The Arameans
defeated him and took many of his people as prisoners and brought
them to Damascus.
He
was [ii] also
given into the hands of the king of Israel, who
inflicted heavy casualties on him.
v.6
In
one day Pekah son of Remaliah [the
king of Israel] killed a hundred
and twenty thousand soldiers in Judah – because Judah had
forsaken the Lord,
the God of their ancestors.
v.7
Zikri,
an Ephraimite warrior, killed Maaseiah the king's son, Azrikam
the officer in charge of the palace, and Elkanah, second to the
king.
v.8
The
men of Israel took captive from their fellow Israelites who were
from Judah two hundred thousand wives, sons and daughters. They
also took a great deal of plunder, which they carried back to
Samaria.
v.9-11
The Lord rebukes the Israelite victors
v.9
But
a prophet of the Lord
named Oded
was there, and he went out to meet the army when it returned to
Samaria. He said to them, ‘Because the Lord
, the God of
your ancestors, was angry with Judah, he gave them into your hand.
But you have slaughtered them in a rage that reaches to heaven.
v.10
And
now you intend to make the men and women of Judah and Jerusalem
your slaves. But aren't you also guilty of sins against the Lord
your God?
v.11
Now
listen to me! Send back your fellow Israelites that you have taken
as prisoners, for the Lord
's fierce anger
rests on you.'
v.9-15
The Israelites treat their prisoners well
v.12
Then
some of the leaders in Ephraim – Azariah son of Jehohanan,
Berekiah son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah son of Shallum, and Amasa
son of Hadlai – confronted those who were arriving from the
war.
v.13
‘You
must not bring those prisoners here,' they said, ‘or we will be
guilty before the Lord
. Do you intend
to add to our sin and guilt? For our guilt is already great, and
his fierce anger rests on Israel.'
v.14
So
the soldiers gave up the prisoners and plunder in the presence
of the officials and all the assembly.
v.15
The
men designated by name took the prisoners, and from the plunder
they clothed all who were naked. They provided them with clothes
and sandals, food and drink, and healing balm. All those who were
weak they put on donkeys. So they took them back to their fellow
Israelites at Jericho, the City of Palms, and returned to Samaria.
v.16-18
They were disciplined by defeats - again
v.16
At
that time King Ahaz sent to the kings of Assyria
for help.
v.17
The
Edomites had again come and attacked Judah and
carried away prisoners,
v.18
while
the Philistines had raided towns in the foothills
and in the Negev of Judah. They captured and occupied Beth Shemesh,
Aijalon and Gederoth, as well as Soko, Timnah and Gimzo, with
their surrounding villages.
v.19-21
Assyria also humble them
v.19
The
Lord
had humbled Judah because of Ahaz king of Israel, for he had
promoted wickedness in Judah and had been most unfaithful to the
Lord.
v.20
Tiglath-Pileser
king of Assyria came to him, but gave him trouble
instead of help.
v.21
Ahaz
took some of the things from the temple of the Lord
and from the
royal palace and from the officials and presented them to the
king of Assyria, but that did not help him.
v.22-27
Further failings of Ahaz
v.22
In
his time of trouble King Ahaz became even
more unfaithful to the Lord.
v.23
He
[i] offered
sacrifices to the gods of Damascus, who had defeated him; for
he thought, ‘Since the gods of the kings of Aram have helped them,
I will sacrifice to them so that they will help me.' But they
were his downfall and the downfall of all Israel.
v.24
Ahaz
[ii] gathered
together the furnishings from the temple of God and cut them in
pieces. He shut the doors of the Lord
's temple and
[iii] set
up altars at every street corner in Jerusalem.
v.25
[iv] In
every town in Judah he built high places to burn sacrifices to
other gods and aroused the anger of the Lord,
the God of his ancestors.
v.26
The
other events of his reign and all his ways, from beginning to
end, are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.
v.27
Ahaz
rested with his ancestors and was buried in the city of Jerusalem,
but he was not placed in the tombs of the kings of Israel. And
Hezekiah his son succeeded him as king.
Continue
to Ch.29