Ahaz

AI summary: Ahaz matters because he becomes one of the clearest examples of royal unbelief in the face of divine invitation. The cross references present him during the Syro-Ephraimite crisis, rejecting confidence in God's word and instead pursuing foreign alliance and cultic compromise. His reign also frames important prophetic material, since Isaiah's appeals to trust the Lord stand directly against Ahaz's political fear. Taken together, the material presents Ahaz as a king whose choices deepen Judah's spiritual crisis and sharpen the contrast between faith and expediency.¹

The son and successor of Jotham, king of Judah (2 Kings 16; Isa. 7-9; 2 Chr. 28). He gave himself up to a life of wickedness and idolatry. Notwithstanding the remonstrances and warnings of Isaiah, Hosea, and Micah, he appealed for help against Rezin, king of Damascus, and Pekah, king of Israel, who threatened Jerusalem, to Tiglath-pileser, the king of Assyria, to the great injury of his kingdom and his own humilating subjection to the Assyrians (2 Kings 16:7, 9; 15:29). He also introduced among his people many heathen and idolatrous customs (Isa. 8:19; 38:8; 2 Kings 23:12). He died at the age of thirty-five years, after reigning sixteen years (B.C. 740-724), and was succeeded by his son Hezekiah. Because of his wickedness he was “not brought into the sepulchre of the kings.” ³