2 CHRONICLES LESSON 28
We will begin this lesson in II Chronicles 28:1 "Ahaz [was]
twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years
in Jerusalem: but he did not [that which was] right in the sight of
the LORD, like David his father:"
The meaning of the name "Ahaz" is possessor, or grasping. Ahaz
was, also, spoken of as Achaz, and Jehoahaz. He was a wicked king.
II Chronicles 28:2 "For he walked in the ways of the kings of
Israel, and made also molten images for Baalim."
Now, we see why he was so wicked. He followed the evil ways of
Israel, rather than following the LORD God of Israel. Since Ahab and
Jezebel's reign in Israel, the making of molten images had been
prominent in Israel. Many of the kings of Judah destroyed the images,
so they had not been as prominent in Judah.
II Chronicles 28:3 "Moreover he burnt incense in the valley of
the son of Hinnom, and burnt his children in the fire, after the
abominations of the heathen whom the LORD had cast out before the
children of Israel."
He followed the same sins that Solomon did. I Kings 11:7 "Then
did Solomon build an high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab,
in the hill that [is] before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the
abomination of the children of Ammon." I Kings 11:8 "And likewise did
he for all his strange wives, which burnt incense and sacrificed unto
their gods." The sacrificing of their children was to the false god,
Molech. This was a terrible thing for Ahaz to do.
II Chronicles 28:4 "He sacrificed also and burnt incense in the
high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree."
This was connected with the evil grove worship.
II Chronicles 28:5 "Wherefore the LORD his God delivered him into
the hand of the king of Syria; and they smote him, and carried away a
great multitude of them captives, and brought [them] to Damascus. And
he was also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel, who smote
him with a great slaughter."
The king of Syria, in this instance, is Rezin. This is not the
whole land of Judah that is captured and taken captive to Syria, but a
large number. It appears, that Israel and Syria fought Judah at this
time, and Judah was not helped by their LORD, because of their
idolatry. They were unfaithful to their LORD, and He allowed great
destruction to come upon them. They were not totally destroyed. That
would be left for the Babylonians to do. If they had repented and
returned to their LORD during this time, He would have spared them.
II Chronicles 28:6 "For Pekah the son of Remaliah slew in Judah
an hundred and twenty thousand in one day, [which were] all valiant
men; because they had forsaken the LORD God of their fathers."
Pekah and Rezin are usually spoken of together. This 120,000
fighting men killed, were over a third of their army. Their
destruction was a punishment from their LORD, for turning away from
Him to false gods.
II Chronicles 28:7 "And Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim, slew
Maaseiah the king's son, and Azrikam the governor of the house, and
Elkanah [that was] next to the king." II Chronicles 28:8 "And the
children of Israel carried away captive of their brethren two hundred
thousand, women, sons, and daughters, and took also away much spoil
from them, and brought the spoil to Samaria."
It appears, that the mighty man of Israel, Zichri, caught the
soldiers of Judah in battle with Syria, and came and took their wives,
and sons, and daughters captive back to Israel. This 200,000 were not
soldiers, they were their families. Maaseiah would have been quite
young had he been the son of Ahaz. Perhaps, that is why the governor
was killed, also. He was, probably, in charge of the son. In fact,
Elkanah, who would have been second in command, was caught and killed,
also. Elkanah was not Ahaz's son. He was like his vice president. He
was second in command of Judah.
II Chronicles 28:9 "But a prophet of the LORD was there, whose
name [was] Oded: and he went out before the host that came to Samaria,
and said unto them, Behold, because the LORD God of your fathers was
wroth with Judah, he hath delivered them into your hand, and ye have
slain them in a rage [that] reacheth up unto heaven."
The tribe of Ephraim had always been jealous of Judah. They had
taken advantage of a bad situation of Judah, and come in and taken
what they wanted. This brave prophet, Obed, told them that God caused
this to happen to Judah in punishment for their sin of unfaithfulness.
