Ahaz

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

Ahaz ("possessor".) Son of Jotham; ascended the throne of Judah in his 20th year ( 2 Kings 16:2), a transcriber's error for 25th year; as read in the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic ( 2 Chronicles 28:1); for otherwise Hezekiah his son would be born when Ahaz was 11 years old. Rezin, king of Damascus, and Pekah of Israel leagued against Judah, to put on the throne the son of Tabeal, probably a Syrian ( Isaiah 7:6). Isaiah and Shear-jashub his son (whose name means "the remnant shall return" was a pledge that, notwithstanding; heavy calamity, the whole nation should not perish), together met Ahaz by Jehovah's direction at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, and assured him that Rezin's and Pekah's evil counsel should not come to pass; nay, that within 65 years Ephraim (Israel) should cease to be a people.

It is an undesigned propriety in Isaiah 7, and therefore a mark of truth, that the place of meeting was the pool; for there it was we know, from the independent history in Chronicles, that Hezekiah his son, subsequently in Sennacherib's invasion, with much people stopped the waters without the city to cut off the enemy's supply ( 2 Chronicles 32:3-5). The place was appropriate to Isaiah's message from God that their labors were unnecessary, for God would save the city; it was also suitable for addressing the king and the multitude gathered for the stopping of the waters there. Isaiah told Ahaz to "ask a sign," i.e. a miraculous token from God that He would keep His promise of saving Jerusalem.

Ahaz hypocritically refused to "tempt the Lord" by asking one. What mock humility in one who scrupled not to use God's brazen altar to divine with, and had substituted for God's altar in God's worship the pattern, which pleased his aesthetic tastes, of the idol altar at Damascus ( 2 Kings 16:11-15); perhaps the adoption of this pattern, an Assyrian one, was meant as a token of vassalage to Assyria, by adopting some of their religious usage's and idolatries; indeed Tiglath Pileser expressly records in the Assyrian monuments that he held his court at Damascus, and there received submission and tribute of both Pekah of Samaria and Ahaz of Judah. To ask a miraculous sign without warrant would be to tempt (i.e. put to the proof) God; but not to ask, when God offered a sign, was at once tempting and distrusting Him. Ahaz's true reason for declining was his resolve not to do God's will, but to negotiate with Assyria and persevere in idolatry ( 2 Kings 16:7-8;  2 Kings 16:3-4;  2 Kings 16:10). Thereupon God Himself gave the sign: "a virgin should bring forth Immanuel." (For The Primary Fulfillment In The Birth Of A Child In Isaiah'S Time, See Immanuel.) The promise of His coming of the line of David guaranteed the perpetuity of David' s seed, and the impossibility of the two invaders setting aside David's line of succession. Ahaz is named Jeho-Ahaz (or Yahu-Khazi) in the Assyrian inscriptions.

Pekah slew 120,000 valiant men of Judah in one day, "because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers"; Zichri of Ephraim slew the king's son Maaseiah, and Azrikim the governor of his house, and Elkanah next to the king. Israel carried captive 200,000, and much spoil, to Samaria. But Oded the prophet constrained them to restore the captives fed, arrayed, and shod, and the feeble mounted upon asses, to their brethren at Jericho. Pekah took Elath, which Uzziah or Ahaziah had restored to Judah, a flourishing port on the Red Sea; "the Syrians" according to KJV "came and dwelt in it": or, reading ( 2 Kings 16:6) Adomim for Aromim, "the Edomites"; who also came and smote Judah on the E., and carried away captives ( 2 Chronicles 28:17-18), while the Philistines were invading the. S. and W., the cities of the low hill country ( Shephelah ), Bethshemesh, Ajalon, Gederoth, Shocho, Timnah, Gimzo. The feeble Ahaz, retributively" brought low," even as he had "made naked" (stripped of the true defense, Jehovah,  Exodus 32:25, by sin) Judah, sought deliverance by becoming Tiglath Pileser's vassal ( 1 Kings 16:7-10).

