Show Bible Commentary For A Bible Verse

Click here to show/hide instructions.

Selected Verse: 2 Kings 16:1 - Strong Concordance

Verse	Translation	Text
2Ki 16:1	Strong Concordance	In the seventeenth [07651] [06240] [08141] year [08141] of Pekah [06492] the son [01121] of Remaliah [07425] Ahaz [0271] the son [01121] of Jotham [03147] king [04428] of Judah [03063] began to reign [04427].
	King James	In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah Ahaz the son of Jotham king of Judah began to reign.

Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse

Open All | Close All Open All | Close All

A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]
AHAZ' WICKED REIGN OVER JUDAH. (2Ki. 16:1-16) Ahaz . . . did not that which was right in the sight of the Lord--[See on Ch2 28:1.] The character of this king's reign, the voluptuousness and religious degeneracy of all classes of the people, are graphically portrayed in the writings of Isaiah, who prophesied at that period. The great increase of worldly wealth and luxury in the reigns of Azariah and Jotham had introduced a host of corruptions, which, during his reign, and by the influence of Ahaz, bore fruit in the idolatrous practices of every kind which prevailed in all parts of the kingdom (see Ch2 28:24).

A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]

AHAZ' WICKED REIGN OVER JUDAH. (2Ki. 16:1-16)

Ahaz . . . did not that which was right in the sight of the Lord--[See on Ch2 28:1.] The character of this king's reign, the voluptuousness and religious degeneracy of all classes of the people, are graphically portrayed in the writings of Isaiah, who prophesied at that period. The great increase of worldly wealth and luxury in the reigns of Azariah and Jotham had introduced a host of corruptions, which, during his reign, and by the influence of Ahaz, bore fruit in the idolatrous practices of every kind which prevailed in all parts of the kingdom (see Ch2 28:24).

