2 Kings 16:2-12

2 ¹Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen * years in Jerusalem; and he did not do what was right in the sight of the LORD his God, as his father David had done.

3 But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, ²and even made his son pass through the fire, ³according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD had driven out from before the sons of Israel.

4 He ⁴sacrificed and burned incense on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree.

5 Then ⁵Rezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to wage war; and they besieged * Ahaz, ⁶but could not overcome him.

6 At that time Rezin king of Aram recovered ⁷Elath for Aram, and cleared the Judeans out of Elath entirely; and the Arameans came to Elath and have lived there to this day.

Ahaz Seeks Help of Aram

7 ⁸So Ahaz sent messengers to ⁹Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, "I am your servant and your son; come up and deliver me from the hand of the king of Aram and from the hand of the king of Israel, who are rising up against me."

8 ¹⁰Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the LORD and in the treasuries of the king's house, and sent a present to the king of Assyria.

9 ¹¹So the king of Assyria listened to him; and the king of Assyria went up against Damascus and ¹²captured it, and carried the people of it away into exile to ¹³Kir, and put Rezin to death.

Damascus Falls

10 Now King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet ¹⁴Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, and saw the altar which was at Damascus; and King Ahaz sent to ¹⁵Urijah the priest the pattern of the altar and its model, according to all its workmanship.

11 So Urijah the priest built an altar; according to all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, thus Urijah the priest made it, before the coming of King Ahaz from Damascus.

12 When the king came from Damascus, the king saw the altar; then ¹⁶the king approached the altar and went up to it,

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2 Kings 16:2-12 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 2 KINGS 16

This chapter contains the reign of Ahaz only, relates his idolatry, 2Ki 16:1-4 his hiring the king of Assyria with the treasure of the temple, and his own, to assist him against the kings of Israel and Syria, who besieged him, 2Ki 16:5-9, his seeing the altar of an idol at Damascus, the fashion of which he took, and ordered one like it to be built at Jerusalem, 2Ki 16:10-16, his defacing and removing some things in the temple, 2Ki 16:17,18, and the chapter is concluded with his death and burial, 2Ki 16:19,20.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 16

1. 2 Chronicles 28:1-4
2. Leviticus 18:21; 2 Kings 17:17; 2 Kings 21:6
3. Deuteronomy 12:31; 2 Kings 21:2, 11
4. Deuteronomy 12:2; 2 Kings 14:4
5. 2 Kings 15:37; Isaiah 7:1
6. 2 Chronicles 28:5, 6
7. 2 Kings 14:22; 2 Chronicles 26:2
8. 2 Chronicles 28:16
9. 2 Kings 15:29
10. 2 Kings 12:17, 18; 2 Kings 18:15
11. 2 Chronicles 28:21
12. Amos 1:3-5
13. Isaiah 22:6; Amos 9:7
14. 2 Kings 15:29
15. Isaiah 8:2
16. 2 Chronicles 26:16, 19

Footnotes 9

[a]. Or "dispossessed"
[b]. Lit "fight"
[c]. Heb "Eloth"
[d]. So with some ancient versions; Heb "Edomites"
[e]. Lit "palm"
[f]. Lit "palm"
[g]. Lit "likeness"
[h]. Lit "until"
[i]. Or "offered on it"