In the time of his distress, he trespassed yet more against Yahweh, this same king Ahaz. For he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus, which struck him. He said, “Because the gods of the kings of Syria helped them, so I will sacrifice to them, that they may help me.” But they were the ruin of him, and of all Israel. Ahaz gathered together the vessels of God’s house, and cut the vessels of God’s house in pieces, and shut up the doors of Yahweh’s house; and he made himself altars in every corner of Jerusalem. In every city of Judah he made high places to burn incense to other gods, and provoked Yahweh, the God of his fathers, to anger.
Parallel Translations
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In the time of his distress, he trespassed yet more against Yahweh, this same king Ahaz.
For he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus, which struck him. He said, “Because the gods of the kings of Syria helped them, so I will sacrifice to them, that they may help me.” But they were the ruin of him, and of all Israel.
Ahaz gathered together the vessels of God’s house, and cut the vessels of God’s house in pieces, and shut up the doors of Yahweh’s house; and he made himself altars in every corner of Jerusalem.
In every city of Judah he made high places to burn incense to other gods, and provoked Yahweh, the God of his fathers, to anger.
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And in the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against the LORD: this is that king Ahaz.
For he sacrificed unto the gods of Damascus, which smote him: and he said, Because the gods of the kings of Syria help them, therefore will I sacrifice to them, that they may help me. But they were the ruin of him, and of all Israel.
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.
And in every several city of Judah he made high places to burn incense unto other gods, and provoked to anger the LORD God of his fathers.
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And in the time of his distress did he act even more treacherously against the LORD, this same king Ahaz.
For he sacrificed unto the gods of Damascus, which smote him; and he said: 'Because the gods of the kings of Aram helped them, therefore will I sacrifice to them, that they may help me.' But they were the ruin of him, and of all Israel.
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.
And in every city of Judah he made high places to offer unto other gods, and provoked the LORD, the God of his fathers.
Cross-references (28)
- 2 Chronicles 25:14 (v23) Now after Amaziah had come from the slaughter of the Edomites, he brought the gods of the children of Seir, and set them up to be his gods,…
- 2 Chronicles 29:7 (v24) Also they have shut up the doors of the porch, and put out the lamps, and have not burned incense nor offered burnt offerings in the holy…
- 2 Kings 16:17-18 (v24) King Ahaz cut off the panels of the bases, and removed the basin from off them, and took down the sea from off the bronze oxen that were…
- 2 Chronicles 28:3 (v25) Moreover he burned incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burned his children in the fire, according to the abominations of the…
- 2 Chronicles 30:14 (v24) They arose and took away the altars that were in Jerusalem, and they took away all the altars for incense and threw them into the brook…
Show all 28 cross-references
- 2 Chronicles 33:3-5 (v24) For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down; and he raised up altars for the Baals, made Asheroth, and…
- Isaiah 1:5 (v22) Why should you be beaten more, that you revolt more and more? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
- Jeremiah 5:3 (v22) O Yahweh, don’t your eyes look on truth? You have stricken them, but they were not grieved. You have consumed them, but they have refused…
- Ezekiel 21:13 (v22) “For there is a trial. What if even the rod that condemns will be no more?” says the Lord Yahweh.
- 2 Kings 16:12-13 (v23) When the king had come from Damascus, the king saw the altar; and the king came near to the altar, and offered on it. He burned his burnt…
- 2 Kings 25:13-17 (v24) The Chaldeans broke up the pillars of bronze that were in Yahweh’s house and the bases and the bronze sea that were in Yahweh’s house, and…
- 2 Chronicles 29:3 (v24) In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of Yahweh’s house, and repaired them.
- 2 Chronicles 33:12 (v22) When he was in distress, he begged Yahweh his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers.
- Esther 7:6 (v22) Esther said, “An adversary and an enemy, even this wicked Haman!” Then Haman was afraid before the king and the queen.
- Psalms 50:15 (v22) Call on me in the day of trouble. I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”
- Psalms 52:7 (v22) “Behold, this is the man who didn’t make God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his…
- Isaiah 1:28 (v23) But the destruction of transgressors and sinners shall be together, and those who forsake Yahweh shall be consumed.
