Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 2 Kings 16:17-20
Here is, I. Ahaz abusing the temple, not the building itself, but some of the furniture of it. 1. He defaced the bases on which the lavers were set (1 Kgs. 7:28, 29) and took down the molten sea, 2 Kgs. 16:17. These the priests used for washing; against them therefore he seems to have had a particular spite. It is one of the greatest prejudices that can be done to religion to obstruct the purifying of the priests, the Lord's ministers. 2. He removed the covert for the sabbath, erected either... read more
Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 2 Kings 16:10-16
Though Ahaz had himself sacrificed in high places, on hills, and under every green tree (2 Kgs. 16:4), yet God's altar had hitherto continued in its place and in use, and the king's burnt-offering and his meat-offering (2 Kgs. 16:15) had been offered upon it by the priests that attended it; but here we have it taken away by wicked Ahaz, and another altar, an idolatrous one, put in the room of it?a bolder stroke than the worst of the kings had yet given to religion. We have here, I. The model... read more