2 Chronicles 28

2Ch 28:1-21.

AHAZ,

REIGNING

WICKEDLY,

IS

AFFLICTED BY THE

SYRIANS.

1-4. Ahaz was twenty years

old--(See on

2Ki 16:1-4).

This prince, discarding the principles and example of his excellent

father, early betrayed a strong bias to idolatry. He ruled with an

arbitrary and absolute authority, and not as a theocratic sovereign: he

not only forsook the temple of God, but embraced first the symbolic

worship established in the sister kingdom, and afterwards the gross

idolatry practised by the Canaanites.

5-7. the Lord . . . delivered him into the hand of the

king of Syria . . . he was also delivered into the hand of

the King of Israel--These verses, without alluding to the formation

of a confederacy between the Syrian and Israelitish kings to invade the

kingdom of Judah, or relating the commencement of the war in the close

of Jotham's reign

(2Ki 15:37),

give the issue only of some battles that were fought in the early part

of the campaign.

delivered him . . . smote him . . . he was also delivered--that is, his

army, for Ahaz was not personally included in the number either of the

slain or the captives. The slaughter of one hundred twenty thousand in

one day was a terrible calamity, which, it is

(2Ch 28:6)

expressly said, was inflicted as a judgment on Judah, "because they had

forsaken the Lord God of their fathers." Among the slain were some

persons of distinction:

7. Maaseiah the king's son--the sons of Ahaz being too young to

take part in a battle, this individual must have been a younger son of

the late King Jotham;

Azrikam the governor of the house--that is, "the palace"; and

Elkanah that was next to the king--that is, the vizier or prime

minister

(Ge 41:40;

Es 10:3).

These were all cut down on the field by Zichri, an Israelitish warrior,

or as some think, ordered to be put to death after the battle. A vast

number of captives also fell into the power of the conquerors; and an

equal division of war prisoners being made between the allies, they

were sent off under a military escort to the respective capitals of

Syria and Israel

[2Ch 28:8].

8-14. the children of Israel carried away captive of their brethren

two hundred thousand--These captives included a great number of

women, boys, and girls, a circumstance which creates a presumption that

the Hebrews, like other Orientals, were accompanied in the war by

multitudes of non-combatants (see on

Jud 4:8).

The report of these "brethren," being brought as captives to Samaria,

excited general indignation among the better-disposed inhabitants; and

Oded, a prophet, accompanied by the princes

(2Ch 28:12

compared with 2Ch 28:14),

went out, as the escort was approaching, to prevent the disgraceful

outrage of introducing such prisoners into the city. The officers of

the squadron were, of course, not to blame; they were simply doing

their military duty in conducting those prisoners of war to their

destination. But Oded clearly showed that the Israelitish army had

gained the victory--not by the superiority of their arms, but in

consequence of the divine judgment against Judah. He forcibly exposed

the enormity of the offense of keeping "their brethren" as slaves got

in war. He protested earnestly against adding this great offense of

unnatural and sinful cruelty

(Le 25:43, 44;

Mic 2:8, 9)

to the already overwhelming amount of their own national sins. Such was

the effect of his spirited remonstrance and the opposing tide of

popular feeling, that "the armed men left the captives and the spoil

before the princes and all the congregation."

15. the men which were expressed by name rose up--These were either

the "heads of the children of Ephraim" (mentioned

2Ch 28:12),

or some other leading individuals chosen for the benevolent office.

Under their kindly superintendence, the prisoners were not only

released, but out of the spoils were comfortably relieved with food and

clothing, and conveyed as far as Jericho on their way back to their own

homes. This is a beautiful incident, and full of interest, as showing

that even at this period of national decline, there were not a few who

steadfastly adhered to the law of God.

16. At that time did king Ahaz send unto the kings of Assyria--"kings,"

the plural for the singular, which is found in many ancient versions.

"At that time," refers to the period of Ahaz' great distress, when,

after a succession of defeats, he retreated within the walls of

Jerusalem. Either in the same or a subsequent campaign, the Syrian and

Israelitish allies marched there to besiege him

(see on

2Ki 16:7).

Though delivered from this danger, other enemies infested his dominions

both on the south and the west.

17. again the Edomites had come and smitten Judah--This invasion must

have been after Rezin (at the beginning of the recent Syro-Israelitish

war), had released that people from the yoke of Judah

(2Ch 15:11;

compare

2Ki 16:6).

18. Gederoth--on the Philistine frontier

(Jos 15:41).

Shocho--or Socoh

(Jos 15:35),

now Shuweikeh, a town in the Valley of Judah (see on

1Sa 17:1).

Gimzo--now Jimza, a little east of Ludd (Lydda)

[ROBINSON]. All these

disasters, by which the "Lord brought Judah low," were because of Ahaz,

king of Israel (Judah), see

2Ch 21:2; 24:16; 28:27,

who made Judah naked, and transgressed sore against the Lord.

20. Tilgath-pilneser . . . distressed him, but strengthened him

not--that is, notwithstanding the temporary relief which

Tilgath-pilneser afforded him by the conquest of Damascus and the

slaughter of Rezin

(2Ki 16:9),

little advantage resulted from it, for Tilgath-pilneser spent the

winter in voluptuous revelry at Damascus; and the connection formed

with the Assyrian king was eventually a source of new and greater

calamities and humiliation to the kingdom of Judah

(2Ch 28:2, 3).

2Ch 28:22-27.

HIS

IDOLATRY IN

HIS

DISTRESS.

22. in the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against the

Lord--This infatuated king surrendered himself to the influence of

idolatry and exerted his royal authority to extend it, with the

intensity of a passion--with the ignorance and servile fear of a

heathen

(2Ch 28:23)

and a ruthless defiance of God (see on

2Ki 16:10-20).