2 Chronicles 28:2

2 But he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and also made molten idols for the Baals.

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 reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what is right in the eyes of Yahweh like David his ancestor.

2 But he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and also made molten idols for the Baals.

3 And he himself burned incense in the valley of Ben-Hinnom and burned his sons in the fire, according to the detestable [practices] of the nations whom Yahweh drove out before the Israelites.

4 And he sacrificed and burned incense at the high places, on the hilltops, and under every flourishing tree.

5 Then Yahweh his God gave him into the hand of the king of Aram who defeated him and captured many captives from him and brought [them to] Damascus. Moreover, he was also given into the hand of the king of Israel, and he defeated him by a great attack.