| Back to Home Page | Back to Book Index
|
2 Kings Chapter
Sixteen
2 Kings 16
Chapter Contents
Ahaz
king of Judah
His wicked reign. (1-9) Ahaz takes a
pattern from an idol's altar. (10-16) Ahaz spoils the temple. (17-20)
Commentary on 2 Kings 16:1-9
(Read 2 Kings 16:1-9)
Few and evil were the days of Ahaz. Those whose hearts
condemn them
will go any where in a day of distress
rather than to God. The
sin was its own punishment. It is common for those who bring themselves into
straits by one sin
to try to help themselves out by another.
Commentary on 2 Kings 16:10-16
(Read 2 Kings 16:10-16)
God's altar had hitherto been kept in its place
and in
use; but Ahaz put another in the room of it. The natural regard of the mind of
man to some sort of religion
is not easily extinguished; but except it be
regulated by the word
and by the Spirit of God
it produces absurd
superstitions
or detestable idolatries. Or
at best
it quiets the sinner's
conscience with unmeaning ceremonies. Infidels have often been remarkable for believing
ridiculous falsehoods.
Commentary on 2 Kings 16:17-20
(Read 2 Kings 16:17-20)
Ahaz put contempt upon the sabbath
and thus opened a
wide inlet to all manner of sin. This he did for the king of Assyria. When
those who have had a ready passage to the house of the Lord
turn it another
way to please their neighbours
they are going down-hill apace to ruin.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on 2 Kings》
2 Kings 16
Verse 3
[3] But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel
yea
and made his son to pass through the fire
according to the abominations of the
heathen
whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel.
Pass — By way of oblation
so as to be consumed for a
burnt-offering
which was the practice of Heathens
and of some Israelites
in
imitation of them.
Verse 5
[5] Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah king
of Israel came up to Jerusalem to war: and they besieged Ahaz
but could not
overcome him.
Could not overcome — Because God of his
own mere grace
undertook his protection
and disappointed the hopes of his
enemies.
Verse 7
[7] So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglathpileser king of
Assyria
saying
I am thy servant and thy son: come up
and save me out of the
hand of the king of Syria
and out of the hand of the king of Israel
which
rise up against me.
Sent messengers
… — But was it because
there was no God in Israel
that he sent to the Assyrian for help? The sin
itself was its own punishment; for tho' it served his present turn
yet he made
but an ill bargain
seeing he not only impoverished himself
but enslaved both
himself and his people.
Verse 12
[12] And when the king was come from Damascus
the king saw
the altar: and the king approached to the altar
and offered thereon.
Offered — A sacrifice
and that not to God
but to the Syrian
idols
to whom that altar was appropriated.
Verse 13
[13] And he burnt his burnt offering and his meat offering
and poured his drink offering
and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings
upon the altar.
Peace-offerings — For the Heathens; and Ahaz
in
imitation of them
offered the same sorts of offerings to their false gods
which the Israelites did to the true.
Verse 14
[14] And he brought also the brasen altar
which was before
the LORD
from the forefront of the house
from between the altar and the house
of the LORD
and put it on the north side of the altar.
Brazen attar — Of burnt-offerings
made by
Solomon
and placed there by God's appointment.
From between
… — His new altar was at first set
below the brazen altar
and at a farther distance from the temple. This he took
for a disparagement to his altar; and therefore impiously takes that away
and
puts his in its place.
And put
… — So he put God's altar out of its
place and use! A bolder stroke than the very worst of kings had hitherto given
to religion.
Verse 15
[15] And king Ahaz commanded Urijah the priest
saying
Upon
the great altar burn the morning burnt offering
and the evening meat offering
and the king's burnt sacrifice
and his meat offering
with the burnt offering
of all the people of the land
and their meat offering
and their drink
offerings; and sprinkle upon it all the blood of the burnt offering
and all
the blood of the sacrifice: and the brasen altar shall be for me to enquire by.
Great altar — This new altar; which was greater
than Solomon's.
Sacrifice — Whatsoever is offered to the true
God
either in my name (for possibly he did not yet utterly forsake God
but
worshipped idols with him) or on the behalf of the people
shall be offered on
this new altar.
