Ahaz reigned over Judah for 16 years. He didn't do what was right in the eyes
of the Lord. He walked in the ways of the kings of Israel. He even made metal images for the Baals and burned his sons as sacrifices, according to the abominations of the nations that the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. He sacrificed on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.
(2 King 16:1–4, 2 Chron 28:1–4).
Judah was no longer under the Lord's protection because they had forsaken him.
Therefore the Lord his God gave Ahaz in the hand of Rezin, king of Aram, who defeated Ahaz and took a large number of his people captive and brought them to Damascus. Ahaz was also given into the hand of Pekah,
the king of Israel, who struck him with great violence. Pekah killed 120,000 of Judah in one day because they had forsaken the Lord. Israel captured 200,000 of their relatives, women, sons, and daughters. They also took much booty from them and brought the booty to Samaria. They couldn't conquer Jerusalem. But Oded,
a prophet of the Lord, met the army that came to Samaria and told them that because the Lord was angry with Judah, he gave them into their hand, but they had killed them in a rage that had reached up to Heaven. And now they intended to subjugate the people of Judah and Jerusalem, male and female, as their slaves.
They had their own sins against the Lord. They would send back the prisoners they had taken, for the wrath of the Lord was upon them. Also certain chiefs of Israel
rose up against those who came from the war, and told them that they should not take the prisoners, for there would come upon them a guilt against the Lord in addition to their present sins and guilt. For their guilt was already great, and wrath came against Israel. With the booty they clothed the captives, provided them with food and drink, carried all the weak among them on donkeys, and brought them back to their relatives in Jericho. (2 King 16:5–6, 2 Chron 28:5–15, Isaiah 7:1–2).
Even during the corruption of Israel there were people there who feared the Lord,
see To Fear the Lord in Fear of Man.
The Lord told Isaiah to meet Ahaz and tell him not to be afraid that the two kings would attack him and try to replace him with another king. It's not going to happen.
The attack won't last. Within 65 years, Ephraim would be crushed from being a people. If he wasn't firm in his faith, he won't be firm at all.
(Isaiah 7:3–9).
Ephraim here stands for Israel, see The Prophet Books in the Old Testament.
The Lord told Ahaz that the attack on Jerusalem would fail. Israel would be conquered within 65 years, when Ahaz' son Hezekiah ruled over Judah.
The question was whether or not Ahaz would trust in the Lord, whether he would believe this.
The Lord told Ahaz through Isaiah to ask for a sign from the Lord. But Ahaz didn't want to ask for a sign or to test the Lord. Then Isaiah said that the Lord himself would give him a sign. "The virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." "Before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you fear will be desolate." (Isaiah 7:10–25).
God gave Ahaz an opportunity to ask for proof that God would rescue them, but Ahaz refused to do so. Ahaz had already decided to ask Assyria for help and wasn't interested in what the Lord had to say about this. He didn't trust the Lord.
God gave him this sign that a virgin would conceive and give birth to a son and his name would be Immanuel. Before the boy knew how to refuse evil and choose good, the land whose two kings he feared would be desolate. This prophesy has a double meaning. The principle is called "The law of double reference", see it described in
Visions and Dreams by Prophet Daniel. It has a brief fulfilment in the days of Ahaz:
Damascus was sacked by Assyria in 732 BC and Rezin was executed (2 Kings 16:9).
Assyria also dismembered Israel in 733 BC, whereupon Pekah was assassinated in a coup (2 Kings 15:29–30). The Israelites were later deported in 722 BC
(1 King 17:5–6). But this sign would ultimately be fulfilled through the birth of Jesus Christ. Immanuel means: "God is with us" (Mat 1:23), and is a declaration of Jesus' deity, see Jesus is God. When we say Jesus Christ, Son of God, we declare Jesus as Immanuel, we proclaim his deity.
Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-Pileser III, the king of Assyria, saying that Ahaz
was his servant and his son. Ahaz asked him to come up and rescue him from the hand of the kings of Aram and Israel who attacked him. Ahaz took a portion from the temple, from the house of the king and the princes, and gave tribute to Tiglath-Pileser III, who marched on Damascus and took it, and brought his people to Kir and killed Rezin. The Edomites had once again invaded and defeated
Judah and carried away captives, and the Philistines had raided cities of Judah.
The Lord humbled Judah because of Ahaz, because he had caused Judah to act sinfully and had been very unfaithful to the Lord. Tiglath-Pileser III came against
Ahaz and afflicted him instead of strengthening him. It didn't help Ahaz in the long run to give him all the gifts. (2 King 16:7–9, 2 Chron 28:16–21).
Instead of listening to God, Ahaz turned to his enemy Assyria. And it seemed to work. The king of Assyria defeated Aram who had attacked Jerusalem and killed their king. But it didn't work in the long run because afterwards Assyria attacked Judah.
When we refuse the help the Lord offers us and instead turn to the world for help,
we may get relief or reprieve from the troubles but only temporarily.
When Ahaz traveled to Damascus to meet Tiglath-Pileser III, he saw the altar that stood in Damascus. He sent to the priest Uriah a model of the altar, exact in every detail. And Uriah the priest built the altar after the pattern. When Ahaz came from Damascus, he burned his burnt offering and his grain offering and poured out his drink offering and threw the blood of his peace offerings on the new altar. He commanded the priest Uriah to carry the sacrifices on this altar. Uriah the priest did everything like Ahaz commanded. Ahaz became even more unfaithful to the Lord at the time of his need. He sacrificed to the gods of Damascus, saying that since these gods helped the king of Aram, he would sacrifice to them so that they could help him. But they were the ruin of him. He made himself altars in every corner of Jerusalem. In every city of Judah he built high places to sacrifice to other gods, which provoked the wrath of the Lord. When he died, his son Hezekiah became king in his place. (2 King 16:10–20, 2 Chron 28:22–27).
The king of Aram hadn't been strong enough even with the help of Israel to conquer Jerusalem. So it wasn't correct to say that their pagan gods were stronger than the Lord. Ahaz' real reason was that he didn't want to worship the Lord. He chose to worship other gods in disobedience to the Lord.
Ahaz was a spiritual man, he was interested in spiritual things. But he wasn't faithful to the Lord with whom he had no relationship, and he created his own religion.
Ahaz never reached out to the Lord; he rejected him and everything he stands for. He never humbled himself before the Lord and he never repented.
See also Kings of Judah and Israel.
