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The Histories · Old Testament

2 Chronicles 28

2 Chronicles 28: Ahaz's idolatry, the captives sent home and the doors shut

General context

Ahaz is twenty at accession and reigns sixteen years, and he does not do right like David. He makes images for Baalim, burns his children in the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and sacrifices at high places. The Lord delivers him to the king of Syria, who carries many captives to Damascus, and to the king of Israel: Pekah kills a hundred and twenty thousand in Judah in one day, and Israel takes two hundred thousand women and children with spoil to Samaria. The prophet Oded meets the returning army and says they have killed in a rage that reaches heaven and now mean to enslave their brethren; he tells them to send the captives back. Four named heads of Ephraim stand against the soldiers, who leave the captives and spoil, and the named men clothe, feed and anoint the captives and carry the feeble on asses to Jericho. Ahaz sends to Assyria for help, since Edom has struck Judah again and the Philistines have taken towns in the lowland and south. Tilgath-pilneser comes and distresses him instead of helping, though Ahaz pays him from the house of the Lord, the palace and the princes. In distress Ahaz sacrifices to the gods of Damascus, reasoning that they help the kings of Syria; the narrator says they ruined him and all Israel. He cuts up the temple vessels, shuts the doors of the house of the Lord and builds altars across Jerusalem and Judah. He is buried in Jerusalem but not in the kings' sepulchres, and Hezekiah reigns.

Cited passages: 2 Chronicles 28:1, 2 Chronicles 28:2, 2 Chronicles 28:3, 2 Chronicles 28:4, 2 Chronicles 28:5, 2 Chronicles 28:6, 2 Chronicles 28:7, 2 Chronicles 28:8, 2 Chronicles 28:9, 2 Chronicles 28:10, 2 Chronicles 28:11, 2 Chronicles 28:12, 2 Chronicles 28:14, 2 Chronicles 28:15, 2 Chronicles 28:16, 2 Chronicles 28:17, 2 Chronicles 28:18, 2 Chronicles 28:19, 2 Chronicles 28:20, 2 Chronicles 28:21, 2 Chronicles 28:22, 2 Chronicles 28:23, 2 Chronicles 28:24, 2 Chronicles 28:25, 2 Chronicles 28:27

2 Chronicles 28 (KJV)

1Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: but he did not that which was right in the sight of the Lord, like David his father:

2For he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and made also molten images for Baalim.

3Moreover he burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burnt his children in the fire, after the abominations of the heathen whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel.

4He sacrificed also and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree.

5Wherefore the Lord his God delivered him into the hand of the king of Syria; and they smote him, and carried away a great multitude of them captives, and brought them to Damascus. And he was also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel, who smote him with a great slaughter.

6For Pekah the son of Remaliah slew in Judah an hundred and twenty thousand in one day, which were all valiant men; because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers.

7And Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim, slew Maaseiah the king’s son, and Azrikam the governor of the house, and Elkanah that was next to the king.

8And the children of Israel carried away captive of their brethren two hundred thousand, women, sons, and daughters, and took also away much spoil from them, and brought the spoil to Samaria.

9But a prophet of the Lord was there, whose name was Oded: and he went out before the host that came to Samaria, and said unto them, Behold, because the Lord God of your fathers was wroth with Judah, he hath delivered them into your hand, and ye have slain them in a rage that reacheth up unto heaven.

10And now ye purpose to keep under the children of Judah and Jerusalem for bondmen and bondwomen unto you: but are there not with you, even with you, sins against the Lord your God?

11Now hear me therefore, and deliver the captives again, which ye have taken captive of your brethren: for the fierce wrath of the Lord is upon you.

12Then certain of the heads of the children of Ephraim, Azariah the son of Johanan, Berechiah the son of Meshillemoth, and Jehizkiah the son of Shallum, and Amasa the son of Hadlai, stood up against them that came from the war,

13And said unto them, Ye shall not bring in the captives hither: for whereas we have offended against the Lord already, ye intend to add more to our sins and to our trespass: for our trespass is great, and there is fierce wrath against Israel.

14So the armed men left the captives and the spoil before the princes and all the congregation.

15And the men which were expressed by name rose up, and took the captives, and with the spoil clothed all that were naked among them, and arrayed them, and shod them, and gave them to eat and to drink, and anointed them, and carried all the feeble of them upon asses, and brought them to Jericho, the city of palm trees, to their brethren: then they returned to Samaria.

16At that time did king Ahaz send unto the kings of Assyria to help him.

17For again the Edomites had come and smitten Judah, and carried away captives.

18The Philistines also had invaded the cities of the low country, and of the south of Judah, and had taken Beth-shemesh, and Ajalon, and Gederoth, and Shocho with the villages thereof, and Timnah with the villages thereof, Gimzo also and the villages thereof: and they dwelt there.

19For the Lord brought Judah low because of Ahaz king of Israel; for he made Judah naked, and transgressed sore against the Lord.