The Assyrian king "distressed him, but strengthened him not." For Ahaz had to present his master treasures out of the temple, his palace, and the houses of the princes. It is true the Assyrian slew Rezin, and carried captive the Syrians of Damascus to Kir; but their ruin did not prove Ahaz's safety, "the king of Assyria helped him not." Isaiah ( Isaiah 7:17;  Isaiah 8:1-2) had warned him against this alliance by writing in a roll Maher-shalal-hashbaz, i.e., hasting to the spoil he hasteth to the prey. To impress this on Ahaz as the coming result of Assyrian interference, he took with him two witnesses, Uriah the priest and Zechariah. Who Uriah was we learn from the independent history ( 2 Kings 16:15-16), the ready tool of Ahaz's unlawful innovations in worship. Zechariah, the same history tells us ( 2 Kings 18:2), was father of Abi, Ahaz's wife, mother of Hezekiah. The coincidence between Isaiah's book and that of Kings in these names is little obvious and so undesigned that it forms a delicate mark of truth.

Isaiah chose these two, as the king's bosom friends, to urge on Ahaz's attention the solemn communication he had to make. Distress, instead of turning Ahaz to Him who smote them, the Lord of hosts ( Isaiah 9:12-13), only made him "trespass yet more," sacrificing to the gods of Damascus which had smitten him, that they might help him as he thought they had helped the Syrians; "but they were the ruin of him and of all Israel." Ahaz cut in pieces God's vessels, and shut up the doors of the temple, and made altars in every grainer of Jerusalem, and burnt incense on high places in every several city of Judah. He also "cut off the borders of the bases, and removed the laver from off them, and took down the sea from off the brazen oxen and put it upon a pavement of stones," putting God off with inferior things and taking all the best for his own purposes, whether of idolatry or selfish luxury.

The brazen oxen were preserved whole, not melted (compare  Jeremiah 52:17-20). "The covert for the sabbath," i.e., a covered walk like a portico or standing place, to screen the royal worshippers in the temple, and the king's private entry, he removed into the temple, to please the king of Assyria, that none might go from the palace into the temple without the trouble of going round. Ahaz seems to have practiced necromancy ( Isaiah 8:19) as well as making his son pass through the fire to Moloch (2 Kings 16;  2 Kings 23:11-12; 2 Chronicles 28), and setting up altars on his roof to adore the heavenly hosts. He adopted the Babylonian sun dial (which he probably erected in the temple, perhaps in "the middle court," where Isaiah saw it and gave its shadow as a sign to Hezekiah), becoming acquainted with it through the Assyrians ( 2 Kings 20:11;  2 Kings 20:4;  2 Kings 20:9). After reigning 16 years (740-724 B.C.) he died and was buried in the city of David, but was, because of his wickedness, "not brought into the sepulchers of the kings."

Bridgeway Bible Dictionary

Politically and religiously, Ahaz’s reign over Judah was disastrous. He came to the throne about 735 BC, when Assyria was rapidly expanding its power and becoming a threat to all the countries of the region.

To resist the Assyrian threat, Israel and Syria asked Judah to join them in a three-part defence alliance. When Ahaz refused, Israel and Syria attacked Jerusalem, planning to put a king of their own choice on Judah’s throne. Ahaz panicked and, against the advice of Isaiah the prophet, asked Assyria to help defend him. Isaiah promised that faith in God, and nothing else, would bring lasting victory. In the short term, Assyrian help might save Jerusalem, but in the long term it would bring Judah under the power of Assyria ( 2 Kings 16:5;  2 Kings 16:7-9;  Isaiah 7:1-9;  Isaiah 8:5-8). (Concerning God’s sign of assurance given to Ahaz in  Isaiah 7:10-25, see Immanuel ; Virgin .)