Enquire by — That shall be reserved for my
proper use
to enquire by; at which I may seek God
or enquire of his will
by
sacrifices joined with prayer
when I shall see fit. Having thrust it out from
the use for which it was instituted
which was to sanctify the gifts offered
upon it
he pretends to advance it above its institution
which it is common
for superstitious people to do. But to overdo is to underdo. Our wisdom is
to
do just what God has commanded.
Verse 18
[18] And the covert for the sabbath that they had built in
the house
and the king's entry without
turned he from the house of the LORD
for the king of Assyria.
The covert — The form and use whereof is now
unknown. It is generally understood of some building
either that where the
priests after their weekly course was ended
abode until the next course came;
which was done upon the sabbath-day: or that in which the guard of the temple
kept their station; or that under which the king used to sit to hear God's
word
and see the sacrifices; which is called
the covert of the sabbath
because the chief times in which the king used it for those ends
was the
weekly sabbath
and other solemn days of feasting
or fasting (which all come
under the name of sabbaths in the Old Testament) upon which the king used more
solemnly
to present himself before the Lord
than at other times.
The entry — By which the king used to go from
his palace to the temple.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on 2 Kings》
16 Chapter 16
Verses 1-18
Verses 1-20
In the seventeenth year of Pekah.
A people’s king and priest
or kinghood and priesthood
I. The kinghood.
1. The de-humanising force of false religion. Ahaz was an idolator.
2. The national curse of a corrupt king-hood.
3. The mischievous issues of a temporary expediency. Ahaz
in order
to extricate himself from the difficulties and trials which Rezin and Pekah had
brought on his country
applies to the King of Assyria.
II. The priesthood.
Urijah is the priest. There seems to have been more than one of this name
and
nothing is known of him more than what is recorded in this chapter. He was a
priest
who at this time presided in the temple of Jerusalem. He seems to have
been influential in the State
and
although a professed monotheist
was in
somewhat close connection with Ahaz the idolatrous king. Two things are worthy of
note concerning him.
1. An obsequious obedence to the royal will. The Assyrian king having
taken Damascus
is followed by Ahaz to the city; in order
no doubt
to
congratulate him on his triumphs. While at Damascus
Ahaz is struck with the
beauty of an altar. He seems to have been so charmed with it that he commands
Urijah
his priest
to make one exactly like it.
2. An obsequious silence to the royal profanation. See what the king
did
no doubt
in the presence of the priest. This fawning
sacerdotal
sycophant not only “did according to all King Ahaz commanded
” but he stood by
silently and witnessed without a word of protest this spoliation of the holy
temple. (David Thomas
D. D.)
Verses 1-20
In the seventeenth year of Pekah.
A people’s king and priest
or kinghood and priesthood
I. The kinghood.
1. The de-humanising force of false religion. Ahaz was an idolator.
2. The national curse of a corrupt king-hood.
3. The mischievous issues of a temporary expediency. Ahaz
in order
to extricate himself from the difficulties and trials which Rezin and Pekah had
brought on his country
applies to the King of Assyria.
II. The priesthood.
Urijah is the priest. There seems to have been more than one of this name
and
nothing is known of him more than what is recorded in this chapter. He was a
priest
who at this time presided in the temple of Jerusalem. He seems to have
been influential in the State
and
although a professed monotheist
was in
somewhat close connection with Ahaz the idolatrous king. Two things are worthy of
note concerning him.
1. An obsequious obedence to the royal will. The Assyrian king having
taken Damascus
is followed by Ahaz to the city; in order
no doubt
to congratulate
him on his triumphs. While at Damascus
Ahaz is struck with the beauty of an
altar. He seems to have been so charmed with it that he commands Urijah
his
priest
to make one exactly like it.
2. An obsequious silence to the royal profanation. See what the king
did
no doubt
in the presence of the priest. This fawning
sacerdotal
sycophant not only “did according to all King Ahaz commanded
” but he stood by
silently and witnessed without a word of protest this spoliation of the holy
temple. (David Thomas
D. D.)
Verses 10-15
And King Ahaz went to Damascus . . . and saw an altar.