- Jeremiah 2:28 (v24) “But where are your gods that you have made for yourselves? Let them arise, if they can save you in the time of your trouble; for you have…
- Jeremiah 10:5 (v23) They are like a palm tree, of turned work, and don’t speak. They must be carried, because they can’t move. Don’t be afraid of them; for…
- Jeremiah 44:15-18 (v23) Then all the men who knew that their wives burned incense to other gods, and all the women who stood by, a great assembly, even all the…
- Jeremiah 44:20-28 (v23) Then Jeremiah said to all the people, to the men, and to the women, even to all the people who had given him an answer, saying, “The…
- Hosea 5:15 (v22) I will go and return to my place, until they acknowledge their offense, and seek my face. In their affliction they will seek me earnestly.”
- Hosea 12:11 (v24) If Gilead is wicked, surely they are worthless. In Gilgal they sacrifice bulls. Indeed, their altars are like heaps in the furrows of the…
- Hosea 13:9 (v23) You are destroyed, Israel, because you are against me, against your help.
- Habakkuk 1:11 (v23) Then he sweeps by like the wind, and goes on. He is indeed guilty, whose strength is his god.”
- Acts 17:16 (v24) Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw the city full of idols.
- Acts 17:23 (v24) For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription: ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ What…
- Revelation 16:9-11 (v22) People were scorched with great heat, and people blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues. They didn’t repent and…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (18 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v23 Or, Judah and Benjamin.
Or, Judah and Benjamin.
Thus the wicked measure God’s favor by prosperity and adversity: for if idolaters prosper, they make their idols gods, not considering that God punisheth them oft times whom he loveth, and giveth his enemies good success for a time, whom afterward he will destroy.
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As he falsely supposed.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv22–25 2Ch 28:22 And in the time of his distress…
2Ch 28:22 And in the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against the LORD: this [is that] king Ahaz.
Ver. 22. And yet in the time of his distress.] So stubborn was he and stiff necked, he would sooner break than bend. Such refractories also were Pharaoh, Saul, the Scribes and Pharisees, the railing thief that suffered with our Saviour: "reprobate silver" the Scripture calleth them; {Jer 6:30} they add rebellion to their sin, {Job 34:37} and to their sinews of iron, brows of brass. {Isa 48:4}
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This is that king Ahaz.] That stigmatical Belialist. There are three men in Scripture that have a special brand or mark of ignominy set upon them: Cain, {Gen 4:15} Dathan, {Num 26:9} and Ahaz here; the reason whereof was, chiefly, the sin of stubbornness.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv22–23 That monster and reproach of mankind, that unteachable and…
That monster and reproach of mankind, that unteachable and incorrigible prince, whom even grievous afflictions made worse, which commonly make men better. This is he whose name deserves to be remembered and detested for ever. Or, king Ahaz was the same, no changeling, not a whit better by all the methods which God used with him.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv22–23 And gathered together the vessels of the house of…
And gathered together the vessels of the house of God, and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God,.... And converted them to his own use, sold them, or melted the gold and silver, of which they were, and made money of them, his treasures being exhausted:
and shut up the doors of the house of the Lord: that the people might not come and worship there, but on the high places he made:
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and he made him altars in every corner of Jerusalem; that the priests might sacrifice there, and not in the temple.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On v22 That Ahaz - That monster and reproach of mankind,…
That Ahaz - That monster and reproach of mankind, that unteachable and incorrigible prince, whom even grievous afflictions made worse, which commonly make men better. This is he, whose name deserves to be remembered and detested forever.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv23–24 Verse 23. He sacrificed unto the gods of Damascus,…
Verse 23. He sacrificed unto the gods of Damascus, which smote him] "This passage," says Mr. Hallet, "greatly surprised me; for the sacred historian himself is here represented as saying, The gods of Damascus had smitten Ahaz. But it is impossible to suppose that an inspired author could say this; for the Scripture everywhere represents the heathen idols as nothing and vanity, and as incapable of doing either good or hurt. All difficulty is avoided if we follow the old Hebrew copies, from which the Greek translation was made, Και ειπεν ὁ βασιλεις Αχαζ, εκζητησω τους Θεους Δαμασκου τους τυπτοντας με, And King Ahaz SAID, I WILL SEEK TO THE GODS OF DAMASCUS WHICH HAVE SMITTEN ME; and then it follows, both in Hebrew and Greek, He said moreover, Because the gods of the king of Syria help them; therefore will I sacrifice to them, that they may help me. Both the Syriac and Arabic give it a similar turn; and say that Ahaz sacrificed to the gods of Damascus, and said, Ye are my gods and my lords; you will I worship, and to you will I sacrifice."
