xxxii. 25 (Authorized Version and Revised Version) where the same

Hebrew verb is twice used.

²⁰And Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria came unto¹ him, and distressed him, but strengthened him not². 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 it helped him not.

¹ Or, _against_.

² Or, _prevailed not against him_.

=20.= _Tilgath-pilneser_] i.e. Tiglath-pileser IV. Compare 1 Chronicles v. 6 (note).

_came ... him not_] Tiglath-pileser, invoked as an ally, is here represented as having come as an unscrupulous oppressor, accepting the bribe and not fulfilling the task for which he was paid by Ahaz (verse 21). But neither 2 Kings nor the Assyrian records relate that Tiglath-pileser thus came into Judah; and it must be remarked that the Hebrew text in this verse does not inspire confidence. Any interpretation is accordingly rendered uncertain.

=22‒25= (compare 2 Kings xvi. 10‒18). APOSTASY OF AHAZ.

²²And in the time of his distress¹ did he trespass yet more against the LORD, this same king Ahaz. ²³For he sacrificed unto the gods of Damascus², which smote him: and he said, Because the gods of the kings of Syria helped them, _therefore_ will I sacrifice to them, that they may help me. But they were the ruin of him, and of all Israel.

¹ Or, _that he distressed him_.

² Hebrew _Darmesek_.

=23.= _the gods of Damascus_] In 2 Kings the statement is merely that Ahaz made a copy of an altar which he saw at Damascus, and sacrificed upon it. The altar at Damascus was probably the one used by Tiglath-pileser and therefore an Assyrian rather than a Damascene altar. The use of such an altar was an act of apostasy from Jehovah, for a foreign altar implied a foreign god; compare 2 Kings v. 17.

_the gods ... which smote him_] Early passages of the Old Testament show that the Israelites for long believed the gods of other peoples to be no less real than Jehovah. Later, when the teaching of the great prophets had impressed on the people the sense of Jehovah’s supreme majesty, the alien deities, though still conceived as real Beings holding sway over the nations worshipping them, were felt to be incomparable with Jehovah, hardly deserving therefore the title of God. Still later, in certain circles, all reality whatever was denied to the gods of the heathen; they were nothing at all (compare Isaiah xl.‒xlviii., _passim_). Almost certainly the last opinion would be the belief of the Chronicler and of _most_ orthodox Jews of his time; so that it is unnecessary to suppose that the present phrase “which smote him” is more than a convenient way of speaking. It does not indicate that the Chronicler, or even his source in Kings, believed in the existence of these gods of Damascus. On the other hand the Chronicler (and his source) does imply in this verse that _Ahaz_ had a lively belief in the efficacy and reality of the gods of his foes; and therein no doubt he correctly represents the condition of thought in that period.

_the gods of the kings of Syria helped them_] At this time the Syrians of Damascus had been conquered by the Assyrians under Tiglath-pileser (2 Kings xvi. 9), so that either we must suppose a confusion in the Chronicler’s mind, or else the statement needs to be corrected by reading “kings of _Assyria_ (Asshur)” for “kings of _Syria_ (Aram).” The reading “Syria” might be due to some writer or scribe, who lived at a time when one Empire extended from Babylon to the Mediterranean and included both Syria and Assyria. Such was the case under the Persians and under the successors of Alexander down to the time of the Maccabees. The Romans similarly failed at first to distinguish the ancient empire east of the Euphrates, i.e. Assyria (= Asshur), from the peoples west of the Euphrates, the Arameans, whom they mistakenly called “Syrians” (a shortened form of “Assyrians”), whose chief cities were Antioch, Hamath, and Damascus. This use of “Syrian” has passed over into English, but the more accurate designation is “Aramean”; compare Genesis xxviii. 5 (Revised Version).

_helped them_] Render “help them.”

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.

=24.= _cut in pieces the vessels_] Presumably in order to smelt them and put the metal to other uses; compare 2 Kings xxiv. 13. According to 2 Kings xvi. 17 Ahaz merely “cut off the borders (‘panels’ Revised Version margin) of the bases and removed the laver from off them, and took down the sea from off the brasen oxen that were under it, and put it upon a pavement of stone.” In Chronicles something more than this is intended, for “the vessels” would naturally mean such vessels as are mentioned in 2 Kings xxiv. 13.

_shut up the doors_] The Chronicler possibly derives his statement from the difficult passage 2 Kings xvi. 18 (_vide_ Authorized Version and Revised Version). That passage, however, speaks merely of an alteration carried out by Ahaz on one of the entrances to the Temple, but says nothing of a complete closing of the Temple; indeed it may be gathered from 2 Kings xvi. 14‒16 that the Temple was not closed and that the daily service went on, _with the great change_ that the king’s new altar was used instead of the brasen altar. The Chronicler, unwilling to suppose so horrible a desecration of the Temple as the performance of Ahaz’ idolatries within its precincts would involve, placed these rites outside the area of the Temple and expressly asserts that the Temple was closed.

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

=25.= _in every several city_] Compare Jeremiah ii. 28.

=26, 27= (= 2 Kings xvi. 19, 20). THE END OF AHAZ.

²⁶Now the rest of his acts, and 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; for they brought him not into the sepulchres of the kings of Israel: and Hezekiah his son reigned in his stead.

=27.= _they brought him not into the sepulchres of the kings of Israel_] An alteration of 2 Kings which says that Ahaz “was buried with his fathers.” Compare xxi. 20, xxiv. 25, xxvi. 23.