Ahaz’s policies during the war with Israel-Syria almost ruined Judah’s national economy. His hiring of Assyria was costly ( 2 Kings 16:7-8;  2 Kings 16:17-18;  2 Chronicles 28:20-21), and though it enabled him to repel the Israelite-Syrian army, he lost thousands of soldiers killed in the battle ( 2 Chronicles 28:5-7). He almost lost thousands more as prisoners, but a prophet told the Israelites to send all the prisoners, and all the loot, back to Judah ( 2 Chronicles 28:8-15). Ahaz suffered further losses at the hands of invading Edomites and Philistines, and lost control of the important Red Sea port of Elath (Ezion-geber) ( 2 Kings 16:6;  2 Chronicles 28:17-18).

In addition to damaging Judah’s political and economic standing, Ahaz corrupted Judah’s religion. He worshipped the gods of the foreigners who had shown such strength in battle, and introduced their religion into Judah. He built a copy of their altar of sacrifice to replace the existing altar of sacrifice in the Jerusalem temple ( 2 Kings 16:10-16;  2 Chronicles 28:22-24), and built shrines for the foreign religions throughout the towns of Judah ( 2 Chronicles 28:25). He even burnt his son as a human sacrifice ( 2 Kings 16:2-4).

Ahaz did such harm to Judah’s national life, that the nation’s leaders refused to give him a burial place among the royal tombs ( 2 Chronicles 28:27). His son and successor Hezekiah soon began a vigorous reformation of Judah ( 2 Kings 18:1-6).

Morrish Bible Dictionary

1. King of Judah (B.C. 742-727), son and successor of Jotham (apparently, the same as Achaz in  Matthew 1:9 ). He erected molten images for Baalim, made his children pass thorough the fire, and gave himself up to open idolatry.  2 Kings 16:2-20;  2 Chronicles 28:2-27 . Being harassed and weakened by Pekah king of Israel, Rezin king of Damascus, and others, he called to his aid Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, to whom he gave the treasures of Jerusalem; who after dispersing those who warred against Ahaz, himself 'distressed' him and made him tributary. This brought the great desolator of Israel, the Assyrian, into the land. Ahaz displaced the altar of burnt offering by one made like an altar he had seen at Damascus when on a visit to Tiglath-pileser. Isaiah was prophet in the days of Ahaz, but the king heeded not his instructions. The house of David was ripening for judgement: 120,000 were slain in one day and 200,000 women and children were carried to Samaria, but were released by means of Oded a prophet. God's mercy lingered over Judah, and to Ahaz was the sign given that "a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." Isa . 7: 14. Though all was failing in Judah as well as in Israel, God had One in prospect through whom blessing would be finally secured. Both in Kings and Chronicles it states that Ahaz was 20 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 16 years; Hezekiah his son was 25 years old when he succeeded Ahaz. Apparently there is an error in the ages given: either Ahaz was older, or Hezekiah was not so old, for he would have been born when his father was 11 years of age. In one Hebrew MS, the LXX, etc., 25 years is given in the Chronicles as the age of Ahaz.

2. Son of Micah.  1 Chronicles 8:35 .

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

AHAZ , son and successor of Jotham, king of Judah, came to the throne about b.c. 734. The only notable event of his reign, so far as we know, was the invasion made by his northern neighbours, Pekah of Israel and Rezin of Damascus. These two kings had made an alliance against the Assyrians, and were trying to compel Ahaz to join the coalition. His refusal so exasperated them that they planned his deposition and the appointment of a creature of their own to the throne. Ahaz did not venture to take the field, but shut himself up in Jerusalem and strengthened its fortifications. It was perhaps at this time of need that he sacrificed his son as a burnt-offering to Jahweh. Isaiah tried to encourage the faint-hearted king, pointing out that his enemies had no prospect of success or even of long existence. But Ahaz had more faith in political measures than in the prophetic word. He sent a message to Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, submitting himself unreservedly to him. The embassy carried substantial evidence of vassalage in the shape of all the gold and silver from the palace treasury and from the Temple (  2 Kings 16:1-20 ,   Isaiah 7 ).

