2 Chronicles 28:2

2 Ahaz did the same things the kings of Israel had done. He made metal idols to worship Baal.

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 twenty years old when he became king, and he ruled sixteen years in Jer-usalem. Unlike his ancestor David, he did not do what the Lord said was right.

2 Ahaz did the same things the kings of Israel had done. He made metal idols to worship Baal.

3 He burned incense in the Valley of Ben Hinnom and made his children pass through the fire. He did the same hateful sins as the nations had done whom the Lord had forced out of the land ahead of the Israelites.

4 Ahaz offered sacrifices and burned incense at the places where gods were worshiped, and on the hills, and under every green tree.

5 So the Lord his God handed over Ahaz to the king of Aram. The Arameans defeated Ahaz and took many people of Judah as prisoners to Damascus. He also handed over Ahaz to Pekah king of Israel, and Pekah's army killed many soldiers of Ahaz.