The cosmopolitan in religion
This is an incident familiar to all Bible students. You know that
King Ahaz
and it is saying a great deal
was about the most foolish and weak
king that ever sat upon the throne of Judah. After the time of Solomon the
kingdom was threatened by the neighbouring kingdom of Israel
which had made a
league with the King of Syria
whose centre was in Damascus. They had already
besieged Jerusalem ineffectually. It was the time when Isaiah the prophet was
carrying on his ministry in the holy city. He advised this weak and foolish
young man to have no fear whatever of the two powers that were leagued against
him
He described them in that uncomplimentary phrase of two “smoking stumps of
firebrands”--what you would describe as spent forces--and advised the young
king to be quiet
and trust in God. But trust in God was not original or clever
enough for Ahaz. He was one of the men who thought that you might trust in God
when you had exhausted every other resource. So
instead of trusting in God
he
proceeded to do the very opposite thing--to strip the temple of Jehovah of its
vessels of gold and silver
to strip its walls of the platings of gold
and to
send this gold
with some treasures from his own house
as a present to
Tiglath-pileser
the King of Assyria--the Roman Empire of that day
threatening
and menacing every other power--and he said: “I am thy son and thy servant;
come and save me out of the hands of the King of Israel and the King of Syria.”
And the device succeeded; the glittering gold secured the strong arm of the
Assyrian king. Tiglath-pileser conquered Syria
led away the king of it
captive
established some sort of a seat at Damascus; and Ahaz went up to visit
him
and while there turned things over in his own mind
and
thinking that
religion was very useful to a politician
he came across a heathen altar--an
elaborate and aesthetic
altar--and it occurred to him that it would be another original thing to
enlarge the original scope of the temple at Jerusalem
and to bring something
of an ornate character into its service
by erecting there an altar of the
exact pattern of the thing he had seen at Damascus. Having unfortunately a
creature who was supple and obedient
in Urijah the priest--the very opposite
of Isaiah the prophet--having
sent an exact pattern of the altar by special messenger to Jerusalem
his
assiduous and time-serving priest had it all ready by the time of his return.
It was put in the centre of the sanctuary
and now said King Ahaz to his supple
and accommodating religious functionary
“I am not going to desert the old
altar
it is to be kept on the premises
it is to be moved a little to the
north; the great altar is to take the central position
the altar with the
heathen embellishments upon it
with heathen and corrupt associations connected
with it
is to have the centre; but I am not going over to heathenism--God
forbid!--I have a very tender place in my heart for the old altar
and in the
day when trouble comes
and when perhaps this brilliant experiment in religion
has failed
in the day when darkness falls
the old altar will do for me to
inquire by.” He did not know that he was mocking God when he did that.
1. Have you met this man Ahaz? I have seen him. He is a type
and the
type is not extinct. He is like a man who has gone away from the Church that
gave him all that he was ever worth
and he says that he has not gone away from
it. The old altar is not put away
it is only in practice that he has gone over
to another Church--for family reasons
and for aesthetic considerations. I
think you have met the man
and know the type. The cosmopolitan in matters of
religion
the man who comes to you and raves about the wonders of Buddhism; and
he asks you if you have read the Vedas and the Zendavesta
and if you are acquainted
with Confucian philosophy
and if you know that there is really a great deal of
truth and merit in heathen religion. Now nobody would deny that this man had
made some sort of a discovery
as Ahaz did
but nobody sensible has ever
thought of denying that there is a certain element of truth in heathen
religions. God has not left Himself without witness; He has not been doing
nothing in the great heathen countries through all the ages; He has spoken here
and there; and there may be enough truth in a system to hold it together for
centuries. But you may be sure that the man who talks in this way has not on
the spot considered the product of heathen religion
and when he talks of the
picturesqueness of many heathen customs
he has forgotten the degradation and
the uncleanness and the shameful superstition and the unutterable cruelty and
lies that are connected with the religions that he praises. Either the
Christian religion was designed and destined to supersede and supplant all
others
or it was not
and we must make up our minds. Study comparative
religions if you will
but the man who studies the Christian religion
and digs
deeply into it
contents
will find a glory that takes to itself every
scattered ray of glory that is in every other religion
and repels all that is
base and degrading and unworthy. If the Christian religion is not intended to
supersede and supplant all others
if the faiths of the world were sufficient
by themselves to save the world
even the faith of Judah
with its doctrine of
one righteous and holy God
then the Incarnation was a superfluity
and the cross and bitter
passion of our Lord were altogether unnecessary
The cosmopolitan in religion
does not dig deeply enough into the glory that excels
to see that it does
excel all other light.
