Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834], at sacred-texts.com
4 Kings (2 Kings) Chapter 16
Ahaz was the worst of all the kings of Judah. He imitated the worst of the Israelite kings - Ahab and Ahaziah - by a re-introduction of the Baal worship, which had been rooted out of Israel by Jehu and out of Judah by Jehoiada.
And made Iris son to pass through the fire - i. e. Ahaz adopted the Moloch worship of the Ammonites and Moabites Kg2 3:27; Mic 6:7, and sacrificed at least one son, probably his firstborn, according to the horrid rites of those nations, and the Canaanite tribes Deu 12:31; Psa 106:37-38. Hereto, apparently, the Jews had been guiltless of this abomination. They had been warned against it by Moses (marginal reference; Deu 18:10); and if (as some think) they had practiced it in the wilderness Eze 20:26; Amo 5:26, the sin must have been rare and exceptional; from the date of their entrance into the promised land they had wholly put it away. Now, however, it became so frequent (compare Kg2 17:17; Kg2 21:6) as to meet with the strongest protest from Jeremiah and Ezekiel (Jer 7:31-32; Jer 19:2-6; Jer 32:35; Eze 16:20; Eze 20:26; Eze 23:37, etc.).
He sacrificed ... - Other kings of Judah bad allowed their people to do so. Ahaz was the first, so far as we know, to countenance the practice by his own example.
Rezin and Pekah, who had already begun their attacks upon Judaea in the reign of Jotham Kg2 15:37, regarded the accession of a boy-king, only 16 years of age, as especially favorable to their projects, and proceeded without loss of time to carry them out. The earlier scenes of the war, omitted by the writer of Kings, are given at some length in Ch2 28:5-15.
Either during the siege, or on breaking up from before Jeruasalem, Rezin made an expedition to the lied Sea coast, and became master of the city which had belonged to Judaea about 70 years (marginal reference). Most moderns render this verse, "Rezin recovered (or restored) Elath to Edom ... and the Edomites came to Elath." On the resemblance of the words Aram and Edom in the original, see Sa2 8:12 note.
Ahaz was threatened on all sides, on the north by Rezin and Pekah; on the southeast by Edom Ch2 28:17; and on the southwest by the Philistines Ch2 28:18. To these external dangers was added the still greater peril of disaffection at home. A large party in Judah was "weary" of the house of David Isa 7:13, ready to join the confederacy Isa 8:6, Isa 8:12, and to accept for king "the son of Tabeal." Ahaz saw no hope of safety unless he could obtain a powerful protector; and, Egypt being particularly weak at this time, he turned to Assyria.
Compare the marginal reference and Kg1 15:18. Political necessity was always held to justify the devotion of the temple treasure to secular purposes.
The submission of Judah, which Ahaz proffered, would be of the utmost importance in connection with any projects that might be entertained of Egyptian conquests. Naturally, Damascus was the first object of attack. It was the head of the confederacy, and it lay nearest to an army descending upon Lower Syria, as all Asiatic armies would descend, from the north. It appears from an inscription of Tiglath-pileser's, that Rezin met him in the field, was defeated, and slain. An attack upon Pekah followed. Now probably it was that the entire trans-Jordanic region was overrun: and that the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, were carried into captivity Ch1 5:26. Megiddo and Dor appear also to have been occupied, and the Arabs of the south chastised. Tiglathpileser then returned to Damascus, where a son of Rezin had assumed the crown; he besieged and took the city, and punished Rezin's son with death. Tiglath-pileser appears by one of his inscriptions to have held a court at Damascus, to which it is probable that the tributary kings of the neighborhood were summoned to pay their tributes and do homage for their kingdoms. Among the tributes brought to him at this time, those of Judaea, Edom, Ammon, Moab, Gaza, Ascalon, and Tyre, are mentioned.
Kir - Kir is mentioned by Amos Amo 9:7 as the country from which the Syrians came. It is joined by Isaiah Isa 22:6 with Elam or Elymais. Its position can only be conjectured. Perhaps the word designates a region adjoining Elymais, in the extreme southeastern limits of Assyria.
And saw an altar - Rather, "The altar," i. e. an Assyrian altar, and connected with that formal recognition of the Assyrian deities which the Ninevite monarchs appear to have required of all the nations whom they received into their empire.
The fashion of the altar - Assyrian altars were not very elaborate, but they were very different from the Jewish. They were comparatively small, and scarcely suited for "whole burnt-offerings." One type was square, about half the height of a man, and ornamented round the top with a sort of battlement. Another had a triangular base and a circular top consisting of a single flat stone. A third was a sort of portable stand, narrow, and about the height of a man. This last was of the kind which the kings took with them in their expeditions.
Hereto the "Brasen altar" (marginal reference) had, it would seem, occupied a position directly in front of the temple porch, which it exactly equalled in width. Now Ahaz removed it from this place, and gave the honorable position to his new altar, which he designed to supersede the old far all ordinary purposes Kg2 16:15.
From between the altar ... - Urijah, having received no official directions, had placed the new altar in front of the old, between it and the eastern gate of the court. Ahaz consequently on his arrival found the brasen altar "between the (new) altar and the house of the Lord."
The brasen altar shall be for me to inquire by - The bulk of modern commentators translate - "As for the Brasen altar, it will be for me to inquire (or consider) what I shall do with it."
The writer condemns the obsequiousness of Urijah, whose conduct was the more inexcusable after the noble example of his predecessor Azariah Ch2 26:17-20.
See the marginal references. The acts recorded here, were probably not mere wanton acts of mutilation, but steps in the conversion of these sacred objects to other uses, as to the ornamentation of a palace or of an idol temple. The bases, the oxen, and the sea were not destroyed - they remained at Jerusalem until its final capture Jer 52:17, Jer 52:20. Probably they were restored to their original uses by Hezekiah Ch2 29:19.
A pavement of stones - Probably a pavement made expressly, for the stones of the court seem to have been covered with a planking of cedar Kg1 6:36; Kg1 7:12.
The covert ... in the house - A canopied seat in the temple for the king and his family when they attended public worship on the sabbath. It stood no doubt in the inner court of the temple.
The king's entry without - This would seem to have been a private passage by which the king crossed the outer court to the east gate of the inner court when he visited the temple Eze 46:1-2.
Turned he from the house of the Lord for the king of Assyria - This passage is very obscure. Some translate - "altered he in the house of the Lord, because of the kine of Assyria," supposing the "covert" and the "passage" to have been of rich materials, and Ahaz to have taken them to eke out his "presents to the king of Assyria." Others render, "removed he into the house of the Lord from fear of the king of Assyria."
The rest of the acts of Ahaz - Such as are described in Isa 7:10-13; Ch2 28:23-25; Ch2 29:3, Ch2 29:7.