Tiglath-pileser was already on the march, and at once laid siege to Damascus, thus freeing Jerusalem from its enemies. Two years later the Assyrian king entered Damascus, and was visited there by Ahaz. The result of the visit was the construction of a new altar for the Temple at Jerusalem, and apparently the introduction of Assyrian divinities ( 2 Kings 16:10 ff.).

H. P. Smith.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

A'haz. (Possessor).

1. Eleventh king of Judah, son of Jotham, reigned 741-726, about sixteen years. At the time of his accession, Rezin, king of Damascus and Pekah, king of Israel had recently formed a league against Judah, and they proceeded to lay siege to Jerusalem. Upon this, Isaiah hastened to give advice and encouragement to Ahaz, and the allies failed in their attack on Jerusalem. Isaiah 7-9.

But, the allies inflicted a most severe injury on Judah by the capture of Elath, a flourishing port on the Red Sea, while the Philistines invaded the west and south. 2 Kings 16; 2 Chronicles 28. Ahaz, having forfeited God's favor by his wickedness, sought deliverance from these numerous troubles by appealing to Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, who forced him from his most formidable enemies. But Ahaz had to purchase this help at a costly price; he became tributary to Tiglath-pileser.

He was weak, a gross idolater, and sought safety in heathen ceremonies, making his son pass through the fire to Molech, consulting wizards and necromancers,  Isaiah 8:19, and other idolatrous practices.  2 Kings 23:12. His only service of permanent value was the introduction of the sun-dial. He died at the age of 36, but was refused a burial with the kings his ancestors.  2 Chronicles 28:27.

2. Son of Micah.  1 Chronicles 8:35-36;  1 Chronicles 9:42.

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Ahaz ( Â'K Ăz ), Seizer or Possessor . 1. The eleventh king of Judah; he was contemporary with the prophets Isaiah, Hosea, and Micah. He reigned 16 years. If, as it is stated in  2 Kings 16:2, A. V., Ahaz was 20 years old when he ascended the throne, he must have been the father of Hezekiah when eleven years of age.  2 Kings 18:2. Here, however, the Septuagint and the Syriac read "twenty-five years old."  2 Chronicles 28:1. He was distinguished for his idolatry and contempt of the true God; and against him many of the prophecies of Isaiah are directed. He died b.c. 726; and such was his impiety, that he was not allowed burial in the sepulchre of the kings.  2 Kings 16:1-2;  2 Kings 16:20;  2 Chronicles 28:1-27;  Isaiah 7:1;  Isaiah 25:2. A descendant of Jonathan.  1 Chronicles 8:35;  1 Chronicles 9:42.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

Son of Jotham, and twelfth king of Judah. He ascended the throne at twenty years of age, and reigned sixteen years,  2 Kings 16:1,2,20 . B. C. 738. He was distinguished for his idolatry and contempt of the true God; and against him many of the prophecies of Isaiah are directed,  Isaiah 7.1-25 . He made his own children pass through the fire to idols; he introduced the Syrian gods into Jerusalem, altered the temple after the Syrian model, and even closed it altogether. Having thus forfeited the aid of Jehovah, he met various repulses in battle with Pekah and Rezin; the Edomites revolted, and the Philistines harassed his borders. He turned yet more away from God in his distress, and sought aid from Pul, king of Assyria. This fatal step made him tributary to Pul, and to Tig-lath-pileser his successor. Ahaz was reduced to great extremities, in buying off the Assyrians; but became more infatuated still in idolatry, and dying in his impiety at the of thirty-six, was refused a burial with the kings his ancestors,  2 Chronicles 28:1-27 .

Easton's Bible Dictionary

• A grandson of Jonathan (1Chronicles 8:35; 9:42).
• The son and successor of Jotham, king of Judah (2Kings 16;  Isaiah 7-9;  2 Chronicles 2 28 ). He gave himself up to a life of wickedness and idolatry. Notwithstanding the remonstrances and warnings of Isaiah, Hosea, and Micah, he appealed for help against Rezin, king of Damascus, and Pekah, king of Israel, who threatened Jerusalem, to Tiglath-pileser, the king of Assyria, to the great injury of his kingdom and his own humilating subjection to the Assyrians (2Kings 16:7,9; 15:29). He also introduced among his people many heathen and idolatrous customs ( Isaiah 8:19;  38:8;  2 Kings 23:12). He died at the age of thirty-five years, after reigning sixteen years (B.C. 740-724), and was succeeded by his son Hezekiah. Because of his wickedness he was "not brought into the sepulchre of the kings."