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv22–23 2Ch 28:22. This is that King Ahaz — That…
2Ch 28:22. This is that King Ahaz — That monster and reproach of mankind, that unteachable and incorrigible prince, whom even grievous afflictions made worse, which commonly make men better. This is he whose name deserves to be remembered and detested for ever.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv23–24 His adoption of the Syrian gods, Hadad, Rimmon, and…
His adoption of the Syrian gods, Hadad, Rimmon, and others, as objects of worship, no doubt preceded the destruction of Damascus by the Assyrians 2Ki 16:9.
Israel - i. e. “Judah;” so in 2Ch 28:27. Compare 2Ch 28:19.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv22, 24 Moreover. Sept. "but to distress him." --- Wicked policy…
Moreover. Sept. "but to distress him." --- Wicked policy availeth nothing, but entails much evil. W. --- King. Heb. "that king Achaz." The sacred writer thus stigmatizes the impious king, who grew worse the more he was scourged. H. --- This was the monster, which could not be tamed. Amama --- Eva. "ille," is five times used as a reproach, and often to signify applause. Kimchi --- By himself, is an addition. Amama --- It gives us to understand (H.) that Achaz acted thus of his own accord. C. --- Sept. "And king Achaz said, (23) I will studiously seek the gods of Damascus, who have buffetted me," &c. H. --- This resolution he took while the arms of Rasin were formidable to him: but he put it in execution after the king of Assyria had delivered him, when he went to Damascus to return him thanks, 4 K. xvi. 10. This stupid blindness and impiety irritated God so much, that he abandoned Juda to the arms of the king, who had been called in as a protector. How could he expect aid from gods who had suffered their own country and people of Damascus to fall a prey to the invader! C.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v22 HIS IDOLATRY IN HIS DISTRESS. (Ch2 28:22-27)
HIS IDOLATRY IN HIS DISTRESS. (Ch2 28:22-27)
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 (Ch2 28:23) and a ruthless defiance of God (see on Kg2 16:10-20).
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Next: 2 Chronicles Chapter 29
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv23–24 23. He sacrificed unto the gods of Damascus —…
23. He sacrificed unto the gods of Damascus — This occurred during the progress of the Syrian wars, and before the fall of Damascus. Compare note on 2Ki_16:10. Among the gods of Damascus which Ahaz worshipped were Rimmon (2Ki_5:18) and Hadad.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv22–25 22–25 (cp. 2Ki_16:10-18). Apostasy of Ahaz
22–25 (cp. 2Ki_16:10-18). Apostasy of Ahaz
22. did he trespass … against the LORD: this is that king Ahaz] R.V. did he trespass … against the LORD, this same king Ahaz. For the phrase “this same” cp. 2Ch_32:30; 2Ch_33:23 (R.V.).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv22–25 AHAZ ADOPTS THE SYRIAN IDOLATRY, AND CLOSES THE TEMPLE…
AHAZ ADOPTS THE SYRIAN IDOLATRY, AND CLOSES THE TEMPLE (2Ch_28:22-25; comp. 2Ki_16:10-18).
(22) In the time of his distress.—At the time when he (Tiglath) oppressed him, i.e., at the time when Ahaz went to Damascus to do homage to the Assyrian monarch (2Ki_16:10), probably in reluctant obedience to a peremptory mandate.
