seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
2 Chronicles 28:16 At that time King Ahaz sent to the kings[a] of Assyria for help. 17 The Edomiteshad again come and attacked Judah and carried away prisoners, 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. 19 The Lord had humbled Judah because of Ahaz king of Israel,(b) for he had promoted wickedness in Judah and had been most unfaithful to the Lord. 20 Tiglath-Pileser[c] king of Assyria came to him, but he gave him trouble instead of help. 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.
22 In his time of trouble King Ahaz became even more unfaithful to the Lord. 23 He 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 they will help me.” But they were his downfall and the downfall of all Israel.
24 Ahaz gathered together the furnishings from the temple of God and cut them in pieces. He shut the doors of the Lord’s temple and set up altars at every street corner in Jerusalem. 25 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.
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. 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.
a. 2 Chronicles 28:16 Most Hebrew manuscripts; one Hebrew manuscript, Septuagint and Vulgate (see also 2 Kings 16:7) king
b. 2 Chronicles 28:19 That is, Judah, as frequently in 2 Chronicles
c. 2 Chronicles 28:20 Hebrew Tilgath-Pilneser, a variant of Tiglath-Pileser
They wanted a king, like everyone else. Everyone else had a king... why couldn't they have a king. Then they got a king.... A Theocracy with God at the top and the king just a figurehead. [Let's face it... when God is at the top, we're just figureheads.... cause we love it that way.... looking up to God.] Ahaz thinks he's running a kingdom not a Theocracy. Ahaz thinks God can be contracted with like a common mercenary. On top of that... Ahaz actually thinks he can deny negotiations with God by shutting down the temple. Ahaz actually thinks it's who the sacrifices are made to that makes a difference. Ahaz doesn't realize there is only one God and the others are just wood and medal... not capable of saving babies from their stupid human king.
Here's the easy English commentary.
Ahaz and Judah were in serious trouble. The armies of Israel and Aram attacked them from the north. The people from Edom attacked and they defeated Judah from the south and east. The people from Edom took away many prisoners. The Philistines attacked Judah from the west. The Philistines captured several towns and villages from Judah. The LORD was against Ahaz and Judah because they were not loyal to him.
Ahaz took valuable things from the temple, from the palace and from the princes. He sent these as gifts to Tilgath-Pilneser III. He asked Tilgath-Pilneser to come and to help him against Aram and Israel. Ahaz did not repent and turn to the LORD for help. He should have turned to the LORD and not to another nation (Isaiah 7:11-12). God has the power to help those who put their trust in him. The LORD was against him because he led the people to worship false gods.
Tilgath-Pilneser ruled as king of Assyria from 745 BC to 727 BC. While he was king, Assyria became the strongest nation in the Middle East. In 732 BC, Tilgath-Pilneser attacked and he defeated Aram. He killed King Rezin and he captured Damascus city. But that was no real help to Judah. Aram had been as a defence between Assyria and Israel. Now Assyria could fight against Israel and Judah more easily. The LORD would soon bring Assyria’s soldiers to fight against Israel. Also, they would fight against Judah (Isaiah 7:17).
Then Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tilgath-Pilneser. While he was there, he saw an altar to the gods of Damascus. He drew a picture of that altar. Then he sent the picture to Urijah the priest in Jerusalem. Urijah built an altar exactly like the one in Damascus. He put it in place ready for when Ahaz came home from Damascus (2 Kings 16:10-11).
The army of Damascus had beaten the army of Judah in battle. Ahaz thought that their gods had helped them. With the new altar, he sacrificed to their gods. The army from Assyria defeated the army of Damascus. People at that time believed that the army with the stronger gods would win a war. So, the gods of Assyria became the main gods of Damascus. So, when Ahaz worshipped the gods of Damascus this probably included the gods of Assyria.
Ahaz went from bad to worse in his relations with the LORD God. He took many things from the LORD’s temple and he broke them up. He stopped the temple worship and he closed the doors to the temple. He built altars to other gods all round Jerusalem. And he made high places to worship other gods in every town in Judah.
The LORD God of his ancestors was very angry. The worship of false gods is what ruined both Israel and Judah.
Ahaz died in 715 BC. In that same year, Tilgath-Pilneser attacked the Philistines (Isaiah 14:28-29). When Ahaz died, Hezekiah became king of Judah. They buried Ahaz in Jerusalem but not in the graves of the kings.
Good... no grand ceremony for that baby killing idiot who shut the Temple doors and set up alters on every corner for the collection of sacrifice and coins.It's interesting to me..... this guy was a baby killing monster who would worship every little shiny idol or glowing object..... not even his own babies were safe from this guys lust for other gods. It's interesting to me that this baby killing monster, spent a lot of time and effort avoiding God and getting deeper and deeper in trouble. It seems to me that if he had spent half that effort trying to please God... things would have been totally different in the end.
He just didn't want to. After all isn't the figurehead of a Theocracy bigger and badder than God? Yeah right.... when a tool is better than the craftsman using it correctly then the figurehead is anything of significance.
