CHAPTER XXII

_THE REIGN OF AHAZ_

B.C. 735-715

2 KINGS xvi. 1-20

"Rimmon, whose delightful seat Was fair Damascus, on the fertile banks Of Abbana and Pharphar, lucid streams. He also against the House of God was bold: A leper once he lost, and gained a king-- Ahaz, his sottish conqueror, whom he drew God's altar to disparage and displace For one of Syrian mode, whereon to burn His odious offerings, and adore the gods Whom he had vanquished." _Paradise Lost_, i. 467-476.

According to our authorities, Ahaz ("Possessor")[435] began his reign of sixteen years at the age of twenty. Of the exactitude of these references we cannot be certain, because they also state (2 Kings