2 Kings 16:4

4 He also sacrificed and offered on the high places, on the hills and under any green tree.

2 Kings 16:4 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 16:4

And he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places, and on
the hills
Which none of the kings of Judah before him ever did; for though they connived at this practice in the people, they never encouraged it by their own example; and very probably he offered sacrifices there to idols, see ( 2 Chronicles 28:25 ) whereas the people sacrificed to the true God, though at a wrong place:

and under every green tree;
and which is never said of the people, and seems to confirm it, that Ahaz sacrificed to other gods, since the Heathens used to place idols under green trees, and worship them, whom the Jews imitated, ( Jeremiah 2:2 ) ( 3:6 ) .

2 Kings 16:4 In-Context

2 Achaz was twenty years old when he began to rule, and he reigned sixteen years in Yerushalayim. But he did not do what was right from the perspective of ADONAI his God, as David his ancestor had done.

3 Rather, he lived in the manner of the kings of Isra'el; he even made his son pass through fire [as a sacrifice], in keeping with the abominable practices of the pagans, whom ADONAI had thrown out ahead of the people of Isra'el.

4 He also sacrificed and offered on the high places, on the hills and under any green tree.

5 Then Retzin king of Aram and Pekach son of Remalyah, king of Isra'el, came up to fight against Yerushalayim. They put Achaz under siege, but they could not overcome him.

6 It was at that time that Retzin king of Aram recovered Eilat for Aram and drove the Judeans from Eilat; whereupon people from Edom came to Eilat to live, as they do to this day.