Charles Ellicott Commentary 2 Chronicles 28

THE REIGN OF AHAZ. (Compare to 2 Kings 16)

PRELIMINARY NOTICES OF THE LENGTH AND CHARACTER OF THE REIGN (2 Chronicles 28:1–4).

Ahaz was twenty years old. — The verse is identical with 2 Kings 16:2; the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic read “twenty and five.” (See 2 Chronicles 29:1.)

The Lord. — Add his God. This reading is found in some manuscripts and the Syriac version; the Book of Kings also has this reading. The Assyrian monuments call Ahaz Yahuhazi, i.e., Jehoahaz, of which Ahaz may be a familiar abridgment. (Compare Nathan, Jonathan.)

And made also molten images for Baalim. — For the Baals, that is, the different aspects or avatars of the Canaanite god. This clause is added by the chronicler, in explanation of the former one; “the way of the kings of Israel” was the state recognition of Baal worship, side by side with that of Jehovah (2 Chronicles 21:6; 2 Chronicles 22:3–4; compare 2 Chronicles 23:17). But possibly both this and the first clause of 2 Chronicles 28:3 have fallen out of the text of Kings. (So Thenius on that passage.)

Moreover he. —“And he (emphatic) burnt incense” to Moloch, the god of Ammon, for whom Solomon had built a high place (1 Kings 11:5–8), which was still in existence.

In the valley of the son of Hinnom. —Also called simply the valley of Hinnom (Joshua 15:8), on the west and south of Jerusalem (Joshua 18:16), the scene of the cruel rites in honour of

“Moloch, horrid king, besmeared with blood.”

MILTON.

(Jeremiah 7:31–32; Jeremiah 19:2–6, where “the Baal” is named as the object of this worship, Moloch being a Baal.) In later times, the term “valley of Hinnom,” spelt as one word, and with modified vowels, Gĕhinnâm, became the appellation of hell, “the house of woe and pain.” It is so used in the Targums, and later in the Talmud, and appears in the New Testament under the Graecized form Γέεννα, from which the Latin Gehenna is derived.

Burnt his children in the fire. —The Book of Kings states, “And even his own son he made to pass through the fire.” The Chronicler has paraphrased by transposing two Hebrew letters (ba ‘ ar for ‘abar). “His children” is simply a generalised expression, as we might say, “he burnt his own offspring or posterity” . Thenius accuses the Chronicler of exaggerating the fact. But this peculiar use of the plural is one of the marks of his style (Compare 1 Chronicles 6:57; 1 Chronicles 6:67; and 2 Chronicles 28:16, infra.).

THE WAR WITH REZIN OF SYRIA AND PEKAH OF ISRAEL; OR, THE SYRO-EPHRAITE CAMPAIGN (2 Chronicles 28:5–9). (Compare to 2 Kings 16:5; Isaiah 7:1.)

Wherefore (and) the Lord his God delivered him. —These opening words help us to understand the basis of the variations of the present account from that of 2 Kings 16. The chronicler intends, not so much to describe a campaign, as to select those events of it which most conspicuously illustrate God’s chastisements of the apostate Ahaz.

Accordingly, throughout the description, the historical is subordinated to the didactic motive. (Compare to the account of the Syrian invasion, 2 Chronicles 24:23–24.) Not history for its own sake, but history teaching by example, is what the writer desires to present.

At the same time, the events here recorded are above critical suspicion. Thenius characterizes the whole section (2 Chronicles 28:5–15) as “thoroughly historical.”

Into the hand of the king of Syria—Rezin of Damascus. (Compare to 2 Kings 16:5.) Instead of relating the joint attempt against Jerusalem and the seizure of Elath by Rezin, the chronicler prefers to record two severe defeats suffered by Ahaz in the open field before his retreat behind the walls of Jerusalem. (See Note on 2 Chronicles 17:17; 2 Chronicles 22:1.)

After these successes, the confederates converged upon the capital, and the panic inspired by the news of their coming is finely depicted in Isaiah 7:2. Their attempt proved ineffectual, as the prophet had foretold.

Smote him. —Literally, smote in him, that is, in his army; defeated him. (A similar remark applies in the next sentence.)

Carried away ... captives. —Literally, and led captive from him a great captivity (Deuteronomy 21:11).

And he was also delivered. —A second terrible reverse, which took place, perhaps, while Rezin was absent in Idumea. At that time Rezin king of Syria recovered Elath to Syria, and drove the Jews out of Elath: and the Arameans (or Edomites) came to Elath, and dwelt there to this day (2 Kings 16:6).

For. — And, i.e., so.

Pekah ... slew in Judah an hundred ... in one day. —Details of what is generally stated in the last sentence of 2 Chronicles 28:5. The totals of slain and of captives (2 Chronicles 28:8) are both round numbers. The figures 120,000, if accurate, would show that about a third of the Jewish host (2 Chronicles 26:13) had fallen in the battle and pursuit. The ruthlessness of the foe is borne out by the words of the prophet Oded in 2 Chronicles 28:9: Ye have slain them in a rage that reacheth up to heaven.Isaiah 7:6 proves that the allies designed to break wholly the independence of Judah, by abolishing the Davidic monarchy and setting up a Syrian vassal king.

In one day. —In one great engagement. Among the Hebrews and Arabs the word “day” often bears the special force of “day of battle;” e.g., “the day of Midian” (Isaiah 9:4).

Because they had forsaken. — 2 Chronicles 27:2. Moreover, the idolatrous example of Ahaz would be eagerly followed by large numbers of the people, whose average religious condition was far below the standard which the prophets of Jehovah demanded. The prophetic writings demonstrate this.