2 Kings 16

Chapter context

What is happening in 2 Kings 16?

prophetic witnessjudgmentexileidolatry

2 Kings 16 belongs to the middle movement of the book, especially the section often described as decline of Judah. Second Kings follows the ministries of Elijah and Elisha, recounts the decline of both kingdoms, and ends with Jerusalem’s fall and a faint glimmer of Davidic continuity. Read this chapter with the wider themes of prophetic witness, judgment, and exile in view so the individual verses keep their proper weight.

¹ In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah Ahaz the son of Jotham king of Judah began to reign. 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. 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. ⁴ And he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree. 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. ⁶ At that time Rezin king of Syria recovered Elath to Syria, and drave the Jews from Elath: and the Syrians came to Elath, and dwelt there unto this day. 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. ⁸ And Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the LORD, and in the treasures of the king’s house, and sent it for a present to the king of Assyria. ⁹ And the king of Assyria hearkened unto him: for the king of Assyria went up against Damascus, and took it, and carried the people of it captive to Kir, and slew Rezin. ¹⁰ And king Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, and saw an altar that was at Damascus: and king Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest the fashion of the altar, and the pattern of it, according to all the workmanship thereof. ¹¹ And Urijah the priest built an altar according to all that king Ahaz had sent from Damascus: so Urijah the priest made it against king Ahaz came from Damascus. ¹² And when the king was come from Damascus, the king saw the altar: and the king approached to the altar, and offered thereon. 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. 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. 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. ¹⁶ Thus did Urijah the priest, according to all that king Ahaz commanded. ¹⁷ And king Ahaz cut off the borders of the bases, and removed the laver from off them; and took down the sea from off the brasen oxen that were under it, and put it upon a pavement of stones. 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. ¹⁹ Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? ²⁰ And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David: and Hezekiah his son reigned in his stead.

Study helps

Glossary

Pekah Person v. 1, 5: Open-eyed, the son of Remaliah a captain in the army of Pekahiah, king of Israel, whom he slew, with the aid of a band of Gileadites, and succeeded (B. C. 758) on the throne ( 2 Kings 15:25 ).
Remaliah Person v. 1, 5: Adorned by the Lord, the father of Pekah, who conspired successfully against Pekahiah ( 2 Kings 15:25 , 27, 30, 32, 37; Isa. 7:1 , 4, 5, 9; 8:6).
David Person v. 2, 20: Beloved, the eighth and youngest son of Jesse, a citizen of Bethlehem. His father seems to have been a man in humble life. His mother’s name is not recorded. Some think she was the Nahash of 2 Sam. 17:25 .
Jerusalem Place v. 2, 5: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Jerusalem.
Rezin Person v. 5-6, 9: Firm; a prince, a king of Syria, who joined Pekah (q. v. ) in an invasion of the kingdom of Judah ( 2 Kings 15:37 ; 16:5-9 ; Isa. 7:1-8 ). Ahaz induced Tiglath-pileser III.
Syria Place v. 5-7: Biblical region. Modern identification: Damascus.
Edom Place v. 6: Biblical region. Modern identification: Buseira.
Elath Place v. 6: Grove; trees, ( Deut. 2:8 ), also in plural form Eloth ( 1 Kings 9:26 , etc. ); called by the Greeks and Romans Elana; a city of Idumea, on the east, i. e., the Elanitic, gulf, or the Gulf of Akabah, of the Red Sea. Modern identification: Aqaba.
Assyria Place v. 7-10, 18: Biblical region. Modern identification: Nineveh.
Damascus Place v. 9-12: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Damascus.
Kir Place v. 9: A wall or fortress, a place to which Tiglath-pileser carried the Syrians captive after he had taken the city of Damascus ( 2 Kings 16:9 ; Amos 1:5 ; 9:7 ). Modern identification: Der.
City People v. 20: The earliest mention of city-building is that of Enoch, which was built by Cain ( Gen. 4:17 ). After the confusion of tongues, the descendants of Nimrod founded several cities (10:10-12).
City of David Place v. 20: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: City of David.
Hezekiah Person v. 20: Whom Jehovah has strengthened. (1. ) Son of Ahaz ( 2 Kings 18:1 ; 2 Chr. 29:1 ), whom he succeeded on the throne of the kingdom of Judah. He reigned twenty-nine years (B. C. 726-697).