Ahaz Calls In Assyria

Jotham died when he had lived forty-one years, sixteen of them as king, and was buried in the tombs of the kings; and the kingdom passed to his son Ahaz. He proved most impious toward God and a breaker of the laws of his country. He imitated the kings of Israel: he set up altars in Jerusalem and offered sacrifices on them to idols, and to these he even offered his own son as a burnt offering, according to the practices of the Canaanites. His other actions were of the same kind. As he was going on in this mad course, Rezin, king of Syria and Damascus, and Pekah, king of Israel, who were now on friendly terms with each other, made war on him. They drove him into Jerusalem and besieged the city a long while, but made little progress because of the strength of its walls. The king of Syria took the city of Elath on the Red Sea, killed its inhabitants, and peopled it with Syrians; and when he had killed those in the garrisons and the Jews in the neighborhood, and had driven off much plunder, he returned with his army to Damascus. When the king of Jerusalem learned that the Syrians had gone home, he supposed himself a match for the king of Israel, led out his army against him, joined battle with him, and was beaten; and this happened because God was angry with him for his many great impieties. One hundred and twenty thousand of his men were killed by the Israelites that day. The Israelites’ general, named Amaziah, killed Zechariah, the son of King Ahaz, in the battle, and also the governor of the whole kingdom, whose name was Azrikam. He also carried off Elkanah, the general of the troops of the tribe of Judah, into captivity. They carried off the women and children of the tribe of Benjamin as captives too, and when they had taken a great deal of plunder, they returned to Samaria. [a]

There was at that time a prophet in Samaria named Oded. He met the army before the city walls and told them in a loud voice that they had won the victory not by their own strength but because of the anger God had against King Ahaz. He complained that they were not content with their success against him, but had been so bold as to make captives of their kinsmen, the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. He also advised them to let these go home without doing them any harm, for if they did not obey God in this they would be punished. So the people of Israel came together in their assembly and considered these matters. Then a man named Berechiah, who was one of the most highly regarded men in the government, stood up with three others, and they said, “We will not let the soldiers bring these prisoners into the city, or we will all be destroyed by God. We have sins enough of our own that we have committed against him, as the prophets assure us; so we ought not to bring in the practice of new crimes.” When the soldiers heard this, they let them do what they thought best. So the men just named took the captives and released them, took care of them, gave them provisions, and sent them to their own country without doing them any harm. These four went along with them and escorted them as far as Jericho, which is not far from Jerusalem, and then returned to Samaria. [c]

Then King Ahaz, having been so thoroughly beaten by the Israelites, sent to Tiglath-pileser, king of the Assyrians, and asked for his help in his war against the Israelites and the Syrians and the people of Damascus, promising to send him much money; and he sent him great gifts at the same time. When this king had received the envoys, he came to help Ahaz. He made war on the Syrians and laid their country waste, took Damascus by force, and killed Rezin their king; and he moved the people of Damascus into Upper Media and brought a colony of Assyrians and settled them in Damascus. He also afflicted the land of Israel and took many captives out of it. While he was dealing this way with the Syrians, King Ahaz took all the gold that was in the king’s treasuries, and the silver, and what was in the temple of God, and whatever precious gifts were there, and carried them with him to Damascus, and gave them to the king of Assyria as he had agreed. So he acknowledged that he owed him thanks for all he had done for him, and returned to Jerusalem. This king was so stupid and so blind to his own good that he would not stop worshiping the Syrian gods even when he was beaten by them, but went on worshiping them as though they would win him the victory. When he was beaten again, he began to honor the gods of the Assyrians; and he seemed more eager to honor any other gods than the true God of his fathers, whose anger was the cause of his defeat. He went so far in spite and contempt that he shut up the temple entirely, forbade them to bring in the appointed sacrifices, and took away the gifts that had been given to it. When he had offered these insults to God, he died, having lived thirty-six years and reigned sixteen of them; and he left his son Hezekiah as his successor. [f]