Israel had done this, not because it was the wishes of the LORD, but
because they hated Judah. Their hate, for their brothers, had now
reached to heaven, and God would punish Israel, also.
II Chronicles 28:10 "And now ye purpose to keep under the
children of Judah and Jerusalem for bondmen and bondwomen unto you:
[but are there] not with you, even with you, sins against the LORD
your God?"
We can see their error in the following Scripture. Leviticus
25:46 "And ye shall take them as an inheritance for your children
after you, to inherit [them for] a possession; they shall be your
bondmen for ever: but over your brethren the children of Israel, ye
shall not rule one over another with rigour." You may read of the
punishment for this in Deuteronomy 28 verse 68. Judah had been one of
the twelve tribes of Israel. To take the wives and children of Judah
as bond servants, would be a sin against God.
II Chronicles 28:11 "Now hear me therefore, and deliver the
captives again, which ye have taken captive of your brethren: for the
fierce wrath of the LORD [is] upon you."
This had greatly angered God. His wrath was upon Israel for
taking their brethren's families captive. They had better return them
immediately, or they would feel the wrath of God themselves. I must
say, this took a brave prophet to tell the army of Israel this.
II Chronicles 28:12 "Then certain of the heads of the children of
Ephraim, Azariah the son of Johanan, Berechiah the son of
Meshillemoth, and Jehizkiah the son of Shallum, and Amasa the son of
Hadlai, stood up against them that came from the war," II Chronicles
28:13 "And said unto them, Ye shall not bring in the captives hither:
for whereas we have offended against the LORD [already], ye intend to
add [more] to our sins and to our trespass: for our trespass is great,
and [there is] fierce wrath against Israel."
There was always a remnant, who had not bowed their knee to Baal.
In this case, Azariah, Berechiah, Jehizkiah, and Amasa knew that the
prophet was telling the truth. They knew that Israel had already
greatly sinned with their worship of false gods. They made it clear
that this sin would be added to the terrible sins they had already
committed. They feared the fierce wrath of God descending upon Israel.
This handful of men had not participated in the earlier sins, and
certainly wanted no part in this sin. They were saying, listen to the
prophet, and send them back home.
II Chronicles 28:14 "So the armed men left the captives and the
spoil before the princes and all the congregation." II Chronicles
28:15 "And the men which were expressed by name rose up, and took the
captives, and with the spoil clothed all that were naked among them,
and arrayed them, and shod them, and gave them to eat and to drink,
and anointed them, and carried all the feeble of them upon asses, and
brought them to Jericho, the city of palm trees, to their brethren:
then they returned to Samaria."
The warning was accepted and the men, who had not sinned in this
manner, took them back to Jericho. It appeared, they had actually
brought some of these people naked. Now, they were clothed and on
their way home.
II Chronicles 28:16 "At that time did king Ahaz send unto the
kings of Assyria to help him."
Ahaz was desperate, and sent to the Assyrians to help him.
II Chronicles 28:17 "For again the Edomites had come and smitten
Judah, and carried away captives."
The Edomites had been constant enemies of Judah. They, too, had
taken advantage of their weakened condition, and attacked them, and
took many captives.
II Chronicles 28:18 "The Philistines also had invaded the cities
of the low country, and of the south of Judah, and had taken Beth-
shemesh, and Ajalon, and Gederoth, and Shocho with the villages
thereof, and Timnah with the villages thereof, Gimzo also and the
villages thereof: and they dwelt there."
Even the hated Philistines had come, and taken many of the
villages of Judah.
II Chronicles 28:19 "For the LORD brought Judah low because of
Ahaz king of Israel; for he made Judah naked, and transgressed sore
against the LORD."
Ahaz was spoken of as king of Israel, because he had picked up
their sinful ways. He was very much like the kings of Israel. His
great sins against the LORD had caused this terrible punishment that
came on Judah. Many times, a country suffers for the sins of their
king, or leader.
