Useful Bible Studies > 2 Kings Commentary > chapter 16
Most of the changes that King Ahaz made were for the purposes of religion. He did not want to serve only the one true God, as his father had done. He encouraged the people in Judah to serve many gods, as he himself did. He expected that all those gods would make his government and his country richer and stronger. However in fact, Judah became much poorer and weaker during his rule.
In fact, Judah became such a weak nation that Ahaz accepted the king of Assyria’s authority over him. When Ahaz did that, Assyria’s army attacked Ahaz’s enemies. However, that only increased Assyria’s power over him. Formerly, Assyria was a distant nation, several hundred miles (or kilometres) away from Judah. Now it controlled land as near as the region called Galilee, just 60 miles (100 kilometres) from Judah’s border (15:29).
So, Ahaz had to make more changes in Jerusalem to please the king of Assyria. He destroyed the royal entrance by which he, as king of Judah, entered the temple court (the yard that surrounded God’s house). He also made other changes to show that he was a less powerful king than the king of Assyria.
Ahaz ruled Judah (southern Israel) for 16 years; he died at the age of 36. The people made careful records of the events during his rule, as they did for each king in turn. We have some more details about his rule in 2 Chronicles chapter 28. His grave was near, but not in, the royal graves of the kings of Judah (2 Chronicles 28:27). His son Hezekiah became king after him.
Next part: Hoshea, the last king of northern and central Israel (2 Kings 17:1-2)
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