Chapter Twenty-Eight

Ahaz, the 12th king of Judah

(Cf. 2 Kgs 16:1-20)

1–4. The length and impiety of the reign. 5–8. The defeat of the people of Judah by the Syrians and Israelites, with the capture of many captives. 9–15. The release of the captives at the word of the prophet Oded. 16–21. The defeat of Judah by the Edomites and Philistines, with painful aid from the Assyrian king. 22–27. Ahaz’s persistence in idolatry and his disgraceful death.

2 Chronicles 28:1. Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem; and he did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord, as his father David had done: 2 Chronicles 28:2. he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and even made molten idols of Baals; 2 Chronicles 28:3. and he burned incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and made his sons pass through the fire, imitating the abominations of the peoples whom the Lord drove out before the sons of Israel; 2 Chronicles 28:4. and he sacrificed and made offerings on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree. Cf. (2 Kgs 16:2-4), “Tolkovaya Bibliya”, vol. II, p. 529. In this section there is an almost verbatim agreement between 4 Kings and 2 Chronicles, apart from some variations that do not change the essence. For example, in the accepted LXX text (2 Chr 28:1) the age of Ahaz when taking the throne is determined as 25 years: ἔικοσι καὶ πέντε ἐτῶν (in codices II, 19, 52, 60, 64, 93, 108, 119, 158, 236, 243 by Holmes: ἔικοσι ἐτῶν). And in codex 539 of Rossi in the Hebrew-Masoretic text there is 25. Given that this latter figure eliminates a chronological inconsistency in the acceptance of 20 years in relation to the age of Hezekiah when he took the throne (2 Kgs 18:2; 2 Chr 29:1), (see “Tolkovaya Bibliya” vol. II, p. 529), it should be considered original. Under the name of Baals (v. 2) are here probably meant heathen deities in general, or more specifically, judging from the molten images, it is probably meant the service of Astarte (Professor Gulyaev, “Historical Books of the Old Testament Scripture”, p. 562; cf. “Tolkovaya Bibliya”, vol. II, p. 418 and 436). On the valley of the sons of Hinnom and the fire cult of Moloch performed here see commentaries at (2 Kgs 16:3) and at (2 Kgs 23:10), “Tolkovaya Bibliya”, vol. II, p. 529 and 570–571.