II Chronicles 28:20 "And Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria came
unto him, and distressed him, but strengthened him not." II Chronicles
28:21 "For Ahaz took away a portion [out] of the house of the LORD,
and [out] of the house of the king, and of the princes, and gave [it]
unto the king of Assyria: but he helped him not."
Ahaz had robbed the temple of its treasures to buy the help of
this evil king of Assyria. He took the bribe, but turned on Judah and
instead of helping them, he attacked them, as well.
II Chronicles 28:22 "And in the time of his distress did he
trespass yet more against the LORD: this [is that] king Ahaz."
II Chronicles 28:23 "For he sacrificed unto the gods of Damascus,
which smote him: and he said, Because the gods of the kings of Syria
help them, [therefore] will I sacrifice to them, that they may help
me. But they were the ruin of him, and of all Israel."
False gods were the downfall of Israel. In the sense of
worshipping the false gods, Judah was no different than Israel. They
had all turned from the One True God to the false gods. In this
particular instance, Ahaz thought the false gods of Damascus had
helped them against him. He did not realize that God had helped them,
because of the sins of Ahaz.
II Chronicles 28:24 "And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of
the house of God, and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God,
and shut up the doors of the house of the LORD, and he made him altars
in every corner of Jerusalem." II Chronicles 28:25 "And in every
several city of Judah he made high places to burn incense unto other
gods, and provoked to anger the LORD God of his fathers."
Ahaz did the unthinkable. He destroyed the holy things in the
temple and then closed it to worship. He had turned completely away
from the LORD God. He set up places of worship in all the towns
around, and in all corners of Jerusalem to worship the false gods of
Damascus. The anger of God in this would be tremendous. We could
safely say that Ahaz was one of the most wicked kings who ruled in
Judah.
II Chronicles 28:26 "Now the rest of his acts and of all his
ways, first and last, behold, they [are] written in the book of the
kings of Judah and Israel."
We have mentioned before that this book, mentioned in the verse
above, could be speaking of a book which recorded the acts of the
kings. It is, also, worth noting that there is a statement made of
Ahaz in the book of Kings in the Bible.
II Chronicles 28:27 "And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and they
buried him in the city, [even] in Jerusalem: but they brought him not
into the sepulchres of the kings of Israel: and Hezekiah his son
reigned in his stead."
He was such an evil king, that he was not buried with honor. He
was buried in Jerusalem, but not in the sepulchre with the kings, such
as David. It is so interesting, to me, that such an evil king could
have a son who was like Hezekiah. We will discover in the next lesson,
that Hezekiah tries to do what is right in the sight of the LORD.
2 Chronicles 28 Questions
1. How old was Ahaz, when he began to reign?
2. How many years did he reign?
3. What does "Ahaz" mean?
4. What were some other names he was known by?
5. What kind of a king was he?
6. What were some of the terrible things he did?
7. The sacrificing of children pertained to what false god?
8. How did his sins parallel Solomon's sins?
9. Who delivered Ahaz into the hands of the king of Syria?
10. Who was this king of Syria?
11. Who was the son of Remaliah, who slew in Judah 120,000 in one day?
12. Who was Zichri?
13. What did he do to Judah?
14. How many women and children did he take captive?
15. Who was the prophet that came to them with a message from God?
16. Why had they done this evil thing to Judah?
17. In verse 10, the prophet tells them, it would be a ______ to keep
the captives of Judah.
18. Quote Leviticus chapter 25 verse 46.
19. Why must they release the captives?
20. Who stood up and agreed with the prophet at that time?
21. What did Azariah and the princes do, before they released the
people to go home?
22. Where did they take the captives for safety?
23. Who did Ahaz seek help from?
24. Who took many of the villages of Judah?
25. Who was the king of the Assyrians, who distressed Judah?
26. What was the downfall of Israel?
27. In verses 24 and 25, what terrible things did Ahaz do?
28. Where was Ahaz buried?
29. How was his burial different from kings, like David?
30. Who reigned in his stead?
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