Lives of Scripture

Ahaz became king of Judah and, unlike his father Jotham, "did not do right in the sight of the LORD" (2 Kings 16:2). He walked in the ways of Israel's kings, cast metal images for the Baals, burned incense on the high places, and even made his own son pass through the fire, following the abhorrent practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before Israel (2 Chronicles 28:1-3). When Aram's King Rezin and Israel's King Pekah allied to attack Jerusalem, Ahaz and his people trembled "as the trees of the forest shake with the wind" (Isaiah 7:2). The LORD sent Isaiah to Ahaz with a staggering offer: ask for any sign, as deep as Sheol or as high as heaven, to confirm God's promise of deliverance (Isaiah 7:10-11). Ahaz refused, hiding behind false piety -- "I will not ask, nor will I test the LORD" (7:12) -- so Isaiah gave the sign anyway, unasked: a virgin would bear a son called Immanuel (7:14). Rather than trust God, Ahaz stripped silver and gold from the temple and palace to buy Assyrian King Tiglath-pileser's help, becoming his vassal, and later remodeled the temple's altar after a pagan design he had seen in Damascus, going so far as to shut the temple doors altogether (2 Kings 16:7-18; 2 Chronicles 28:24). Despite Ahaz's unbelief, the LORD preserved the Davidic line through his son Hezekiah, and Ahaz is still named in Matthew's genealogy of Jesus (Matthew 1:9).