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Did he trespass . . . Ahaz.—He dealt yet more unfaithfully towards Jehovah, he, king Ahaz. The subject is emphatically repeated: “he, king Ahaz,” who had already been sorely chastised, sinned yet more. Or “he, king Ahaz,” the notorious apostate.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv22–24 This is that King Ahaz. Expunge the words in…
This is that King Ahaz. Expunge the words in italic type. Revised Version, this same King Ahaz. But the most literal rendering will be the most forcible: He, the King Ahaz.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv22–23 And in the time of his distress did he…
2Ch_28:22-23
And in the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against the Lord.
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When affliction may be said to have failed of its object
I. I suppose that you have set your heart upon some cherished design--that you have dwelt upon it to such a degree as to neglect for it many social duties and all your thoughts of God. You have missed attaining it, and are deeply disappointed. If you have not learned thenceforward to strive more soberly, to plant and sow, and build and labour, and not look for success without uttering, Father, if it seem good to Thee, nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt; if you are still engaged in the same projects with the same temper, or one even more infatuated--then distress has been sent to you in vain: you are sacrificing to the gods that smote you; trespassing yet more against the Lord.
II. Suppose that you have been smitten with some disease, mental or bodily--the not unnatural, consequence of dissipation or thoughtlessness, or perverseness, or the like. If you have not learned from Gods displeasure; if you have not resolved that with renewed health you would walk in newness of life; if you have returned to your old sins with new zest from being for a time debarred from them--then the distress which God sent you has hardened and not softened you. You are worshipping the idols of your own hearts with a devotion which it will be more difficult than ever to displace.
III. Or, in conclusion, suppose that you have given way to ill-temper, and that God has punished you by alienation of friends, by retaliation on the part of ill-wishers, by distrust on the part of all. Has this set you upon governing the impetuousness of passion, or checking the reproachful word? Or have you merely turned your spirit into some more unkindly channel--moroseness, peevishness, misanthropy? If so, distress and chastisement have not done their proper work upon you. Like Ahaz you are going on to trespass yet more against the Lord. (D. Hessey.)
Ahazs persistent wickedness
I. A conspicuous example of persistent wickedness. He pushed on in face of many and powerful barriers placed in his way.
1. He had a godly ancestry. Oh, sir, said an aged sinner who came to his minister in great distress, to think of my fathers and mothers prayers, and then of the vile wretch that I have been!
2. It would seem that other like influences continued to surround Ahaz in his own palace. The mother of his son Hezekiah was the daughter of the wise and good Zechariah.
3. God often makes use of goodness to bring men to repentance. He tried this upon Ahaz. In a time of peril and alarm Isaiah was commissioned to say unto him, Take heed and be quiet; fear not, neither be faint-hearted.
4. When goodness fails, it is Gods way to try severity.
II. What came of all this?
1. The kings life was one of ill, not of good.
2. Ahaz brought ill upon others: He made Judah naked. If, says Dr. South, a man could be wicked and a villain to himself alone, the mischief would be so much the more tolerable. But the case is much otherwise. The guilt of the crime lights upon one, but the example of it sways a multitude. Especially is this true if the criminal be one of note or eminence. For the fall of such an one by any temptation is like that of a principal stone or stately pillar tumbling from a lofty eminence into the deep mire of the street. It does not only plunge and sink into the black dirt itself: it also dashes or bespatters all that are about it, or near it, when it falls.