2 Chronicles 28:5. And the Lord his God gave him into the hand of the king of Syria, and they defeated him and took from him a great number of captives and carried them off to Damascus. And he was also given into the hand of the king of Israel, and he inflicted a great defeat upon him. 2 Chronicles 28:6. And Pekah son of Remaliah, king of Israel, slew in Judah one hundred and twenty thousand men in one day, all mighty men of valor, because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers. 2 Chronicles 28:7. And Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim, slew Maaseiah the king’s son, and Azrikam the governor of the house, and Elkanah the second to the king. 2 Chronicles 28:8. And the sons of Israel took captive from their brothers, Judeans, two hundred thousand, women, sons, and daughters; they also took much spoil from them and brought the spoil to Samaria. 2 Chronicles 28:9. There was a prophet of the Lord there, named Oded. He went out before the army that came to Samaria and said to them: Behold, the Lord God of your fathers, angry with Judah, has given them into your hand, and you have slaughtered them in a rage that reaches up to heaven. 2 Chronicles 28:10. And now you think to subjugate the people of Judah and Jerusalem as slaves and bondmaids for yourselves. Are there not among you also sins against the Lord your God? 2 Chronicles 28:11. Now therefore listen to me, and send back the captives whom you have taken from your brothers, for the fierce anger of the Lord is upon you. 2 Chronicles 28:12. Then certain of the heads of the sons of Ephraim arose: Azariah son of Jehohanan, Berechiah son of Meshillemoth, and Hezekiah son of Shallum, and Amasa son of Hadlai, against those coming from the war, 2 Chronicles 28:13. and said to them: You shall not bring the captives here, for you propose to bring on us guilt before the Lord. Do you think to add to our sins and to our guilt? For our guilt is great, and there is fierce anger against Israel. 2 Chronicles 28:14. So the armed men left the captives and the spoil before the officers and all the assembly. 2 Chronicles 28:15. And the men who have been mentioned by name arose and took the captives, and from the spoil they clothed all the naked among them; they clothed them, gave them sandals, provided them with food and drink, and anointed them with oil. They set all the feeble on donkeys and brought them to Jericho, the city of palm trees, to their brothers, and returned to Samaria. There is this difference from (2 Kgs 16:5-6) in that according to the 4th Book of Kings, as well as (Isa 7:1), the allies: Rezin of Syria and Pekah of Israel besieged Jerusalem with armies, which they could not take, after which the Syrian king marched into Edom and captured Elath; according to 2 Chronicles Ahaz met the allies not at Jerusalem, but somewhere outside it, before the siege of Jerusalem: there he was defeated by each of the allies, there took place the capture by Israelites of 200,000 Judean women and children, who were later released at the insistence of the prophet Oded. But of course, 2 Chronicles here in no way contradicts 4 Kings, but only supplements the account of 4 Kings (Isa 7:1) by introducing the moment preceding the siege of Jerusalem: it is quite natural that Ahaz, not waiting for the arrival of the allies at Jerusalem, attempted to repel the Syrian army and the Israelite army somewhere on the border of Judah, but, defeated by each army, retreated then to Jerusalem and shut himself in it. The enormous figures of the killed (120,000) and captives (200,000) of Judah (v. 6 and 8) may indeed raise perplexity and suggest the possibility of corruption of the numerical data in the biblical text by copyists. The Hebrew Masoretic text, admittedly, has no variants in v. 6 and 8, but the Greek LXX has several, so in v. 6, in codices 74, 106, 120, 134, 236, 19, 60 by Holmes have: ἐίκοσι χιλιάδες – only 20,000, which is more natural than the figure stated in the accepted text. As for the fact, transmitted only in 2 Chronicles, of the generous sparing of the Judean captives, women and children, by the Israelites at the urging and exhortation of the prophet Oded (v. 9–15), this fact presents nothing improbable: the struggle between the two Hebrew kingdoms, which began soon after the division of the formerly united Hebrew kingdom, had far greater dynastic or governmental motives: the desire of the kings of Judah (e.g., Abijah, Amaziah (2 Kgs 14:8-13; 2 Chr 13:3-19), cf. “Tolkovaya Bibliya”, vol. II, p. 522) to subdue the northern Hebrew kingdom that had broken away, than tribal hostility between the two kingdoms; the latter is improbable by virtue of the natural kinship between the tribes of Israel and Judah; therefore brotherly feelings, especially under the influence of prophetic exhortations, could easily be awakened in the hearts of the victorious Israelites toward the Judean captives. And the very fact that the sacred writer of the Book of Chronicles, who usually omits everything concerning the kingdom of Israel, here deliberately presents the fact that took place within the latter, testifies to the historical authenticity of the fact. The Israelites delivered the captives with the greatest care and solicitude even to distant points of their homeland, for example to Jericho (v. 15, On the location of Jericho see the commentary at (1 Kgs 16:34); “Tolkovaya Bibliya”, vol. II, p. 446–447 and note 1).

