2 Chronicleschapter 28
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Speaks with:2 Kings 16×6Isaiah 1×42 Chronicles 33×3Isaiah 7×3Judges 2×2Leviticus 26×2
Summary
Chapter summary
Ahaz is the mirror image. He makes molten images for the Baalim and burns his children in the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom. Syria and Israel strike him hard, and a hundred and twenty thousand of Judah fall in one day; but when the northern army brings back two hundred thousand captives, Oded the prophet stops them, and the captives are clothed, shod, fed, anointed, and carried on asses back to Jericho. Ahaz appeals to Assyria, and Tilgath-pilneser 'distressed him, and strengthened him not.' He sacrifices to the gods of Damascus that beat him ('they were the ruin of him'), cuts up the temple vessels, and shuts the doors of the house of Jehovah.
Context
History · Ezra — 2 Chronicles overview
- A. 1–8 Ahaz burns his own children, and Judah is slaughtered
- B. 9–15 Oded stops the captors: the prisoners clothed, fed, and sent home
- C. 16–21 Assyria's help that distressed instead of strengthened
- D. 22–27 In his distress he trespassed yet more, and shut the doors
The outline
A.Ahaz burns his own children, and Judah is slaughteredvv. 1 to 8
Read vv. 1 to 8 →B.Oded stops the captors: the prisoners clothed, fed, and sent homevv. 9 to 15
Read vv. 9 to 15 →C.Assyria's help that distressed instead of strengthenedvv. 16 to 21
Read vv. 16 to 21 →D.In his distress he trespassed yet more, and shut the doorsvv. 22 to 27
Read vv. 22 to 27 →
The world behind this chapter
2 Chronicles 28The history
Ahaz reigns during the crisis Isaiah walked into with his son at the aqueduct. Aram and the northern kingdom allied against Assyria and tried to force Judah into the coalition, and when Ahaz refused they invaded to replace him. Judah lost catastrophically, and captives were carried toward Damascus and Samaria.
The worship is the worst in the book. He made cast images for the Baals, burned incense in the Valley of Hinnom — the ravine along the south side of Jerusalem — and burned his own children in the fire. The parallel account in Kings uses the softer formula of making a son pass through the fire; Chronicles states it flatly, and the practice is attested among Judah's neighbors.
The scene at Samaria is the surprise of the chapter. A prophet named Oded meets the returning northern army with two hundred thousand captives from Judah and tells them to send them back. Four named leaders of Ephraim stand up and do it: they clothe the naked from the spoil, give them sandals, food and drink, dress their wounds, put the weak on donkeys, and carry them to Jericho. The northern kingdom, at its worst, treats Judah's prisoners better than Judah's king treats Judah.
Ahaz's answer to the crisis is to appeal to Tiglath-pileser of Assyria for help, sending temple and palace treasure as payment. The text's verdict is dry: he helped him not, but distressed him. Assyrian records show exactly what such 'help' meant — a permanent vassal relationship and annual tribute.
Finally he cuts up the temple vessels, shuts the doors of the house of the LORD, and sets up altars in every corner of Jerusalem and high places in every town. The lamps went out.
What it meant to them
This is the exile in miniature, a century early — the doors shut, the vessels cut up, the treasure sent abroad, the children burned. The first hearers knew what came next in the story, because it had come next in their own.
And the Samaritan scene sat there uncomfortably. The people the returned community most distrusted are shown, in their own Scriptures, feeding and clothing Judah's prisoners and carrying the weak home on donkeys.
Sources cited
- K. A. Kitchen, On the Reliability of the Old Testament
- John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews, and Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on 2 Chronicles 28. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.