2 Kings 16 Study Notes
Share
This resource is exclusive for PLUS Members
Upgrade now and receive:
- Ad-Free Experience: Enjoy uninterrupted access.
- Exclusive Commentaries: Dive deeper with in-depth insights.
- Advanced Study Tools: Powerful search and comparison features.
- Premium Guides & Articles: Unlock for a more comprehensive study.
16:14-15a Perhaps at the suggestion of some visiting Assyrian official (cp. v. 18), Ahaz moved the original bronze altar of the Lord to a less central place in the temple to give prominence to the altar of the Assyrian god.
16:15b-16 Ahaz, however, remained true to the Lord in one activity. He designated the bronze altar of the Lord as the king’s private altar where he would seek guidance, presumably from the Lord. The traditional means of guidance was through the sacred lots, the Urim and Thummim, though some suggest that Ahaz used pagan divinations.
16:17 Bronze was a valuable commodity. So, as an accommodating subject, Ahaz stripped bronze off the sacred fittings of the Lord’s house and even sent the bronze from the twelve oxen of the bronze basin to Assyria as tribute. However, the valuable metal of Moses’s bronze serpent was not sent to Assyria since it was still there years later (18:4).
16:18 The significance of removing the Sabbath canopy and closing the special entrance for the king is not clear. The only thing certain is that something in them offended the king of Assyria.
16:19-20 Ahaz’s record closes with the typical formula statement.