2 Chronicles 28:16. At that time King Ahaz sent to the kings of Assyria to help him, 2 Chronicles 28:17. for the Edomites had again come and struck Judah and taken captives; 2 Chronicles 28:18. and the Philistines had spread out in the cities of the Shephelah and the Negeb of Judah and had taken Beth-shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, Soco with its villages, Timnah with its villages, and Gimzo with its villages, and they settled in them. 2 Chronicles 28:19. For the Lord brought Judah low because of King Ahaz of Judah, for he had cast off restraint in Judah and had been unfaithful to the Lord. 2 Chronicles 28:20. And Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came to him, but he oppressed him instead of strengthening him, 2 Chronicles 28:21. for Ahaz took treasure from the house of the Lord and from the house of the king and from the officials and gave it to the king of Assyria, but it did not help him. On the raids of Edomites and Philistines on Judah under Ahaz only 2 Chronicles speaks with certainty. But the report on the Edomites and their threatening actions against Judah finds confirmation in the account (2 Kgs 16:6): of the taking of the Edomite Elath from Judah by the Syrian king under Ahaz; an indication of the hostile and aggressive behavior of the Philistines under Ahaz is contained in the prophet Isaiah (Isa 14:28-29). The cities mentioned in v. 18, captured by the Philistines, were all located in the tribe of Judah, in its southwestern part, on the border with Philistine territory. Among them “Gimzo” appears here for the first time and only once in the Bible, LXX: Γαμζώ, (also Γαμεζαὶ, Γαμζαί), Vulgate: Gamzo, Slavonic: “Gamzon” – a city east of Lydda now Gimzu (Robinson, Palestina, III, 271). “Beth-shemesh” – on the location of this priestly city see commentaries at (Josh 15:10; 1 Sam 6:9; 1 Kgs 4:9) in “Tolkovaya Bibliya”, vol. II, p. 92, 239–240, 379–380. On the location of the Levite city “Aijalon” (in the tribe of Dan) see commentaries at (Josh 10:12), “Tolkovaya Bibliya”, vol. II, p. 117 and 63–64. “Gederoth” or Gedera – now the village of Katrah or Gadrah, cf. (1 Macc 15:39) and commentaries at (Josh 15:36), “Tolkovaya Bibliya”, vol. II, p. 96; cf. Guerin, Iudee II, p. 35 and following. “Soco” – there were two cities of this name, both in the tribe of Judah: one in the plain (Josh 15:35); cf. (1 Kgs 4:10; 2 Chr 11:7), another in the mountains of Judah (Josh 15:48), see “Tolkovaya Bibliya”, vol. II, p. 96 and 97. On the location of “Timnah” or Tamna (Onomasticon, 292) in the mountainous part of the tribe of Judah see commentaries at (Gen 38:12-14) (“Tolkovaya Bibliya”, vol. I, p. 215); this is the present Tibne, four hours’ journey west of Bethlehem. Another Timnah (Josh 15:10) in the original division was located in the tribe of Dan (Josh 19:43), but was mostly in the hands of the Philistines ((Judg 14:1); see comments on it in “Tolkovaya Bibliya”, vol. II, p. 92 and 189); this Timnah or Tamna is probably what is meant in the passage of 2 Chronicles under consideration. Furthermore, there is a similar name Timnath-serah ((Josh 19:50); Onomasticon, 500), where Joshua was buried (Josh 24:30-31) – a city on Mount Ephraim. The most detailed investigation of the location of this latter city was given by Professor A.A. Olesnitsky, The Holy Land, vol. II, p. 307–371 (cf. “Tolkovaya Bibliya”, vol. II, p. 120–121). On the cowardly embassy of Ahaz to the king of Assyria (in the accepted Hebrew text v. 16 it says “to the kings” – al malkhe, but in codex 188 of Kennicott, in the LXX, Vulgate, Slavonic text there is the singular: “to the king of Assyria”), that is, Tiglath-pileser for help against the Israeli king and on the rich gifts with which Ahaz bought this help from the Assyrian king. Verses (2 Chr 28:16) speak entirely in agreement with (2 Kgs 16:7-8) (see commentaries “Tolkovaya Bibliya”, vol. II, p. 530–531). At the same time (2 Chr 28:20) adds that the help of the Assyrian king was rather burdensome to Ahaz – as the prophet Isaiah warned the king of Judah (Isa 7:17), and as this is actually confirmed by (2 Kgs 15:29) by the evidence of Tiglath-pileser’s invasion into the territory of the kingdom of Israel and the taking of several cities, wherein he made no distinction between the cities of one and the other Hebrew kingdom (cf. “Tolkovaya Bibliya”, vol. II, p. 527–528).

2 Chronicles 28:22. And in his time of distress he became yet more unfaithful to the Lord, this same King Ahaz. 2 Chronicles 28:23. For he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus which had defeated him and said: “The gods of the kings of Syria helped them; I will sacrifice to them so that they may help me.” But they were the ruin of him and of all Israel. 2 Chronicles 28:24. And Ahaz gathered the vessels of the house of God and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and shut the doors of the house of the Lord, and made him altars in every corner in Jerusalem, 2 Chronicles 28:25. and in every city of Judah he made high places for burning offerings to other gods, and provoked the Lord God of his fathers. The description here of Ahaz’s impiety and idolatry and persecution of the religion of Jehovah is more condensed than in (2 Kgs 16:10-18) (see “Tolkovaya Bibliya”, vol. II, p. 531–535). The temple that Ahaz closed (v. 24) remained in such a state until the death of Ahaz and only Hezekiah upon taking the throne opened the doors of the temple (2 Chr 29:3).

2 Chronicles 28:26. The rest of his deeds and all his conduct, first and last, are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. 2 Chronicles 28:27. And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city, in Jerusalem, but they did not place him in the tombs of the kings of Israel. And Hezekiah his son reigned in his place. Cf. (2 Kgs 16:19-20). On the “book of the kings of Judah and Israel” see commentaries at (2 Chr 27:7). The history of the next, thirteenth king of Judah, Hezekiah, is devoted to four chapters in 2 Chronicles (2 Chr 29-32) inclusive, corresponding to (2 Kgs 18-20). Only in a few places are these parallel narratives verbatim similar; for the most part 2 Chronicles is very brief on matters that the 4th Book of Kings recounts in detail and very detailed on matters to which the 4th Book of Kings gives only a simple indication or brief mention. As a whole, (2 Chr 29-32) unlike chapters (2 Kgs 18-20) and (Isa 36-39) (also relating to the history of Hezekiah’s reign), regards and presents Hezekiah’s reign not so much from the point of view of state-theocratic and religious-pragmatic governance, as the 4th Book of Kings and the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, but rather from the aspect of ecclesiastical and liturgical activity and the liturgical reforms of King Hezekiah (cf. “Tolkovaya Bibliya”, vol. II, p. 542).