2 Chronicles 28:2

2 Instead, he walked in the ways of Israel's kings, making images of the Baals

2 Chronicles 28:2 Meaning and Commentary

2 Chronicles 28:17

And the priest shall take holy water
Out of the laver, as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan, and so Jarchi and Aben Ezra:

in an earthen vessel;
which held half a log, and that was but a quarter of a pint, or three egg shells; for no more was assigned, to a suspected woman, according to the Misnah ^F18. Some say only a fourth part: an earthen vessel was made use of, as everything vile and mean was in this affair:

and of the dust that is in the floor of the tabernacle the priest
shall take, and put [it] into the water;
first the water was put in, and then the dust, as Ben Gersom observes: there was a place a cubit square, where was a marble table, and a ring fixed in it, and when he lifted it up he took dust from under it, and put it so as it might be upon the top of the water ^F19; which was used, either, as the Targum of Jonathan suggests, because the end of all flesh is to come to dust, and so to put her in mind of her original and her end; and in like manner the earthen vessel might signify, that she would be broke to pieces as that vessel; as also it might direct her thoughts to the tempter, by the influence of whose temptation she had been drawn into this sin, dust being the serpent's food; and this being taken off the floor of the tabernacle, might add to the veneration of it, and make it more solemn and awful to drink of it.

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FOOTNOTES:

F18 Sotah, c. 2. sect. 2. Menachot, c. 9. sect. 3.
F19 Sotah, c. 2. sect. 2.

2 Chronicles 28:2 In-Context

1 Ahaz was 20 years old when he became king, and he ruled for sixteen years in Jerusalem. He didn't do what was right in the LORD's eyes, unlike his ancestor David.

2 Instead, he walked in the ways of Israel's kings, making images of the Baals

3 and burning incense in the Ben-hinnom Valley. He even burned his own sons alive, imitating the detestable practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites.

4 He also sacrificed and burned incense at the shrines on every hill and beneath every shady tree.

5 So the LORD his God handed him over to Aram's king, who defeated him and carried off many prisoners, bringing them to Damascus. Ahaz was also handed over to Israel's king, who defeated him with a severe beating.