2. But I go on to speak
the next place
of this man as the type of a
man who will do anything
right or wrong
in order to succeed. Why did he erect
the Assyrian altar
or a pattern of it
in the temple at Jerusalem? Not because it
was false
or because it was true; the man did not understand religion a bit; it
was a kind of penny-in-the-slot business; them was magic in it; you did
something
and something came out of it
and he knew nothing better than that.
But he knew that this altar was the altar of a powerful nation
and that the men who
worshipped at it were succeeding
and there is where we make the mistake
to-day. We are worshipping success
right or wrong. Of course you want to
succeed; it would be exceedingly foolish on my part
and useless to suggest to
any man before me that he should not desire passionately the success of
anything with which he is connected. There is a danger of worshipping success
in the Christian Church
of sacrificing inward things for numbers and wealth in
the character of the Church. Naturally
I want my business to succeed
but I
want to know how the dividends are earned. That is a question that every
Christian man should ask. Naturally I want my party to succeed
but the party
had better journey in the wilderness for fifty years than sacrifice any of its
sincerity and its views for the sake of office. I would say in all earnestness that my ambition to
succeed
and yours
must in all things be strictly subordinated to our ambition
and purpose to do the will of God everywhere
and when we stand upon the
threshold of an enterprise we must not admit anything into it
if we know it
that will clash with the will of God
and that will not be in accordance with
our conscience. What is religion? What do some people think it to be? Is it a
series of ecclesiastical and ceremonial operations
which God will accept as an
equivalent or a substitute for a man’s heart obedience? Is it an endeavour to
get the Most High over to your side
right or wrong? Is it not a feeling after
God
and finding Him
and then submitting the whole life
with all its
possibilities of success or failure to the absolute and undisputed authority
and will of God?
3. I think I can see a little bit of a parable in this sad history.
There is a temple of God in the heart of every man here to-day which should be
kept inviolate for Him
and the golden vessels in it are the convictions that
God has created in your heart; and you must say
in the sight of God
“I will
not sacrifice one of these to ward off any impending danger
to buy over any
strong thing to my side; here I stand
I can no other; where God has placed me
whatever comes.” I know what it means
I have graduated in business
and I know
it--how you are tempted to stretch a point here and there in the presence of
new combinations
in the presence of new competition and anti-Christian
customs. There is
a crisis coming on
and they tell you that if you will not bribe people and
drink with people
and do this
that
and the other
you will not succeed; and
you say
“I know it is abominable.” Will you whittle away the abominableness of
it until you make it fit for you to do it? Or will you say
“I can fail
but I
can’t stifle my conscience
and I cannot stifle the voice of God in my soul
I
cannot do evil that good may come.” Whenever you are tempted to do it
remember
the apostle’s words about the people who do it--it is a strong word
not a bit
too strong--“whose damnation is just.”
4. This is a man who
like many people to-day
tries to do an
impossible thing--to serve two masters--and he fails. He is going to keep in touch
with the true religion
and he is going to give the central place in life to
the religion that has only a grain of truth in it at best. He did not want to
cut himself adrift from the old religion; he had a great respect for it
and he
wanted to keep it on the premises
just as a man keeps a Bible on the premises.
He is going to resort to it in time of trouble; it is as great a comfort to him
as it is for him to know that there is a doctor somewhere in the vicinity if
illness should come. It would be too shocking to give up religion. Yes
but you
can relegate religion to the north side of the altar
and give it a subordinate
place
or you think you can
and you fail to see that you are mocking it. A
great many people say
“I like religion all very well in its place.” Where is
the place of religion? Some people think the proper place for religion is in
the pew
and it is to be left there with the hymn-book on Sundays
and returned
to when Sunday comes back again. We do not understand the heart of religion until
we understand that there is no place for religion in a man’s life unless it has
the first place
because the Lord Jesus Christ will not be one in a Pantheon of
many deities; it must be all or nothing. Not the main altar for business and
pleasure and fame
and a little comer on the north side for Jesus Christ; but
the supreme altar for Him
and He must govern your pleasures and your business.