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]
Kg2 16:1-2 On the time mentioned, "in the seventeenth year of Pekah Ahaz became king" see at Kg2 15:32. The datum "twenty years old" is a striking one, even if we compare with it Kg2 18:2. As Ahaz reigned only sixteen years, and at his death his son Hezekiah became king at the age of twenty-five years (Kg2 18:2), Ahaz must have begotten him in the eleventh year of his age. It is true that in southern lands this is neither impossible nor unknown, (Note: In the East they marry girls of nine or ten years of age to boys of twelve or thirteen (Volney, Reise, ii. p. 360). Among the Indians husbands of ten years of age and wives of eight are mentioned (Thevenot, Reisen, iii. pp. 100 and 165). In Abyssinia boys of twelve and even ten years old marry (Rppell, Abessynien, ii. p. 59). Among the Jews in Tiberias, mothers of eleven years of age and fathers of thirteen are not uncommon (Burckh. Syrien, p. 570); and Lynch saw a wife there, who to all appearance was a mere child about ten years of age, who had been married two years already. In the epist. ad N. Carbonelli, from Hieronymi epist. ad Vitalem, 132, and in an ancient glossa, Bochart has also cited examples of one boy of ten years and another of nine, qui nutricem suam gravidavit, together with several other cases of a similar kind from later writers. Cf. Bocharti Opp. i. (Geogr. sacr.) p. 920, ed. Lugd. 1692.) but in the case of the kings of Judah it would be without analogy. The reading found in the lxx, Syr., and Arab. at Ch2 28:1, and also in certain codd., viz., five and twenty instead of twenty, may therefore be a preferable one. According to this, Hezekiah, like Ahaz, was born in his father's sixteenth year. Kg2 16:3-4 "Ahaz walked in the way of the kings of Israel," to which there is added by way of explanation in Ch2 28:2, "and also made molten images to the Baals." This refers, primarily, simply to the worship of Jehovah under the image of a calf, which they had invented; for this was the way in which all the kings of Israel walked. At the same time, in Kg2 8:18 the same formula is so used of Joram king of Judah as to include the worship of Baal by the dynasty of Ahab. Consequently in the verse before us also the way of the kings of Israel includes the worship of Baal, which is especially mentioned in the Chronicles. - "He even made his son pass through the fire," i.e., offered him in sacrifice to Moloch in the valley of Benhinnom (see at Kg2 23:10), after the abominations of the nations, whom Jehovah had cast out before Israel. Instead of בּנו we have the plural בּנין in Ch2 28:3, and in Ch2 28:16 אשּׁוּר מלכי, kings of Asshur, instead of אשּׁוּר מלך, although only one, viz., Tiglath-pileser, is spoken of. This repeated use of the plural shows very plainly that it is to be understood rhetorically, as expressing the thought in the most general manner, since the number was of less importance than the fact. (Note: The Greeks and Romans also use the plural instead of the singular in their rhetorical style of writing, especially when a father, a mother, or a son is spoken of. Cf. Cic. de prov. cons. xiv. 35: si ad jucundissimos liberos, si ad clarissimum generum redire properaret, where Julia, the only daughter of Caesar, and the wife of Pompey the Great, is referred to; and for other examples see Caspari, der Syr. Ephraimit. Krieg, p. 41.) So far as the fact is concerned, we have here the first instance of an actual Moloch-sacrifice among the Israelites, i.e., of one performed by slaying and burning. For although the phrase בּאשׁ העביר or למּלך does not in itself denote the slaying and burning of the children as Moloch-sacrifices, but primarily affirms nothing more than the simple passing through fire, a kind of februation or baptism of fire (see at Lev 18:21); such passages as Eze 16:21 and Jer 7:31, where sacrificing in the valley of Benhinnom is called slaying and burning the children, show most distinctly that in the verse before us בּאשׁ העביר is to be taken as signifying actual sacrificing, i.e., the burning of the children slain in sacrifice to Moloch, and, as the emphatic וגם indicates, that this kind of idolatrous worship, which had never been heard of before in Judah and Israel, was introduced by Ahaz. (Note: "If this idolatry had occurred among the Israelites before the time of Ahaz, its abominations would certainly not have been passed over by the biblical writers, who so frequently mention other forms of idolatry." These are the correct words of Movers (Phniz. i. p. 65), who only errs in the fact that on the one hand he supposes the origin of human sacrifices in the time of Ahaz to have been inwardly connected with the appearance of the Assyrians, and traces them to the acquaintance of the Israelites with the Assyrian fire-deities Adrammelech and Anammelech (Kg2 17:31), and on the other hand gives this explanation of the phrase, "cause to pass through the fire for Moloch," which is used to denote the sacrificing of children: "the burning of children was regarded as a passage, whereby, after the separation of the impure and earthly dross of the body, the children attained to union with the deity" (p. 329). To this J. G. Mller has correctly replied (in Herzog's Cyclop.): "This mystic, pantheistic, moralizing view of human sacrifices is not the ancient and original view of genuine heathenism. It is no more the view of Hither Asia than the Mexican view (i.e., the one which lay at the foundation of the custom of the ancient Mexicans, of passing the new-born boy four times through the fire). The Phoenician myths, which Movers (p. 329) quotes in support of his view, refer to the offering of human sacrifices in worship, and the moral view is a later addition belonging to Hellenism. The sacrifices were rather given to the gods as food, as is evident from innumerable passages (compare the primitive religions of America), and they have no moral aim, but are intended to reward or bribe the gods with costly presents, either because of calamities that have already passed, or because of those that are anticipated with alarm; and, as Movers himself admits (p. 301), to make atonement for ceremonial sins, i.e., to follow smaller sacrifices by those of greater value.") In the Chronicles, therefore העביר is correctly explained by ויּבער, "he burned;" though we cannot infer from this that העביר is always a mere conjecture for הבעיר, as Geiger does (Urschrift u. Uebers, der Bibel, p. 305). The offering of his son for Moloch took place, in all probability, during the severe oppression of Ahaz by the Syrians, and was intended to appease the wrath of the gods, as was done by the king of the Moabites in similar circumstances (Kg2 3:27). - In Kg2 16:4 the idolatry is described in the standing formulae as sacrificing upon high places and hills, etc., as in Kg1 14:23. The temple-worship prescribed by the law could easily be continued along with this idolatry, since polytheism did not exclude the worship of Jehovah. It was not till the closing years of his reign that Ahaz went so far as to close the temple-hall, and thereby suspend the temple-worship (Ch2 28:24); in any case it was not till after the alterations described in Kg2 16:11. as having been made in the temple.