3. In character and influence Ahaz went from bad to worse.
4. He went to an unhonoured and hopeless grave. (Monday Club Sermons.)
Sinning under the rod
I. Ahaz was the son of a pious king of judah.
II. For his wickedness God visited him with a series of sad calamities.
III. We see here the guilt and danger of hardening ourselves under Gods afflicting hand.
IV. Those who receive afflictions may grow more rebellious under them.
V. The guilt of any approach to such a condition may be easily seen.
VI. It becomes us to inquire, what have been the effects of Gods chastenings upon ourselves? (W. H. Lewis, D.D.)
The use and danger of despising afflictions
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I. The use of afflictions. The end of all the Divine dispensations towards mankind is their eternal salvation, in subserviency to the honour of His great name. This end can only be accomplished in the way of repentance, faith, and holiness. The aim, therefore, of all ordinances, providential dispensations, and means of grace, is to beget or strengthen in us these three branches of Christianity. Among the various means which the Lord makes use of for this end, affliction is one of the chief. The right use of afflictions will lead us--
1. To humble ourselves beneath His mighty hand.
2. To ascribe righteousness to Him by confessing our sins and acknowledging the justice of His dealings with us.
3. To return to Him by Jesus Christ.
4. To cleave to Him with full purpose of heart.
5. To submit to His will.
6. To depend upon His grace and power.
7. To walk in His ways.
II. The dreadful case or those who despise and abuse them (Pro_29:1). Ahaz trespassed more and more. Too many are like him (Rev_16:10-11). (W. Richardson.)
Lessons from the life of Ahaz
I. That a course or sin is continually downward. Sin propagates itself, but is not reformatory.
II. That God is faithful in checking men in this downward course. God ever seeks by His providence and Spirit to turn men from an evil course which will end in ruin.
III. That if men will not be checked in an evil course, they may become notable examples of punishment. (James Wolfendale.)
Evil habits
1. Evil habits strengthen by indulgence.
2. The world increases its power over its votaries as they advance in life.
3. Sinners in mature years lose the perception of religious truth.
4. There is a limit to Divine endurance. (Biblical Museum.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v23 2 Chronicles
2 Chronicles
COSTLY AND FATAL HELP
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2Ch 28:23.
Ahaz came to the throne when a youth of twenty. From the beginning he reversed the policy of his father, and threw himself into the arms of the heathen party. In a comparatively short reign of sixteen years he stamped out the worship of God, and nearly ruined the kingdom.
He did not plunge into idolatry for want of good advice. The greatest of the prophets stood beside him. Isaiah addressed to him remonstrances which might have made the most reckless pause, and promises which might have kindled hope and courage in the bosom of despair. Hosea in the northern kingdom, Micah in Judah, and other less brilliant names were amongst the stars which shone even in that dark night. But their light was all in vain. The foolish lad had got the bit between his teeth, and, like many another young man, thought to show his ‘breadth’ and his ‘spirit’ by neglecting his father’s counsellors, and abandoning his father’s faith. He was ready to worship anything that called itself a god, always excepting Jehovah. He welcomed Baal, Moloch, Rimmon, and many more with an indiscriminate eagerness that would have been ludicrous if it had not been tragical. The more he multiplied his gods the more he multiplied his sorrows, and the more he multiplied his sorrows the more he multiplied his gods.
From all sides the invaders came. From north, northeast, east, south-east, south, they swarmed in upon him. They tore away the fringes of his kingdom; and hostile armies flaunted their banners beneath the very walls of Jerusalem.
And then, in his despair, like a scorpion in a circle of fire, he inflicted a deadly wound on himself by calling in the fatal help of Assyria. Nothing loth, that warlike power responded, scattered his less formidable foes, and then swallowed the prey which it had dragged from between the teeth of the Israelites and Syrians. The result of Ahaz’s frantic appeals to false gods and faithless men may still be read on the cuneiform inscriptions, where, amidst a long list of unknown tributary kings, stands, with a Philistine on one side of him and an Ammonite on the other, the shameful record, ‘Ahaz of Judah.’
That was what came of forsaking the God of his fathers. It is a type of what always has come, and always must come, of a godless life. That is the point of view from which I wish to look at the story, and at these words of my text which gather the whole spirit of it into one sentence.
I. First, then, let me ask you to notice how this narrative illustrates for us the crowd of vain helpers to which a man has to take when he turns his back upon God.
If we compare the narrative in our chapter with the parallel in the Second Book of Kings, we get a very vivid picture of the strange medley of idolatries which they introduced. Amongst Ahaz’s new gods are, for instance, the golden calves of Israel and the ferocious Moloch of Ammon, to whom he sacrificed, passing through the fire at least one of his own children. The ancient sacred places of the Canaanites, on every high hill and beneath every conspicuous tree, again smoked with incense to half-forgotten local deities. In every open space in Jerusalem he planted a brand-new altar with a brand-new worship attendant upon it. In the Temple, he brushed aside the altar that Solomon had made and put up a new one, copied from one which he had seen at Damascus. The importation of the Damascene altar, I suppose, meant, as our text tells us, the importation of the Damascene gods along with it.