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

succeeded his father Jotham, as king of Israel, at the age of twenty years, reigned till the year before Christ, 726, and addicted himself to the practice of idolatry. After the customs of the Heathen, he made his children to pass through fire; he shut up the temple, and destroyed its vessels. He became tributary to Tiglath-pileser, whose assistance he supplicated against the kings of Syria and Israel. Such was his impiety, that he was not allowed burial in the sepulchres of the kings of Israel, 2 Kings 16; 2 Chronicles 28.

Holman Bible Dictionary

 2 Kings 16:3 2 Chronicles 28:1 Isaiah 7:1 2 Kings 16:11 2 Chronicles 28:15 1 Chronicles 8:35-36 1 Chronicles 9:42

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament

AHAZ. —One of the kings of Judah ( circa (about) 735–720 b.c.), named in St. Matthew’s genealogy of our Lord ( Matthew 1:9).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

ā´haz ( אחז , 'āḥāz , "he has grasped," 2 Ki 16; 2 Ch 28;  Isaiah 7:10; Ἀχάζ , Acház ).

1. Name

The name is the same as Jehoahaz; hence appears on Tiglath-pileser's Assyrian inscription of 732 bc as Ia - u - ha - zi . The sacred historians may have dropped the first part of the name in consequence of the character of the king.

2. The Accession

Ahaz was the son of Jotham, king of Judah. He succeeded to the throne at the age of 20 years (according to another reading 25). The chronology of his reign is difficult, as his son Hezekiah is stated to have been 25 years of age when he began to reign 16 years after ( 2 Kings 18:2 ). If the accession of Ahaz be placed as early as 743 bc, his grandfather Uzziah, long unable to perform the functions of his office on account of his leprosy ( 2 Chronicles 26:21 ), must still have been alive. (Others date Ahaz later, when Uzziah, for whom Jotham had acted as regent, was already dead.)

3. Early Idolatries

Although so young, Ahaz seems at once to have struck out an independent course wholly opposed to the religious traditions of his nation. His first steps in this direction were the causing to be made and circulated of molten images of the Baalim, and the revival in the valley of Hinnom, south of the city, of the abominations of the worship of Moloch ( 2 Chronicles 28:2 ,  2 Chronicles 28:3 ). He is declared to have made his own son "pass through the fire" ( 2 Kings 16:3 ); the chronicler puts it even more strongly: he "burnt his children in the fire" ( 2 Chronicles 28:3 ). Other acts of idolatry were to follow.

4. Peril from Syria and Israel

The kingdom of Judah was at this time in serious peril. Rezin, king of Damascus, and Pekah, king of Samaria, had already, in the days of Jotham, begun to harass Judah ( 2 Kings 15:37 ); now a conspiracy was formed to dethrone the young Ahaz, and set upon the throne a certain "son of Tabeel" ( Isaiah 7:6 ). An advance of the two kings was made against Jerusalem, although without success ( 2 Kings 16:5;  Isaiah 7:1 ); the Jews were expelled from Elath ( 2 Kings 16:6 ), and the country was ravaged, and large numbers taken captive ( 2 Chronicles 28:5 ). Consternation was universal. The heart of Ahaz "trembled, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the forest tremble with the wind" ( Isaiah 7:2 ). In his extremity Ahaz appealed to the king of Assyria for help ( 2 Kings 16:7;  2 Chronicles 28:16 ).