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]

Kg2 16:1-2

On the time mentioned, "in the seventeenth year of Pekah Ahaz became king" see at Kg2 15:32. The datum "twenty years old" is a striking one, even if we compare with it Kg2 18:2. As Ahaz reigned only sixteen years, and at his death his son Hezekiah became king at the age of twenty-five years (Kg2 18:2), Ahaz must have begotten him in the eleventh year of his age. It is true that in southern lands this is neither impossible nor unknown,

(Note: In the East they marry girls of nine or ten years of age to boys of twelve or thirteen (Volney, Reise, ii. p. 360). Among the Indians husbands of ten years of age and wives of eight are mentioned (Thevenot, Reisen, iii. pp. 100 and 165). In Abyssinia boys of twelve and even ten years old marry (Rppell, Abessynien, ii. p. 59). Among the Jews in Tiberias, mothers of eleven years of age and fathers of thirteen are not uncommon (Burckh. Syrien, p. 570); and Lynch saw a wife there, who to all appearance was a mere child about ten years of age, who had been married two years already. In the epist. ad N. Carbonelli, from Hieronymi epist. ad Vitalem, 132, and in an ancient glossa, Bochart has also cited examples of one boy of ten years and another of nine, qui nutricem suam gravidavit, together with several other cases of a similar kind from later writers. Cf. Bocharti Opp. i. (Geogr. sacr.) p. 920, ed. Lugd. 1692.)

but in the case of the kings of Judah it would be without analogy. The reading found in the lxx, Syr., and Arab. at Ch2 28:1, and also in certain codd., viz., five and twenty instead of twenty, may therefore be a preferable one. According to this, Hezekiah, like Ahaz, was born in his father's sixteenth year.

Kg2 16:3-4

"Ahaz walked in the way of the kings of Israel," to which there is added by way of explanation in Ch2 28:2, "and also made molten images to the Baals." This refers, primarily, simply to the worship of Jehovah under the image of a calf, which they had invented; for this was the way in which all the kings of Israel walked. At the same time, in Kg2 8:18 the same formula is so used of Joram king of Judah as to include the worship of Baal by the dynasty of Ahab. Consequently in the verse before us also the way of the kings of Israel includes the worship of Baal, which is especially mentioned in the Chronicles. - "He even made his son pass through the fire," i.e., offered him in sacrifice to Moloch in the valley of Benhinnom (see at Kg2 23:10), after the abominations of the nations, whom Jehovah had cast out before Israel. Instead of בּנו we have the plural בּנין in Ch2 28:3, and in Ch2 28:16 אשּׁוּר מלכי, kings of Asshur, instead of אשּׁוּר מלך, although only one, viz., Tiglath-pileser, is spoken of. This repeated use of the plural shows very plainly that it is to be understood rhetorically, as expressing the thought in the most general manner, since the number was of less importance than the fact.

(Note: The Greeks and Romans also use the plural instead of the singular in their rhetorical style of writing, especially when a father, a mother, or a son is spoken of. Cf. Cic. de prov. cons. xiv. 35: si ad jucundissimos liberos, si ad clarissimum generum redire properaret, where Julia, the only daughter of Caesar, and the wife of Pompey the Great, is referred to; and for other examples see Caspari, der Syr. Ephraimit. Krieg, p. 41.)

So far as the fact is concerned, we have here the first instance of an actual Moloch-sacrifice among the Israelites, i.e., of one performed by slaying and burning. For although the phrase בּאשׁ העביר or למּלך does not in itself denote the slaying and burning of the children as Moloch-sacrifices, but primarily affirms nothing more than the simple passing through fire, a kind of februation or baptism of fire (see at Lev 18:21); such passages as Eze 16:21 and Jer 7:31, where sacrificing in the valley of Benhinnom is called slaying and burning the children, show most distinctly that in the verse before us בּאשׁ העביר is to be taken as signifying actual sacrificing, i.e., the burning of the children slain in sacrifice to Moloch, and, as the emphatic וגם indicates, that this kind of idolatrous worship, which had never been heard of before in Judah and Israel, was introduced by Ahaz.