Side by side with that multiplication of false deities went the almost entire neglect of the worship of Jehovah, until at last, as his reign advanced and he floundered deeper into his troubles, the Temple was spoiled, everything in it that could be laid hands upon was sent to the melting-pot, to pay the Assyrian tribute; and then the doors were shut, the lamps extinguished, the fire quenched on the cold altars, and the silent Temple left to the bats and-the Shekinah; for God still abode in the deserted house.
Further, side by side with this appealing all round the horizon to whatsoever obscene and foul shape seemed to promise some help, there went the foolish appeal to the northern invaders to come and aid him, which they did, to his destruction. His whole career is that of a godless and desperate man who will grasp at anything that offers deliverance, and will worship any god or devil who will extricate him from his troubles.
Is the breed extinct, think you? Is there any one among us who, if he cannot get what he wants by fair ways, will try to get it by foul? Do none of you ever bow down to Satan for a slice of the kingdoms of this world? Ahaz has still plenty of brothers and sisters in all our churches and chapels.
This story illustrates for us what, alas! is only too true, both on the broad scale, as to the generation in which we live, and on the narrower field of our own individual lives. Look at the so-called cultured classes of Europe to-day; turning away, as so many of them are, from the Lord God of their fathers; what sort of gods are they worshipping instead? Scraps from Buddhism, the Vedas, any sacred books but the Bible; quackeries, and charlatanism, arid dreams, and fragmentary philosophies all pieced together, to try and make up a whole, instead of the old-fashioned whole that they have left behind them. There are men and women in many congregations who, in modern fashion, are doing precisely the thing that Ahaz did-having abandoned Christianity, they are trying to make up for it by hastily stitching together shreds and patches that they have found in other systems. ‘The garment is narrower than that a man can wrap himself in it,’ and a creed patched together so will never make a seamless whole which can be trusted not to rend.
But look, further, how the same thing is true as to the individual lives of godless men.
Many of us are trying to make up for not having the One by seeking to stay our hearts on the many. But no accumulation of insufficiencies will ever make a sufficiency. You may fill the heaven all over with stars, bright and thickly set as those in the whitest spot in the galaxy, and it will be night still. Day needs the sun, and the sun is one, and when it comes the twinkling lights are forgotten. You cannot make up for God by any extended series of creatures, any more than a row of figures that stretched from here to Sirius and back again would approximate to infinitude.
The very fact of the multitude of helpers is a sign that none of them is sufficient. There is no end of ‘cures’ for toothache, that is to say there is none. There is no end of helps for men that have abandoned God, that is to say, every one in turn when it is tried, and the stress of the soul rests upon it, gives, and is found to be a broken staff that pierces the hand that leans upon it.
Consult your own experience. What is the meaning of the unrest and distraction that mark the lives of most of the men in this generation? Why is it that you hurry from business to pleasure, from pleasure to business, until it is scarcely possible to get a quiet breathing time for thought at all? Why is it but because one after another of your gods have proved insufficient, and so fresh altars must be built for fresh idolatries, and new experiments made, of which we can safely prophesy the result will be the old one. We have not got beyond St. Augustine’s saying:-’Oh, God! my heart was made for Thee, and in Thee only doth it find repose.’ The many idols, though you multiply them beyond count, all put together will never make the One God. You are seeking what you will never find. The many pearls that you seek will never be enough for you. The true wealth is One, ‘One pearl of great price.’
II. So notice again how this story teaches the heavy cost of these helpers’ help.
Ahaz had, as he thought, two strings to his bow. He had the gods of Damascus and of other lands on one hand, he had the king of Assyria on another. They both of them exacted onerous terms before they would stir a foot to his aid. As for the northern conqueror, all the wealth of the king and of the princes and of the Temple was sent to Assyria as the price of his hurtful help. As for the gods, his helpers, one of his sons at least went into the furnace to secure their favour; and what other sacrifices he may have made besides the sacrifice of his conscience and his soul, history does not tell us. These were considerable subsidies to have to be paid down before any aid was granted.