Until we can say
“For me to live is Christ
” we have not come to the heart of
the Christian life. (C. Brown.)
The altar to “inquire by”
I call special attention to the last words--“and the brasen altar
shall be for me to inquire by.” Ahaz directed first of all that his own
offerings should be offered upon this new altar. He then commanded that the
offerings of the people
the morning and evening sacrifices as well as special
offerings
should be offered upon it. Nor did Ahaz stop here; for this is an
illustration of the fact that when we begin to interfere with God’s plan
and
to introduce into the divine economy of things our own improvements
we are
only beginning a course of action which will become more daring and irreverent
as time passes by.
1. Now I want you to observe how when once a man dares to interfere
with Divine ordinances
there is no telling where such a course will end. The
history of retrogression in this direction is a very striking one. Even Ahaz
would not have dared to do all he did at once; but having once erected a
heathen altar in the sanctuary of the God of Israel
the other things naturally
followed. The first stop was the one which prepared the way for every other
step. Ahaz had not been in sympathy with the worship of God from his earliest
days. He had entered more and more into alliance with heathen powers. He had
become a diplomatist in everything; even his religion had become a thing of
diplomacy. The result was that the great brazen altar upon which the nation had
offered its sacrifices for centuries was at length removed by him out of the
way
and an altar of his own making was made to take its place. But even now
what did Ahaz say with regard to the old altar? Should it be removed right out
of the temple? No
the man was diplomatic still. “The brasen altar shall be for
me to inquire by.” Now this word 18 ambiguous
as ambiguous in the Hebrew as it
is in the English.
2. This conduct on the part of Ahaz in cautiously postponing the
final decision what he would do with the altar he readily thrust aside
exactly
illustrates what some men and women have done many a time. There are some here to-night
who remember their earliest days with strange and conflicting feelings. Their
earliest recollections ought to be to them exceedingly sacred. They remember
the hallowing influences which surrounded them in their early homes
when
simple piety reigned in that family. But possibly some of you have since then
gone out into the world
and have done what Ahaz did. You have formed
friendships with other men than those with whom your father would have
fraternised; but then you have known more of life
as you say
and you have
prospered more than your father ever did. As men of the world you laugh at the
simplicities of your ancestors
and smile at the little they knew of the
competitions of life
and how unequal they would be for the fight of to-day.
Your father
you freely admit
was a good man. There can be no doubt about
that; no one ever doubted his sincerity
his faith
for he was so childlike and
simple; but
poor man
so you think
he did not know as much as you do; and
then
after all
good as he was
hew as very narrow and bigoted in his views.
On the contrary
you have learned
you think
to realise that there is good in
everything. You favour all that because you say it is expansive
and shows
broad thought and profound sympathies; and just as Ahaz never thought for a
moment that he was worshipping other gods by his innovation
so you
with your broad
charity and expansive views
are bringing into the religion of Jesus Christ
what He never ordained
and after all think that the Spirit which inspired the
apostles is going on inspiring you
but that very much more is taught you in
this enlightened age than was ever taught them. Meanwhile
you have your
cultured view of the Cross. You will not thrust it away as a useless thing
but
you readily place it on one side. It is no longer the central fact of the
Gospel. Christ died for an example; He revealed His unselfishness. Yes
the old
altar must be put aside somewhere
somewhere on the north or the cold side
and
you will erect your altar from Damascus where the old altar used to be. But in
all this you do not want to commit yourselves finally. The thoughtful man
so
you think
is the man who always delays decision. Ahaz thought so too
if we
accept the first possible rendering of the words
for he practically said
“The
brasen altar shall be for me to think about. I will see where I will finally
put it. I am not quite sure that even now I have put it in its right place.” So
you say
“I do not think that even now the sacrifice of Christ and the story of
Calvary occupy just the proper niche.” They come in somewhere; but where
you
think it very difficult to decide. Meanwhile
to make sure
you will thrust it
aside and yet keep it within view; by and by you may see your way to have it
right outside the temple.