20And Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria came unto him, and distressed him, but strengthened him not.

21For Ahaz took away a portion out of the house of the Lord, and out of the house of the king, and of the princes, and gave it unto the king of Assyria: but he helped him not.

22And in the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against the Lord: this is that king Ahaz.

23For he sacrificed unto the gods of Damascus, which smote him: and he said, Because the gods of the kings of Syria help them, therefore will I sacrifice to them, that they may help me. But they were the ruin of him, and of all Israel.

24And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God, and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and shut up the doors of the house of the Lord, and he made him altars in every corner of Jerusalem.

25And in every several city of Judah he made high places to burn incense unto other gods, and provoked to anger the Lord God of his fathers.

26Now the rest of his acts and of all his ways, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.

27And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city, even in Jerusalem: but they brought him not into the sepulchres of the kings of Israel: and Hezekiah his son reigned in his stead.

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Historical context

The narrator calls Ahaz king of Israel in the verse about Judah being brought low, though he is king of Judah; the same usage appeared for Jehoshaphat, and the text does not explain it. The king of Syria who takes captives to Damascus is unnamed; Pekah the son of Remaliah is named as king of Israel, Tilgath-pilneser as king of Assyria. Ahaz sends to the kings of Assyria in the plural and one king comes. The prophet Oded speaks in Samaria to the northern army, and the four men who act on his word are named with their fathers. The killings are stated in large figures: a hundred and twenty thousand in a day, two hundred thousand captives, and the king's own children burned in the fire. The narrator describes the gods of Damascus as the gods which smote him, while Ahaz's own words give his reason for sacrificing to them; the two views sit side by side. The shut doors of the house of the Lord are reopened in the first month of Hezekiah's first year in the next chapter, and Hezekiah's speech there recalls the shut doors and the captivity of sons, daughters and wives. The chapter gives no order of dates for the Syrian, Israelite, Edomite and Philistine attacks beyond at that time and again. Ahaz is buried in the city, in Jerusalem, but kept out of the sepulchres.

Cited passages: 2 Chronicles 28:19, 2 Chronicles 21:2, 2 Chronicles 28:5, 2 Chronicles 28:6, 2 Chronicles 28:16, 2 Chronicles 28:20, 2 Chronicles 28:9, 2 Chronicles 28:15, 2 Chronicles 28:3, 2 Chronicles 28:23, 2 Chronicles 28:24, 2 Chronicles 29:3, 2 Chronicles 29:9, 2 Chronicles 28:17, 2 Chronicles 28:27

Literary context

The chapter sets the king of Judah against the people of Samaria. Ahaz burns his children; the northern leaders, hearing one prophet, clothe and feed Judah's children and carry the weak home on asses. The narrator lists that mercy in a string of verbs, the longest sentence of care in the chapter, and places it between the slaughter and the king's appeal to Assyria. The word naked links the two halves: the captives who were naked are clothed, and the king makes Judah naked. Help is the other repeated word. Ahaz sends for help, Assyria strengthens him not and helps him not, and Ahaz then turns to the gods of Damascus so that they may help him; the narrator answers that they were his ruin. The phrase this is that king Ahaz marks the narrator's judgment in the middle of the account. The chapter ends with the doors of the house shut and altars in every corner, and the next chapter opens with the doors opened in the first month, so the shutting is left as the last image of the reign.

Cited passages: 2 Chronicles 28:3, 2 Chronicles 28:15, 2 Chronicles 28:19, 2 Chronicles 28:16, 2 Chronicles 28:20, 2 Chronicles 28:21, 2 Chronicles 28:23, 2 Chronicles 28:22, 2 Chronicles 28:24, 2 Chronicles 29:3

Key moments

  1. Children burned in the fire (2 Chronicles 28:3). Ahaz burns incense in Hinnom and burns his children after the nations' practices.
  2. Pekah's slaughter (2 Chronicles 28:6). The king of Israel kills a hundred and twenty thousand of Judah in one day.
  3. Oded confronts the army (2 Chronicles 28:9). The prophet tells the returning host their rage has reached heaven and the captives must go back.
  4. Captives clothed and returned (2 Chronicles 28:15). Named men of Ephraim clothe, feed and carry the captives to Jericho.
  5. Assyria helps him not (2 Chronicles 28:21). Ahaz strips the temple and palace to pay Assyria and gains nothing.
  6. The gods of Damascus (2 Chronicles 28:23). In distress Ahaz sacrifices to the gods that struck him, to his ruin.
  7. The doors shut (2 Chronicles 28:24). Ahaz cuts up the temple vessels, closes the house of the Lord and builds altars across Jerusalem.

For reflection

The army that killed a hundred and twenty thousand in a day listens to one prophet and sends its captives home clothed, fed and carried. What does the chapter suggest about how near the two responses lie in the same people, and what it takes to move from one to the other?

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