Do you buy this world’s help any cheaper, my brother? You get nothing for nothing in that market. It is a big price that you have to pay before these mercenaries will come to fight on your side. Here is a man that ‘succeeds in life,’ as we call it. What does it cost him? Well! it has cost him the suppression, the atrophy by disuse, of many capacities in his soul which were far higher and nobler than those that have been exercised in his success. It has cost him all his days; it has possibly cost him the dying out of generous sympathies and the stimulating of unwholesome selfishness. Ah! he has bought his prosperity very dear. Political economists have much to say about the ‘appreciation of gold.’ I think if people would estimate what they pay for it, in an immense majority of cases, in treasure that cannot be weighed and stamped, they would find it to be about the dearest thing in God’s universe; and that there are few men who make worse bargains than the men who give themselves for worldly success, even when they receive what they give themselves for.
There are some of you who know how much what you call enjoyment has cost you. Some of us have bought pleasure at the price of innocence, of moral dignity, of stained memories, of polluted imaginations, of an incapacity to rise above the flesh: and some of us have bought it at the price of health. The world has a way of getting more out of you than it gives to you.
At the best, if you are not Christian men and women, whether you are men of business, votaries of pleasure, seekers after culture and refinement or anything else, you have given Heaven to get earth. Is that a good bargain? Is it much wiser than that of a horde of naked savages that sell a great tract of fair country, with gold-bearing reefs in it, for a bottle of rum, and a yard or two of calico? What is the difference? You have been fooled out of the inheritance which God meant for you; and you have got for it transient satisfaction, and partial as it is transient. If you are not Christian people, you have to buy this world’s wealth and goods at the price of God and of your own souls. And I ask you if that is an investment which recommends itself to your common sense. Oh! my brother; ‘what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world, and lose himself?’ Answer the question.
III. Lastly, we may gather from this story an illustration of the fatal falsehood of the world’s help.
Ahaz pauperised himself to buy the hireling swords of Assyria, and he got them; but, as it says in the narrative, ‘the king came unto him, and distressed him, but strengthened him not.’ He helped Ahaz at first. He scattered the armies of which the king of Judah was afraid like chaff, with his fierce and disciplined onset. And then, having driven them off the bleeding prey, he put his own paw upon it, and growled ‘Mine!’ And where he struck his claws there was little more hope of life for the prostrate creature below him.
Ay! and that is what this world always does. In the case before us there was providential guidance of the politics of the Eastern nations in order to bring about these results; and we do not look for anything of that sort. No! But there are natural laws at work today which are God’s laws, and which ensure the worthlessness of the help bought so dear.
A godless life has at the best only partial satisfaction, and that partial satisfaction soon diminishes. ‘Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful, and the end of that mirth is heaviness.’
That is the experience of all men, and I need not dwell upon the threadbare commonplaces which have survived from generation to generation, because each generation in turn has found them so piteously true, about the incompleteness and the fleetingness of all the joys and treasures of this life. The awful power of habit, if there were no other reason, takes the edge off all gratification except in so far as God is in it. Nothing fully retains its power to satisfy. Nothing has that power absolutely at any moment; but even what measure of it any of our possessions or pursuits may have for a time, soon, or at all events by degrees, passes away. The greater part of life is but like drinking out of empty cups, and the cups drop from our hands. What one of our purest and peacefullest poets said in his haste about all his kind is true in spirit of all godless lives:-
‘We poets, in our youth, begin in gladness,
But thereof cometh, in the end, despondency and madness.’
‘Vanity of vanities! saith’-not the Preacher only, but the inmost heart of every godless man and woman-’vanity of vanities! all is vanity!’
