2 Kings 16:1-2
Summary for 2Kgs 16:1-2: 16:1-2 a The seventeenth year of King Pekah’s reign was 735 BC. At that time Ahaz ... began to rule: He had already been co-regent for eleven years, but now he officially acceded to the throne. This marks the transition from subordination to his father, Jotham (743–735 BC), to a position of reigning in his stead (735–732 BC). Ahaz presumably had his official accession ceremony following his father’s death in 732 BC, so the author of Kings reckons Ahaz’s reign of sixteen years from 731 BC, the year after his father died, to 715 BC. See also study note on 17:1.Summary for 2Kgs 16:2-3: 16:2-3 b Again, his ancestor David serves as the standard for measuring the spiritual character of Judah’s kings (14:3 c; 1 Kgs 15:3 d, 11 e).
• the example of the kings of Israel: Ahaz was one of Judah’s most wicked kings. He indulged in the apostate religion of Israel and the pagan practices of other nations to the extent of even sacrificing his own son in the fire (see Jer 19:5 f; 32:35 g). Although Levitical regulations prohibited such sacrifices as an abomination detestable to the Lord (Lev 18:10 h; 20:1-5 i), the practice was repeated among God’s people (Isa 30:33 j; Jer 7:31 k) until Josiah’s reforms (2 Kgs 23:10 l).
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