Ahaz

AHAZ, King of Judah, the Son of Jotham, is celebrated for his impieties and vices. There are some difficulties about the age he was of when he began to reign.¹ In the Year of the World 3262, before J. C. 738, before the vulgar Æra 742.The Text expresses that he was twenty years of age: But how is this to be reconciled with what is said in the same place, that he reigned but sixteen years? from whence it must be necessarily concluded, that he lived but thirty six years. We know however that his Son Hezekiah was five and twenty years of age when he began to reign; it must be said therefore, that his Father Ahaz begat him when as yet he was eleven years old only; and accordingly, many good Commentators² do maintain this. They who cannot be of this opinion, study different ways whereby to disengage themselves out of this perplexity; as may be seen in the several comments upon the second Book of Kings.

Ahaz walked in the ways of the Kings of Israel and Samaria; that is to say, he gave himself up to idolatry and all manner of disorders. One of his Sons he consecrated, by making him pass through, and perish by the fire, in honour of the false God Moloch, according to the Idolatry of those nations, which God destroyed, when the Children of Israel entred into the land of Canaan. He 2 Kings xxi. 1, 2, 3, &c.offered sacrifices and incense upon the high places, upon hills and in groves. About the end of Jotham, King of Judah’s reign, the Lord began to send against Judah, Rezin King of Syria, and Pekah King of Israel. Ch. xv. ult.But these two Kings made inroads into the country principally under Ahaz, and having made great havock there, they first defeated the troops of Ahaz, and then laid 2 Kings xvi. 1, 5.siege to Jerusalem. When they found they could not make themselves masters of it, 2 Chron. xxviii. 5,they divided their Army, and began to plunder every where, and make prisoners. & seq. Isai. vii. 1.Rezin and his part of the Army, marched with all their spoil to Damascus; but that of Pekah having in one Battel only killed an hundred and twenty thousand men of Ahaz’s army, took besides two hundred thousand persons in the country, without distinction of Men, Women or Children. As they were carrying all these Captives to Samaria, the Prophet Oded, with the principal inhabitants of the City, came out to meet them, and prevailed with them, by their remonstrances, to set their prisoners at liberty. They not only did this, but gave them likewise something to eat, restored the booty which they had taken, and those who were not able to perform the journey on foot, were conveyed in carriages to Jericho.

In the Year of the World 3263. before J. C. 737. before the vulg. Æra 741. 2 Chron. xxviii. 17, 18.About the same time the Philistines and Edomites spread themselves like an inundation over the territories of Ahaz, committed a thousand disorders, killed abundance of people, and carried off much booty. In these sad circumstances, and before the siege of Jerusalem, the Prophet Isai. vii. 1, 2, & seq.Isaiah went to Ahaz, foretold the deliverance of his country, and the destruction of his enemies. To prove the truth of his prediction, he gave him the liberty of choosing what prodigy he pleased. But Ahaz refused, and said he would not tempt the Lord. “ Hear then, said Isaiah, O “ House of David, is it a small thing “ for you to weary men, but must ye “ weary my God also? Behold the sign “ which the Lord shall give you, a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and “ shall call his name Immanuel. Butter “ and Honey shall he eat, that he may “ know to refuse the Evil, and choose “ the Good.” At the same time Isaiah, as a demonstration of the approaching ruin of Rezin and Pekah, gave him his Son Hash-baz, and assured him, that before this Child should be able to call his Father or his Mother by their names, the two Kings who were confederated against Judah, should be slain.

2 Kings xvi. 7.But as Ahaz did not change his life, God permitted his Enemies to return again the year following, 3263, and lay waste all the Kingdom of Judah. Then Ahaz seeing no other remedy for his affairs, sent Ambassadors to Tiglath-pileser King of the Assyrians, with commission to say from him, I am thy Servant, and thy Son, come up and save me out of the hands of the King of Syria, and the King of Israel, which rise up against me. And having amassed together all the Gold and Silver which was in the Temple and the Palace, he sent it to the King of Assyria. Immediately therefore Tiglath-pileser marched to the assistance of Ahaz, attacked Rezin, killed him, took his Capital Damascus, destroyed it, removed the inhabitants of it to Cyreve, or rather, into that part of Iberia thro’ which the river Cyrus runs. Ahaz went as far as Damascus to meet the King of Assyria; and having seen there a profane Altar, he sent a model of it to the High-Priest Urijah, that he might have one made like it, and placed in the Temple of Jerusalem. Accordingly, when Ahaz returned thither, he had the Altar removed which was in the Temple, and this fixed there in the room of it. Upon this new Altar he offered Sacrifices, and commanded the High-Priest Urijah never for the future to offer upon any other. He ordered also the bases to be taken away, which were adorned with fine engravings, and the levers of brass which rested on them: He removed likewise the brazen Sea, which was supported by Oxen of the same metal, and commanded them to be placed below, upon the pavement of the Temple. The misfortunes which he saw himself exposed to made him not at all better. In the time 2 Chron. xxviii. 22, 23, &c.of his greatest affliction, he shewed the highest contempt of God. He sacrificed to the Syrian Gods, whom he looked upon as the authors of his calamities, and undertook to make them propitious to him, by honouring them in this manner. He broke in pieces the vessels of the House of God, shut up the gates of the Temple, and erected Altars in all parts of Jerusalem. He set up Altars likewise in all the cities of Judah, with a design to offer incense on them. At last he slept with his Fathers, and was buried in Jerusalem; but not in the Sepulchers of the Kings of Judah his Predecessors; this honour he was deprived of, because of his iniquities³. Hezekiah his Son reigned in his stead, in the year of the World 3278. before J. C. 722. before the vulgar Æra 726.

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