And do not forget that, partial and transient as these satisfactions of which I have been speaking are, they derive what power of helping and satisfying is in them only from the silence of our consciences, and our success in being able to shut out realities. One word, they say, spoken too loud, brings down the avalanche, and beneath its white, cold death, the active form is motionless and the beating heart lies still. One word from conscience, one touch of an awakened reflectiveness, one glance at the end-the coffin and the shroud and what comes after these-slay your worldly satisfactions as surely as that falling snow would crush some light-winged, gauzy butterfly that had been dancing at the cliff’s foot. Your jewellery is all imitation. It is well enough for candle-light. Would you like to try the testing acid upon it? Here is a drop of it. ‘Know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.’ Does it smoke? or does it stand the test? Here is another drop. ‘This night thy soul shall be required of thee.’ Does it stand that test? My brother! do not be afraid to take in all the facts of your earthly life, and do not pretend to satisfy yourselves with satisfactions which dare not face realities, and shrivel up at their presence.
These fatal helpers come as friends and allies, and they remain as masters. Ahaz and a hundred other weak princes have tried the policy of sending for a strong foreign power to scatter their enemies, and it has always turned out one way. The foreigner has come and he has stopped. The auxiliary has become the lord, and he that called him to his aid becomes his tributary. Ay! and so it is with all the things of this world. Here is some pleasant indulgence that I call to my help lightly and thoughtlessly. It is very agreeable and does what I wanted with it, and I try it again. Still it answers to my call. And then after a while I say, ‘I am going to give that up,’ and I cannot, I have brought in a master when I thought I was only bringing in an ally that I could dismiss when I liked. The sides of the pit are very slippery; it is gay travelling down them, but when the animal is trapped at the bottom there is no possibility of getting up again. So some of you, dear friends! have got masters in your delights, masters in your pursuits, masters in your habits. These are your gods, these are your tyrants, and you will find out that they are so, if ever, in your own strength, you try to break away from them.
So let me plead with you. With some of you, perhaps, my voice, as a familiar voice, that in some measure, however undeservedly, you trust, may have influence. Let me plead with you-do not run after these will-o’-the-wisps that will only lure you into destruction, but follow the light of life which is Jesus Christ Himself. Do not take these tyrants for your helpers, who will master you under pretence of aiding you; and work their will of you instead of lightening your burden. The same unwise and hopeless mode of life, which we have been describing this evening by one symbolic illustration, as calling vain helpers to our aid, was presented by Ahaz’s great contemporary Isaiah, in words which Ahaz himself may have heard, as ‘striking a covenant with death, and making lies our refuge.’ Some of us, alas! have been doing that all our lives. Let such hearken to the solemn words which may have rung in the ears of this unworthy king. ‘Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet, and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies.’ I come to you, dear friends! to press on your acceptance the true Guide and Helper-even Jesus Christ your Brother, in whose single Self you will find all that you have vainly sought dispersed ‘at sundry times and in divers manners’-among creatures. Take Him for your Saviour by trusting your whole selves to Him. He is the Sacrifice by whose blood all our sins are washed away, and the Indweller, by whose Spirit all our spirits are ennobled and gladdened. I ask you to take Him for your Helper, who will never deceive you; to call whom to our aid is to be secure and victorious for ever. ‘Behold! I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv22, 24 in his time of suffering
in his time of suffering
"when he was suffering"
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the gods of Damascus
The Syrians believed Damascus to be the city where their gods dwelt, much like Yahweh dwelt in Jerusalem. AT: "the gods whom the Syrians worshiped in Damascus" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
gods that had defeated him
This expresses Ahaz's opinion. Because the Syrians had defeated him and his army, Ahaz attributed his defeat to the gods whom the Syrians worshiped. AT: "gods whom he believed had enabled the Syrian army to defeat him" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
they were the ruin of him and of all Israel
The word "ruin" can be translated with a verb. AT: "those gods ruined him and all Israel" (See: Abstract Nouns)
all Israel
Here "Israel" represents the southern kingdom of Judah.
translationWords
suffer
sacrifice
false god
Damascus
Aram
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv22, 24 28:22-23 King Ahaz spurned the Lord by building an…
28:22-23 King Ahaz spurned the Lord by building an altar modeled after one in Damascus (2 Kgs 16:10-16) and by offering sacrifices to the gods of Damascus.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.