5. Isaiah's Messages to the King

Amid the general alarm and perturbation, the one man untouched by it in Jerusalem was the prophet Isaiah. Undismayed, Isaiah set himself, apparently single-handed, to turn the tide of public opinion from the channel in which it was running, the seeking of aid from Assyria. His appeal was to both king and people. By Divine direction, meeting Ahaz "at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, in the highway of the fuller's field," he bade him have no fear of "these two tails of smoking firebrands," Rezin and Pekah, for, like dying torches, they would speedily be extinguished ( Isaiah 7:3 ). If he would not believe this he would not be established ( Isaiah 7:9 ). Failing to win the young king's confidence, Isaiah was sent a second time, with the offer from Yahweh of any sign Ahaz chose to ask, "either in the depth, or in the height above," in attestation of the truth of the Divine word. The frivolous monarch refused the arbitrament on the hypocritical ground, "I will not ask, neither will I tempt Yahweh" ( Isaiah 7:10-12 ). Possibly his ambassadors were already dispatched to the Assyrian king. Whenever they went, they took with them a large subsidy with which to buy that ruler's favor ( 2 Kings 16:8 ). It was on this occasion that Isaiah, in reply to Ahaz, gave the reassuring prophecy of Immanuel ( Isaiah 7:13 ).

6. Isaiah's Tablet

As respects the people, Isaiah was directed to exhibit on "a great tablet" the words "For Maher-shalal-hash-baz" ("swift the spoil, speedy the prey"). This was attested by two witnesses, one of whom was Urijah, the high priest. It was a solemn testimony that, without any action on the part of Judah, "the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be carried away before the king of Assyria" ( Isaiah 8:1-4 ).

7. Fall of Damascus and Its Results

It was as the prophet had foretold. Damascus fell, Rezin was killed ( 2 Kings 16:9 ), and Israel was raided ( 2 Kings 15:29 ). The action brought temporary relief to Judah, but had the effect of placing her under the heel of Assyria. Everyone then living knew that there could be no equal alliance between Judah and Assyria, and that the request for help, accompanied by the message, "I am thy servant" ( 2 Kings 16:7 ,  2 Kings 16:8 ) and by "presents" of gold and silver, meant the submission of Judah and the annual payment of a heavy tribute. Had Isaiah's counsel been followed, Tiglath-pileser would probably, in his own interests, have been compelled to crush the coalition, and Judah would have retained her freedom.

8. Sun-Dial of Ahaz

The political storm having blown over for the present, with the final loss of the important port of Elath on the Red Sea ( 2 Kings 16:6 ), Ahaz turned his attention to more congenial pursuits. The king was somewhat of a dilettante in matters of art, and he set up a sun-dial, which seems to have consisted of a series of steps arranged round a short pillar, the time being indicated by the position of the shadow on the steps (compare  2 Kings 20:9-11;  Isaiah 38:8 ). As it is regarded as possible for the shadow to return 10 steps, it is clear that each step did not mark an hour of the day, but some smaller period.

9. The Lavers and Brazen Sea

Another act of the king was to remove from the elaborate ornamental bases on which they had stood (compare  1 Kings 7:27-39 ), the ten layers of Solomon, and also to remove Solomon's molten sea from the 12 brazen bulls which supported it (compare  1 Kings 7:23-26 ), the sea being placed upon a raised platform or pavement ( 2 Kings 16:17 ). From  Jeremiah 52:20 , where the prophet sees "the 12 brazen bulls that were under the bases," it has been conjectured that the object of the change may have been to transfer the layers to the backs of the bulls.

10. The Damascus Altar

To this was added a yet more daring act of impiety. In 732 Ahaz was, with other vassal princes, summoned to Damascus to pay homage to Tiglath-pileser ( 2 Kings 16:10; his name appears in the Assyrian inscription). There he saw a heathen altar of fanciful pattern, which greatly pleased him. A model of this was sent to Urijah the high priest, with instructions to have an enlarged copy of it placed in the temple court. On the king's return to Jerusalem, he sacrificed at the new altar, but, not satisfied with its position, gave orders for a change. The altar had apparently been placed on the east side of the old altar; directions were now given for the brazen altar to be moved to the north, and the Damascus altar to be placed in line with it, in front of the temple giving both equal honor. Orders were further given to Urijah that the customary sacrifices should be offered on the new altar, now called "the great altar," while the king reserved the brazen altar for himself "to inquire by" ( 2 Kings 16:15 ).