(Note: "If this idolatry had occurred among the Israelites before the time of Ahaz, its abominations would certainly not have been passed over by the biblical writers, who so frequently mention other forms of idolatry." These are the correct words of Movers (Phniz. i. p. 65), who only errs in the fact that on the one hand he supposes the origin of human sacrifices in the time of Ahaz to have been inwardly connected with the appearance of the Assyrians, and traces them to the acquaintance of the Israelites with the Assyrian fire-deities Adrammelech and Anammelech (Kg2 17:31), and on the other hand gives this explanation of the phrase, "cause to pass through the fire for Moloch," which is used to denote the sacrificing of children: "the burning of children was regarded as a passage, whereby, after the separation of the impure and earthly dross of the body, the children attained to union with the deity" (p. 329). To this J. G. Mller has correctly replied (in Herzog's Cyclop.): "This mystic, pantheistic, moralizing view of human sacrifices is not the ancient and original view of genuine heathenism. It is no more the view of Hither Asia than the Mexican view (i.e., the one which lay at the foundation of the custom of the ancient Mexicans, of passing the new-born boy four times through the fire). The Phoenician myths, which Movers (p. 329) quotes in support of his view, refer to the offering of human sacrifices in worship, and the moral view is a later addition belonging to Hellenism. The sacrifices were rather given to the gods as food, as is evident from innumerable passages (compare the primitive religions of America), and they have no moral aim, but are intended to reward or bribe the gods with costly presents, either because of calamities that have already passed, or because of those that are anticipated with alarm; and, as Movers himself admits (p. 301), to make atonement for ceremonial sins, i.e., to follow smaller sacrifices by those of greater value.")

In the Chronicles, therefore העביר is correctly explained by ויּבער, "he burned;" though we cannot infer from this that העביר is always a mere conjecture for הבעיר, as Geiger does (Urschrift u. Uebers, der Bibel, p. 305). The offering of his son for Moloch took place, in all probability, during the severe oppression of Ahaz by the Syrians, and was intended to appease the wrath of the gods, as was done by the king of the Moabites in similar circumstances (Kg2 3:27). - In Kg2 16:4 the idolatry is described in the standing formulae as sacrificing upon high places and hills, etc., as in Kg1 14:23. The temple-worship prescribed by the law could easily be continued along with this idolatry, since polytheism did not exclude the worship of Jehovah. It was not till the closing years of his reign that Ahaz went so far as to close the temple-hall, and thereby suspend the temple-worship (Ch2 28:24); in any case it was not till after the alterations described in Kg2 16:11. as having been made in the temple.

Top

²⁴ And Ahaz [0271] gathered together [0622] the vessels [03627] of the house [01004] of God [0430], and cut in pieces [07112] the vessels [03627] of the house [01004] of God [0430], and shut up [05462] the doors [01817] of the house [01004] of the LORD [03068], and he made [06213] him altars [04196] in every corner [06438] of Jerusalem [03389].

¹ Ahaz [0271] was twenty [06242] years [08141] old [01121] when he began to reign [04427], and he reigned [04427] sixteen [08337] [06240] years [08141] in Jerusalem [03389]: but he did [06213] not that which was right [03477] in the sight [05869] of the LORD [03068], like David [01732] his father [01]:

¹¹ And Urijah [0223] the priest [03548] built [01129] an altar [04196] according to all that king [04428] Ahaz [0271] had sent [07971] from Damascus [01834]: so Urijah [0223] the priest [03548] made [06213] it against king [04428] Ahaz [0271] came [0935] from Damascus [01834].

²³ For they also built [01129] them high places [01116], and images [04676], and groves [0842], on every high [01364] hill [01389], and under every green [07488] tree [06086].

