2 Kings 16:3

3 but he went in the way of the kings of Israel. Furthermore and he hallowed his son, and bare, or drew him, through the fire, after the idols of heathen men, which the Lord destroyed before the sons of Israel. (but he went in the way of the kings of Israel. And furthermore, he offered his own son in the fire, as a sacrifice to the idols of the heathen, whom the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites.)

2 Kings 16:3 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 16:3

But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel.
&c.] Worshipping the calves as they did; which, as it was contrary to the religious sentiments in which he was educated, so against his political interest, which was the only, or at least the principal thing, which swayed with the kings of Israel to continue that idolatry:

yea, and made his son to pass through the fire;
between two fires to Molech, by way of lustration; which might be true of Hezekiah his son, and others of his sons, for he had more he burnt with fire, as appears from ( 2 Chronicles 28:3 ) , both ways were used in that sort of idolatry, (See Gill on Leviticus 18:21),

according to the abominations of the heathen, whom the Lord cast out
from before the children of Israel;
the old Canaanites; so the Carthaginians, a colony of the Phoenicians, used in time of calamity to offer human sacrifices, and even their children, to appease their deities ^F12. Theodoret says, he had seen in some cities, in his time, piles kindled once a year, over which not only boys, but men, would leap, and infants were carried by their mothers through the flames; which seemed to be an expiation or purgation, and which he takes to be the same with the sin of Ahaz.

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FOOTNOTES:

F12 Justin. e Trogo, Hist. l. 18. c. 6. Curt. Hist. l. 4. c. 3. Pescennius Festus apud Lactant. de fals. Relig. l. 1. c. 21.

2 Kings 16:3 In-Context

1 In the seventeenth year of Pekah, the son of Remaliah, Ahaz, the son of Jotham, king of Judah, reigned (began to reign).

2 Ahaz was of twenty years, when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem; he did not that, that was pleasant in the sight of his Lord God, as David, his father, did (he did not do what was pleasing before the Lord his God, as his forefather David did),

3 but he went in the way of the kings of Israel. Furthermore and he hallowed his son, and bare, or drew him, through the fire, after the idols of heathen men, which the Lord destroyed before the sons of Israel. (but he went in the way of the kings of Israel. And furthermore, he offered his own son in the fire, as a sacrifice to the idols of the heathen, whom the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites.)

4 And he offered sacrifices, and burnt incense in (the) high places, and in (the) hills, and under each tree full of boughs. (And he offered sacrifices, and burned incense at the hill shrines, and on the hills, and under each tree full of boughs.)

5 Then Rezin, king of Syria, and Pekah, son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up into Jerusalem to fight with Ahaz; and when they besieged Ahaz, they might not overcome him (but when they besieged Ahaz, they could not overcome him).