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SERIES N --- THE EXILE --- LESSON 05

JOTHAM AND AHAZ

KING AHAZ OF JUDAH

From 2 Kings 16; 2 Chronicles 28

Ahaz became king when he was twenty years old and ruled over Judah for sixteen years in Jerusalem. He began his reign during the seventeenth year of King Pekah’s rule in Israel. King Ahaz of Judah turned out to be as wicked as the kings of Israel, for he did not follow Adonai as his ancestor David had done. He made molten idols to the Baals, offered sacrifices in the Hinnom Valley, and even burned his own sons in offerings to the heathen gods, just as the nations which Adonai had driven from the land so that Israel might live there had done. Ahaz also offered sacrifices on the high places where shrines had been built to idols in the hills and under the trees. Adonai brought great trouble upon Ahaz through King Rezin of Syria and King Pekah the son of Remaliah of Israel. King Rezin invaded Judah and although he did not completely conquer it, he regained the city of Elath, driving the Jews out of it and sending Syrians to live there instead. He also took large numbers of the people of Judah as captives to Damascus. The armies of Israel swept down across Judah, killing large numbers of the soldiers of Ahaz’s army, as many as one hundred and twenty thousand in a single day. Zichri, a Great War hero from Ephraim, killed the king’s son Maaseiah, the king’s palace official and Elkanah who was next in command to the king. The army of Israel also captured two hundred thousand women and children of Judah, along with a large amount of booty, taking all to Samaria. When the army returned to Samaria with these prisoners, the prophet Oded came out to meet them. [Listen to me,] he said. [Adonai let you defeat the people of Judah because He was angry with them for sinning. But you murdered many of them and YHVH is now displeased with you. Even though you know that, you are trying to make slaves of those who are left alive. Don’t you have enough sins of your own? Listen! Send these relatives of yours back to their homes and families, for Adonai are angry with you.] Some of the leaders of Ephraim joined the prophet in this protest. Among them were Azariah the son of Johanan, Berechiah the son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah the son of Shallum, and Amasa the son of Hadlai. They spoke firmly to the men of war who had brought the prisoners. [Don’t bring those people here!] they said. [We have done enough to anger Adonai. Now you want to add to our sins, which are so great that Adonai is angry with us.] When the army officers heard this, they left the prisoners and the booty with the tribal leaders and the people. The four leaders named above, distributed clothing, shoes, food, and wine to the prisoners, taking these things from the booty which had been captured. They put the old and the sick on donkeys and returned all the prisoners to their friends and families at Jericho, the City of Palm Trees. Then the people of Israel who had taken the prisoners to Jericho returned home to Samaria. Then King Ahaz of Judah sent messengers to King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria with a rich gift of silver and gold from the temple and from the king’s treasures. [Come and rescue your servant and son from the kings of Syria and Israel,] he pleaded. Tiglath-pileser accepted the pleas of Ahaz, invaded Syria, seized Damascus, sent its people into exile at Kir and executed King Rezin. Then Ahaz went to meet Tiglath-pileser at Damascus and tried to get him to join him in his war against Edom and the Philistines, for Edom was raiding Judah and taking many of its people as slaves. The Philistines had also invaded the land. They had captured Beth-shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, Soco, Timnah, and Gimzo with the surrounding villages and had settled many of their own people in these places. But Tiglath-pileser brought trouble to Ahaz instead of helping him further, even though Ahaz had given him much silver and gold. While he was at Damascus, Ahaz saw a Syrian altar which he liked. He made a model of it, complete in every detail and sent it to Uriah the priest at Jerusalem. Uriah made a full-size altar according to the model, and it was ready for the king when he returned home. Ahaz inspected the altar, which he assumed would help him as he thought it had helped the Syrians. Then he offered a burnt offering and meal offering upon it. He also poured out a drink offering and sprinkled the blood of peace offerings upon it. King Ahaz removed the bronze altar which had been part of the temple and placed it on the north side of the new altar. He gave instructions to Uriah the priest to use the new altar for the offerings instead of the old bronze one. [Offer the morning burnt offering, the evening meal offering, the king’s burnt offering and meal offering and the offerings of the people including their meal and drink offerings on this new altar,] King Ahaz ordered. [Also sprinkle the blood from the burnt offerings against the new altar. But save the old altar so that I may use it personally to inquire about things to come.] Uriah the priest followed the king’s instructions. Ahaz also made a number of other changes in the temple area, cutting the frames of the stands which held the water vats, and removing the vats from them. He also removed the great bronze laver from the large bronze oxen which formed its base and placed it instead on a stone base. Then because of the king of Assyria, he removed the Shabbat passageway which was between the temple and the king’s palace. When Ahaz died, he was buried in the royal cemetery in Jerusalem, in the City of David, and his son Hezekiah became the new king of Judah. The rest of his adventures are recorded in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah.

COMMENTARY

KING AHAZ OF JUDAH

The events that occurred during King Ahaz’s reign brought about an irreversible change in the course of history -- not only for Judah, but also for all the surrounding nations. When Ahaz replaced Jotham as king, Judah was under great pressure from the kings of Israel and Syria. They demanded that Judah join an alliance they were forming against Tiglath-pileser, the Assyrian king. His armies had already made one campaign in the west, and Syria and Israel would be the first to suffer from another. Ahaz refused to join the alliance. In response, King Rezin of Syria and King Pekah of Israel attempted to remove Ahaz from the throne and replace him with a ruler sympathetic to their cause. Their combined armies attacked Judah, deporting thousands of captives and killing thousands more. Judah was not destroyed, but it was so badly weakened that the small nations surrounding Judah seized the opportunity to break free of its rule. The Edomites, possibly with the help of Syria, reclaimed the port of Elath. The Philistines, weak since the days of King David, joined the general rebellion, reclaimed disputed lands and raided cities in the Negeb and the fertile Shephelah region. Attacked from all sides, Ahaz felt threatened and isolated. Against the advice of the prophet Isaiah, the king sought military aid from the only nation capable of helping him. He stripped the temple and palace of wealth and sent the gift to Tiglath-pileser III with an appeal for help. It proved to be a terrible mistake. For years, Tiglath-pileser had been rebuilding Assyrian power and prestige, and was planning a war of conquest in the west. Ahaz’s plea provided a {legitimate} excuse for such a campaign, so Tiglath-pileser responded without delay. Within three years Tiglath-pileser quelled the Philistine revolt, conquered Israel and achieved the downfall of Damascus. Syria and Israel both lost their identity as independent countries, becoming mere provinces of the Assyrian Empire. Summoned to Tiglath-pileser’s victory court at Damascus, Ahaz had little choice but to pledge his loyalty. Judah thus joined the list of those nations made vassal to Assyria.

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