⁴ And he sacrificed [02076] and burnt incense [06999] in the high places [01116], and on the hills [01389], and under every green [07488] tree [06086].

²⁷ Then he took [03947] his eldest [01060] son [01121] that should have reigned [04427] in his stead, and offered [05927] him for a burnt offering [05930] upon the wall [02346]. And there was great [01419] indignation [07110] against Israel [03478]: and they departed [05265] from him, and returned [07725] to their own land [0776].

³¹ And the Avites [05757] made [06213] Nibhaz [05026] and Tartak [08662], and the Sepharvites [05616] burnt [08313] their children [01121] in fire [0784] to Adrammelech [0152] and Anammelech [06048], the gods [0430] of Sepharvaim [05617].

³¹ And they have built [01129] the high places [01116] of Tophet [08612], which is in the valley [01516] of the son [01121] of Hinnom [02011], to burn [08313] their sons [01121] and their daughters [01323] in the fire [0784]; which I commanded [06680] them not, neither came [05927] it into my heart [03820].

²¹ That thou hast slain [07819] my children [01121], and delivered [05414] them to cause them to pass through [05674] the fire for them?

²¹ And thou shalt not [05414] let any of thy seed [02233] pass [05674] through the fire to Molech [04432], neither shalt thou profane [02490] the name [08034] of thy God [0430]: I am the LORD [03068].

¹⁶ At that time [06256] did king [04428] Ahaz [0271] send [07971] unto the kings [04428] of Assyria [0804] to help [05826] him.

³ Moreover he burnt incense [06999] in the valley [01516] of the son [01121] of Hinnom [02011], and burnt [01197] his children [01121] in the fire [0784], after the abominations [08441] of the heathen [01471] whom the LORD [03068] had cast out [03423] before [06440] the children [01121] of Israel [03478].

¹⁰ And he defiled [02930] Topheth [08612], which is in the valley [01516] of the children [01121] [01121] of Hinnom [02011], that no man [0376] might make his son [01121] or his daughter [01323] to pass through [05674] the fire [0784] to Molech [04432].

¹⁸ And he walked [03212] in the way [01870] of the kings [04428] of Israel [03478], as did [06213] the house [01004] of Ahab [0256]: for the daughter [01323] of Ahab [0256] was his wife [0802]: and he did [06213] evil [07451] in the sight [05869] of the LORD [03068].

² For he walked in [03212] the ways [01870] of the kings [04428] of Israel [03478], and made [06213] also molten images [04541] for Baalim [01168].

³ But he walked [03212] in the way [01870] of the kings [04428] of Israel [03478], yea, and made his son [01121] to pass through [05674] the fire [0784], according to the abominations [08441] of the heathen [01471], whom the LORD [03068] cast out [03423] from before [06440] the children [01121] of Israel [03478].
⁴ And he sacrificed [02076] and burnt incense [06999] in the high places [01116], and on the hills [01389], and under every green [07488] tree [06086].

² Twenty [06242] and five [02568] years [08141] old [01121] was he when he began to reign [04427]; and he reigned [04427] twenty [06242] and nine [08672] years [08141] in Jerusalem [03389]. His mother's [0517] name [08034] also was Abi [021], the daughter [01323] of Zachariah [02148].

³² In the second [08147] year [08141] of Pekah [06492] the son [01121] of Remaliah [07425] king [04428] of Israel [03478] began Jotham [03147] the son [01121] of Uzziah [05818] king [04428] of Judah [03063] to reign [04427].

¹ In the seventeenth [07651] [06240] [08141] year [08141] of Pekah [06492] the son [01121] of Remaliah [07425] Ahaz [0271] the son [01121] of Jotham [03147] king [04428] of Judah [03063] began to reign [04427].
² Twenty [06242] years [08141] old [01121] was Ahaz [0271] when he began to reign [04427], and reigned [04427] sixteen [08337] [06240] years [08141] in Jerusalem [03389], and did [06213] not that which was right [03477] in the sight [05869] of the LORD [03068] his God [0430], like David [01732] his father [01].