but walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and even caused his son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the nations that Jehovah had dispossessed from before the children of Israel.
Ahaz sat on David's throne, but he followed the kings of the north — even burning his own son. How does a king of Judah fall this far, and why is copying those kings the heaviest charge against him?
Judah's kings are charged in many ways. This one is the heaviest, and it has a starting point.
Another effect of the earlier connection with Ahab is that Ahaz walked in the ways of the kings of Israel. This expression seems to mark the greatest guilt of the kings of Judah. Scripture uses it after the marriage link with Ahab. Ahaz burned his children in the fire. Manasseh consulted mediums and spiritists. Could the chosen nation sink lower?
A good king began this pattern generations earlier, with one bad alliance.
The kings of Israel had set a deadly example. That course led Judah and all Israel to ruin (see 2 Kings 16:3). All this began with the godly Jehoshaphat's alliance with Ahab. Evil bears fruit, and that fruit keeps reproducing itself for a long time.
The wording is mild. The act was not. One writer describes what it involved and where Ahaz did it.
He made idolatrous images and burned incense in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom. There he sacrificed his own children to the fire (v. 3). They did this by placing the young child in the arms of a metal idol. Then they lit a fire under it and beat drums to drown out the child's cries. That is how hard-hearted the wickedness of idolatry is. Yet men like Ahaz think they are being very religious when they do it.
Older translations read "pass through the fire" here instead of "burned his son as an offering." One writer names the god behind the rite, and refuses the softer reading.
Satan so blinded parents that they gave their own children as sacrifices to Molech, the god of the Ammonites... Some have argued from "passing through the fire," here and elsewhere, that their children were not burned. But this seems a kindly effort to soften how wicked the act really was. It was the fullest, though not the only, profaning of the name of Israel's God. The Lord accepted a sheep or an ox, or even a much smaller sacrifice; Satan, under these names, demanded their sons.
The verse compares Ahaz with the peoples God removed from Canaan. God had warned Israel long before about those same practices.
A solemn warning closes this chapter. God would cast the people of Canaan out of the land because of their vileness. The Lord would not spare His own people if they practised these things. They did commit all this wickedness. Israel, cast out of the land and wandering homeless, shows that God carried out this solemn warning.
God measures a king in one direction only. His verdict can fall on a ruler the public admires.
He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord like the kings of Israel. Notice that this word "evil" is always given to us in reference to the Lord... Jeroboam I, Joash of Israel, and Jeroboam II were remarkable monarchs in the eyes of men. Two of them were "saviours" of their nation, helping to build its reputation and to win back its territory. But for God the question is a different one. It is a matter of what relationship these kings, like Ahaz king of Judah here, had with Him.
Syria and Israel soon besieged Ahaz. God's answer to a king this far gone was not what you would expect.
The Lord sends Isaiah to meet the king... How moving is the patient grace God shows toward this evil king! He reassures him instead of crushing him. He announces deliverance to him. He says, "Take care and be quiet" — let Me act. He says "Fear not" to the man who had everything to fear.
The attack aimed at more than one man. That is why Jerusalem held.
"The two tails of these smoking firebrands" aimed to remove king Ahaz from the throne and set up "the son of Tabeal" in his place... This was surely Satan's plot, if not man's, to destroy the line of David. For this reason God did not hand Jerusalem over to them... A remnant would be left to return to the land, and the virgin would bear a son. So a king would never fail on the throne of David.
- Pattern — Copying the kings of Israel is the heaviest charge against any king of Judah. It began with one godly king's alliance with Ahab, and that evil bred on for generations.
- Practice — The mild wording covers real child-sacrifice by fire in the Valley of Hinnom. Reading it as anything less only softens the wickedness.
- Power — Behind the idol stood Satan. God accepted an ox or a sheep; Satan demanded their sons — and the men doing it felt religious.
- Precedent — Judah took up the same practices God expelled the Canaanites for. He warned Israel of the same end, and the scattered nation shows He kept His word.
- Patience — God weighs a man by his relationship with Him, not by his public record. Yet He met this king with "Fear not," guarded David's line, and promised the virgin's Son.
And he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree.
Ahaz became king of Judah and took up worship at hilltop shrines all over the land. The question this verse raises is not whether he was religious — he was — but why God counts a scattered devotion like his as evil.
Earlier kings of Judah left the hill shrines standing but kept their own hands clean. Ahaz did not.
None of the kings before him had done away with the high places. They had let the people burn incense there without joining in this idolatry themselves. Ahaz himself "sacrificed and made offerings on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree" (2 Kings 16:4). He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord like the kings of Israel.
God chose one place for sacrifice. The motive behind any other shrine did not rescue it.
It seems to have been the custom of the nations of Canaan to set up places of worship for their false gods on various heights, chosen to suit their own desires, which Satan controlled. The Lord told His people about the ways of these nations, and forbade them to copy them. He would choose His own centre, and there His people must come with their burnt offerings and sacrifices. The Israelites were to destroy all the high places of these nations. In that way they would show their horror at their wicked ways. But human nature is no better in those who are near to God than in those who are far from Him. Sad to say, the time soon came when Israel chose high places for themselves. Some of these were for idolatrous worship, and some for the worship of the Lord. But all the high places were offensive in His sight, whatever the motives of those who set them up. They were the expression of self-will, of hearts not subject to His commandments.
People filled the hills and trees with objects they had made. Those objects had a defence ready to hand.
They set up for themselves sacred pillars and wooden images on high hills and under green trees. They would no doubt say that these things were there to remind them of God. But God had forbidden such things. Using them always lowered God in their view, so that in the end the things themselves became the objects of their worship.
"Evil" here is not a comment on Ahaz's competence or his public record. Rossier points out that people admired some of the worst kings.
Notice that the word "evil" is always used with reference to the Lord. It does happen that forsaking God hands the guilty one over to all kinds of moral evil, to crime and impurity. But it is not always so. Jeroboam I, Joash of Israel, and Jeroboam II were remarkable monarchs in the eyes of men. Two of them were "saviours" of their nation... But for God, the question is a different one. It is a matter of working out what relationship these kings — like Ahaz king of Judah here — had with Him.
Ahaz had a temple he could have gone to. Another writer names what his choice looks like today.
His father Jotham did not burn incense in the high places, but he had allowed those places to remain. Ahaz forgot the temple of God and burned incense in the high places and other outdoor areas (v.4). He was like many today who say they need not gather with others to worship God. They claim they can worship just as well while enjoying the scenery, when they hunt or fish or play golf or hike in the mountains.
What follows is not destruction. God sends a man to speak to this king.
The Lord sends Isaiah to meet the king. The prophet speaks in grace to this wicked king... But how touching is the patient grace God has toward this evil king! He reassures him instead of crushing him. He announces deliverance to him. He says to him, "Be careful, be quiet" — let Me act. He says, "Do not fear" to the man who, for his part, had everything to fear.
- Tolerated. Earlier kings left the high places standing but never used them. Ahaz sacrificed there himself. What one generation allows, the next joins in.
- Self-willed. Every high place offended God, whatever the worshipper's motive. Each one expressed a heart not subject to His commandments.
- Lowered. Objects kept as reminders of God ended up taking His place. People worshipped the reminders.
- Measured. God measures "evil" by a man's relationship to Him, not by his standing with people. He counted able rulers evil, and He weighs Ahaz by the same rule.
- Met with grace. To the king who had scattered his worship across the hills, God still sent a prophet saying, "Do not fear."