11. Further Impieties

Even this did not exhaust the royal innovations. We learn from a later notice that the doors of the temple porch were shut, that the golden candlestick was not lighted, that the offering of incense was not made, and other solemnities were suspended ( 2 Chronicles 29:7 ). It is not improbable that it was Ahaz who set up 'the horses of the sun' mentioned in  2 Kings 23:11 , and gave them accommodation in the precincts of the temple. He certainly built the "altars ... on the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz," perhaps above the porch of the temple, for the adoration of the heavenly bodies ( 2 Kings 23:12 ). Many other idolatries and acts of national apostasy are related regarding him ( 2 Chronicles 28:22 ).

12. Recurrence of Hostilities

In the later years of his unhappy reign there was a recurrence of hostilities with the inhabitants of Philistia and Edom, this time with disaster to Judah (see the list of places lost in  2 Chronicles 28:18 ,  2 Chronicles 28:19 ). New appeal was made to Tiglath-pileser, whose subject Ahaz, now was, and costly presents were sent from the temple, the royal palace, and even the houses of the princes of Judah, but without avail ( 2 Chronicles 28:19-21 ). The Assyrian 'distressed' Ahaz, but rendered no assistance. In his trouble the wicked king only "trespassed yet more" ( 2 Chronicles 28:22 ).

13. Death of Ahaz

Ahaz died in 728, after 16 years of misused power. The exultation with which the event was regarded is reflected in Isaiah's little prophecy written "in the year that King Ahaz died" ( Isaiah 14:28-32 ). The statement in  2 Kings 16:20 that Ahaz "was buried with his fathers in the city of David" is to be understood in the light of   2 Chronicles 28:27 , that he was buried in Jerusalem, but that his body was not laid in the sepulchers of the kings of Israel. His name appears in the royal genealogies in  1 Chronicles 3:13 and   Matthew 1:9 .

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(Hebrew Achaz', אָחָז , Possessor), the name of two men.

1. (Sept. Χαάζ v. r. Ἀχάζ .) A great grandson of Jonathan, son of King Saul, being one of the four sons of Micah, and the father of Jehoiadah or Jarah ( 1 Chronicles 8:35;  1 Chronicles 9:42). B.C. post 1037.

2. (Sept. and N.T. ῎Αχαζ , Josephus Ἀχάζης , Auth. Vers. "Achaz,"

