Ahaz was the twelfth king of Judah, reigning for sixteen years during a tumultuous time marked by the rise of the Assyrian Empire. He is primarily remembered in the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible as an idolatrous and unfaithful king whose political decisions and pagan religious practices brought great distress upon the nation.
Ahaz’s story is primarily recorded in 2 Kings 16, 2 Chronicles 28, and the prophecies of Isaiah (chapters 7-9).
The Reign of Wickedness
Ahaz was the son of the righteous King Jotham. He came to the throne at a young age (stated as twenty years old) and immediately rejected the worship of the LORD. The Bible unequivocally condemns his rule:
“Twenty years old was Ahaz when he began to reign, and reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem, and did not that which was right in the sight of the LORD his God, like David his father.” (2 Kings 16:2, KJV)
His wicked acts included:
- Idolatry and Child Sacrifice: Ahaz adopted the abhorrent practices of the heathen nations, going so far as to offer his own children in fire sacrifices.“But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, yea, and made his son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel.” (2 Kings 16:3, KJV)
- Temple Desecration: After forming an alliance with the king of Assyria, Ahaz visited Damascus, where he saw a pagan altar. He sent its blueprint back to Jerusalem and commanded the priest to replace the LORD’s brazen altar with the new pagan one. He then proceeded to dismantle and remove sacred temple furnishings.“And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God, and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and shut up the doors of the house of the LORD, and he made him altars in every corner of Jerusalem.” (2 Chronicles 28:24, KJV)
The Syro-Ephraimite War and the Sign of Immanuel
During Ahaz’s reign, Judah was threatened by a coalition of the kings of Syria (Rezin) and Israel (Pekah), a crisis known as the Syro-Ephraimite War. In his fear, Ahaz was visited by the Prophet Isaiah, who urged him to trust in the LORD and offered him a miraculous sign to confirm God’s promise of protection.
“Ask thee a sign of the LORD thy God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above.” (Isaiah 7:11, KJV)
Ahaz, unwilling to rely on God, refused the sign. Because of his lack of faith, the LORD then gave a sign directly through Isaiah: the famous prophecy of Immanuel.
“Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14, KJV)
Instead of trusting the LORD, Ahaz sought help from the powerful King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria, becoming a vassal king and depleting the Temple treasury to pay tribute. This political alliance ultimately brought Judah under the heavy burden of Assyrian domination.
Legacy
Due to his consistent wickedness and spiritual transgression, Ahaz was denied the honor afforded to previous faithful monarchs.
“And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city, even in Jerusalem: but they brought him not into the sepulchres of the kings of Israel: and Hezekiah his son reigned in his stead.” (2 Chronicles 28:27, KJV)
His son, Hezekiah, would later embark on one of the greatest religious reform movements in Judah’s history to undo the spiritual damage inflicted by his father.