3. Perhaps you have done something else. It has not been to you a
question of opinion. You do not belong to these would-be clever and critical
people
but still you are a practical man of the world. You cannot enter into
the meaning of what they call higher criticism: you know nothing about it save
that you have seen a flippant leader in the daily press; and you are not
concerned about the discussion: you are business men
and cannot give time to
all that. The Bible may be all that your dear old father thought it was
for
all that you know; but then the world has its claims
you say
and you find that it will
not do in the interests of your trade or your profession to have the old Cross
placed too prominently
and the principles of the Cross observed too faithfully
in your daily life
and so you must thrust that a little aside and have another
altar that will be more respectable--one of the nondescript altars of Damascus.
It was just so with Ahaz. He had to think of the King of Assyria. Suppose the
King of Assyria paid him a visit: how very pained he would be to find there was
no altar there like his own; or
even if there was
that there was another
altar between it and the holy place
and thus precedence was given to that
other altar! Thus Ahaz had to consider matters as a practical man. He was a man
full of diplomatic wisdom. He knew that as long as he could keep in with the
King of Assyria things would probably be right. Why
then
should he sacrifice
all his prospects just for the sake of keeping that old altar in its right
place? Thus
off it had to go to the northern side.
4. But you tell me you cannot be a Christian and get on. Well
what
then? You reply that you must get on
that this is the highest necessity of
living. Is it? If you cannot be a Christian and succeed
then let success go.
Ah
but you reply that you must succeed. Very well
you follow just the track
of Ahaz. You must get on
must you? To that end you must get into alliance with
the world
and the spirit of the world
and ignore God and His altar. Face the
fact. You go into life and come into contact with men who sacrifice principle
upon the altar of gain in the profession or trade in which you are engaged. And
you say
“Other men do that
and I must do it in self-defence. I must build this
new altar
I must burn incense
not to God always
but burn incense upon the
altar of prosperity and worldly advancement. It pays others exceedingly well to
do this
and it should pay me.” This was precisely what Ahaz said with regard
to the kings of Syria (2 Chronicles 28:23)--“Because the
gods of the kings of Syria helped them
therefore will I sacrifice to them
that they may help me.” I know that all this description may seem to many of
you to be exaggerated. Those of us who know something of the spiritual
condition of men and women know that there is nothing more common than this.
Think of it; look back over your conduct
and ask yourselves what you have done
that is distinctly a service to the Saviour. What have you ever said or done in
your life that would mark you out as a follower of Jesus Christ? How many a man
thinks of coming by and by to inquire by that altar upon which he has offered
no sacrifice! What is the altar upon which you offer your sacrifices? If it is
the altar of worldly success; then require of it. Be true to your convictions
and to your life.
Do not be mean
and only turn your back upon worldly pleasure when it has
turned its back upon you. Do not look to the world as long as the world can
further your purposes
always retaining a thought of God as a convenience for a
dark day or a troublous hour. That is the meanest and most degrading motive
that can take possession of the human heart. (D. Davies.)
Using God for emergencies
There is a blunt frankness about the transaction
almost amounting
to facetiousness
that interests one. The cool way in which the old heathen
altar is put in the front of the temple
while the brasen altar is ordered on
one side
yet not put out of sight
but reserved for special exigencies
when
the Damascus altar will not do
is very striking. Some men
having determined
to have the Assyrian altar in the place of Jehovah’s
would have commanded its
destruction as a thing whose use was past
and which it were well to put out of
sight. Not so Ahaz. He did not consider its use all gone. There might come a
time--very probably there would come a time--when the brasen altar would be of
essential service. Jehovah had many a time
through His prophets
come to the
help of His people
and had instructed them through His priests
and it were a
wise and good thing to keep the altar where
when occasion might demand it
he
could go and get the direction and the help that might not be obtained from the
Damascus altar’s service. It was a wise forecast
but a very base and wicked
one
--so base and wicked that such a man even as Ahaz was ought to have been
ashamed of it. (W. Aikman
D. D.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》