 Matthew 1:9.) The son and successor of Jotham, being the twelfth king of the separate kingdom of Judah, who reigned fourteen years, B.C. 740-726 (besides two years as viceroy under his father). In  2 Kings 16:2, he is said to have ascended the throne at the age of 20 years. This has been regarded as a transcriber's error for 25, which number is found in one Hebrew MS., the Sept., the Peshito, and Arabic version of  2 Chronicles 28:1; for otherwise his son Hezekiah was born when he was eleven years old (so Clinton, Fasti Hell. 1, 318). But it more probably refers to a still earlier viceroyship at the date of his father's full coronation ( 2 Kings 15:32-33), B.C. 756. At the time of his accession, Rezin, king of Damascus, and Pekah, king of Israel, had recently formed a league against Judah, and they proceeded to lay siege to Jerusalem, intending to place on the throne Ben-Tabeal, who was not a prince of the royal family of Judah, but probably a Syrian noble. Upon this the prophet Isaiah, full of zeal for God and patriotic loyalty to the house of David, hastened to give advice and encouragement to Ahaz (see Richardson's Sermons, 2, 186), and it was probably owing to the spirit of energy and religious devotion which he poured into his counsels that the allies failed in their attack on Jerusalem. Thus much, together with anticipations of danger from the Assyrians, and a general picture of weakness and unfaithfulness both in the king and the people, we find in the famous prophecies of the 7th, 8th, and 9th chapters of Isaiah, in which he seeks to animate and support them by the promise of the Messiah. From 2 Kings 16, and 2 Chronicles 28, we learn that the allies took a vast number of captives, who, however, were restored in virtue of the remonstrances of the prophet Oded; and that they also inflicted a most severe injury on Judah by the capture of Elath, a flourishing port on the Red Sea, in which, after expelling the Jews, they re- established the Edomites (according to the true reading of  2 Kings 16:6, אֲדוֹמַים for אֲדוֹמַים ), who attacked and wasted the east part of Judah, while the Philistines invaded the west and south. The weak-minded and helpless Ahaz sought deliverance from these numerous troubles by appealing to Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, who freed him from his most formidable enemies by invading Syria, taking Damascus, killing Rezin, and depriving Israel of its northern and Transjordanic districts — an extension of their dominions for which the Assyrians had been already preparing (see Kitto's Daily Bible Illustr. in loc.). But Ahaz had to purchase this help at a costly price: he became tributary to Tiglath-pileser, sent him all the treasures of the Temple and his own palace, and even appeared before him in Damascus as a vassal. He also ventured to seek for safety in heathen ceremonies, despite the admonitions of Isaiah, Hosea, and Micah; making his son pass through the fire to Moloch, consulting wizards and necromancers ( Isaiah 8:19), sacrificing to the Syrian gods, introducing a foreign (originally Assyrian, apparently, Rawlinson, Hist. Evidences, p. 117) altar from Damascus, and probably the worship of the heavenly bodies from Assyria and Babylon, as he would seem to have set up the horses of the sun mentioned in  2 Kings 23:11 (comp. Tacit. Ann. 12, 13); and "the altars on the top (or roof) of the upper chamber of Ahaz" ( 2 Kings 23:12) were connected with the adoration of the stars. (See Astrology).

The worship of Jehovah became neglected, and the Temple at length altogether closed. We see another and blameless result of this intercourse with an astronomical people in the "sundial of Ahaz" ( Isaiah 38:8). (See Dial). He died at the age of fifty years, and his body was refused a burial in the royal sepulcher (2 Kings 16, and 2 Chronicles 28; Isaiah 7). He was succeeded by his son Hezekiah (see Simeon's Works, 4, 177). (See Kingdom Of Judah).

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

A´haz (possessor), son of Jotham, and eleventh king of Judah, who reigned sixteen years, beginning in B.C. 741, and ending in 726. Ahaz was the most corrupt monarch that had hitherto appeared in Judah. He respected neither Jehovah the law, nor the prophets; he broke through all the restraints which law and custom had imposed upon the Hebrew kings, and had regard only to his own depraved inclinations. He introduced the religion of the Syrians into Jerusalem, erected altars to the Syrian gods, altered the temple in many respects after the Syrian model, and at length ventured to shut it up altogether. Such a man could not exercise that faith in Jehovah, as the political head of the nation, which formed the courage of a Hebrew king. Hence, after he had sustained a few repulses from Pekah and Rezin, his allied foes, when the Edomites had revolted from him, and the Philistines were making incursions into his country, notwithstanding a sure promise of divine deliverance, he called Pul, the King of Assyria, to his aid [ASSYRIA]. He even became tributary to that monarch, on condition of his obliging Syria and Israel to abandon their design of destroying the kingdom of Judah; and thus afforded to Tiglath-pilezer, the successor of Pul, an opportunity of conquering Syria, Israel beyond Jordan, and Galilee. The Assyrians afforded Ahaz no real assistance; on the contrary, they drove him to such extremities that he was scarcely able, with all the riches of the temple, of the nobility, and of the royal treasury, to purchase release from his troublesome protectors. He died at the age of thirty-six (2 Kings 16; 2 Chronicles 28; Isaiah 7).

The Nuttall Encyclopedia

A king of Judah who first brought Judea under tribute to Assyria.