2 Kings 16:2

_TWENTY YEARS OLD WAS AHAZ WHEN HE BEGAN TO REIGN, AND REIGNED SIXTEEN YEARS IN JERUSALEM, AND DID NOT THAT WHICH WAS RIGHT IN THE SIGHT OF THE LORD HIS GOD, LIKE DAVID HIS FATHER._ Twenty years old was Ahaz when he began to reign. What kind of education this young king had received, and to what unhappy influences he had been subjected, was soon made apparent after he assumed the sole power of government. At the time of his accession the nation do not seem to have generally apostatized with their king to the worship of false gods. In the whole account given in this chapter of the idolatries of Ahaz, not the slightest hint in thrown out respecting the co-operation of his subjects. But the seeds of corruption were sown, and the baneful influence of royal example rapidly spread the contagion of idolatry. AND DID NOT THAT WHICH WAS RIGHT IN THE SIGHT OF THE LORD. The character of this king...

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....

Verse 2 Kings 16:2. _TWENTY YEARS OLD_ WAS _AHAZ_] Here is another considerable difficulty in the chronology. Ahaz was but _twenty years_ old when he began to reign, and he died after he had reigned _sixteen_ years; consequently his whole age amounted only to _thirty-six years_. But Hezekiah his son was _twenty-five_ years old when he began to reign; and if this were so, then Ahaz must have been the father of Hezekiah when he was but _eleven_ years of age! Some think that the _twenty years_ mentioned here respect the beginning of the reign of Jotham, father of Ahaz; so that the passage should be thus translated: _Ahaz was twenty years of age when his father began to_ _reign_; and consequently he was _fifty-two years_ old when he died, seeing Jotham reigned _sixteen_ years: and therefore Hezekiah was born when his fathe...

EXPOSITION 2 KINGS 16:1 REIGN OF AHAZ OVER JUDAH. WAR OF AHAZ WITH PEKAH AND REZIN. EXPEDITION OF TIGLATH-PILESER AGAINST THEM. RELIGIOUS CHANGES MADE BY AHAZ. HIS DEATH. 2 KINGS 16:1 _General character of the reign of Ahaz_._ _Ahaz was the most wicked king that had as yet reigned in Judah. The author, the

TWENTY YEARS OLD WAS AHAZ WHEN HE BEGAN TO REIGN, AND REIGNED SIXTEEN YEARS IN JERUSALEM,.... The same number of years his father did: AND DID NOT THAT WHICH WAS RIGHT IN THE SIGHT OF THE LORD GOD, LIKE DAVID HIS FATHER; his more remote progenitor, nor even like his more immediate father, from whom he received such good instructions, and of whom he had so good an example; but grace is neither propagated by blood, nor obtained through the force of education....

7. KING AHAZ AND ASSYRIA CHAPTER 16 _ 1. King Ahaz and his reign (2 Kings 16:1; 2 Chronicles 28)_ 2. The invasion by the two kings (2 Kings 16:5) 3. Ahaz appeals to Assyria (2 Kings 16:7) 4. Ahaz in Damascus and the idolatrous altar (2 Kings 16:9) 5. Death of Ahaz (2 Kings 16:19; 2 Chronicles 28:26) Righteou

2 KINGS 16. REIGN OF AHAZ. This chapter is assigned to different sources, and deals mainly with the king's alteration of the Temple, though it alludes to his apostasy and his wars. The Temple record (2 Kings 16:10) may be compared to similar passages in 2 K._ e.g._ 2 Kings 11, 2 Kings 12:4 ff. The verdict on Ahaz is more unfavourable than on any king of Judah except Manasseh. 2 KINGS 16:1. AHAZ. The full name was _Yehoahaz,_ and it appears in almost this form in an inscription of Tiglath-pileser. The king mentioned in 2 Kings 23:31 is properly Jehoahaz II....

TWENTY YEARS OLD... SIXTEEN. There is no reason for concluding that "there must be an error in one of the passages" (viz. 2 Kings 16:2 and 2 Kings 18:2), for Ahaz begins in 622 and reigns till 616. As he was twenty when he began, he was born in 652, and died when thirty-six. Hezekiah begins in 617, and reigns twenty-nine years, till 588. As he was twenty-five when he began he was therefore born in 642, and died when he was fifty-four, From this it is clear that Ahaz was between ten and eleven when his son Hezekiah was born. This sounds improbable only to Western ears. But, to Eastern ears and physiological phenomena, there is nothing unusual, and nothing to justify. conclusion that the text is corrupt the usual excuse for ignorance of the facts....

_and did_[R.V. HE DID] _not_that _which_was _right_ This negative form of statement has not occurred in the account of any previous king of Judah. The offences of Ahaz were exceptional....

B. THE REIGN OF AHAZ 16:1-20 Considerable attention is devoted to Ahaz because of the religious significance of his reign. For the first time since the bloody reign of Athaliah, the Davidic dynasty faced the threat of removal from the throne in Jerusalem. To preserve himself on the throne, Ahaz appealed for aid from Assyria. He thus brought Judah under the political influence andwhat is worsethe religious influence of the Mesopotamian superpower. After a brief introduction to the reign of Ahaz (2 Kings 16:1-4), the author discusses the Syro-Ephraimitic invasion of Judah (2 Kings 16:5-9), and the Temple alterations made by Ahaz (2 Kings 16:10-18). _1. INTRODUCTION TO THE REIGN OF AHAZ_ ...