2 Kings 16:17-20

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

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Kings 16:17

And King Ahaz cut off the borders of the bases, and removed the laver from off them ,.... In the temple there were ten lavers for the priests to wash in, which are here meant, the singular being put for the plural; and these had bases of brass, on which they were set; and about these bases were borders, which had on them figures of various creatures, lions, oxen, and cherubim; and these Ahaz cut off, either to deface them, in contempt of them, or to convert the brass to other uses, as he... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Kings 16:18

And the covert for the sabbath that they had built in the house ,.... Used on the sabbath day, either for the people to sit under to hear the law explained by the priests; or for the course of the priests to be in, that went out that day, to give way to the course that entered, which yet did not depart from the temple till evening; or rather for the king himself to sit under, while attending the temple service of that day, and might be the cover of the scaffold, 2 Chronicles 6:13 and be... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Kings 16:19

Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? Some others are written in the canonical book of Chronicles, 2 Chronicles 28:1 and were, it is highly probable, in the annals of the kings of Judah, now lost. read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Kings 16:20

And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David ,.... But not in the sepulchres of the kings of Israel, as David and Solomon, he being such a wicked prince, 2 Chronicles 28:27 . and Hezekiah his son reigned in his stead ; of whom much is said in the following part of this history. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 2 Kings 16:18

And the covert for the Sabbath - There are a great number of conjectures concerning this covert, or, as it is in the Hebrew, the מוסך musach , of the Sabbath. As the word, and others derived from the same root, signify covering or booths, it is very likely that this means either a sort of canopy which was erected on the Sabbath days for the accommodation of the people who came to worship, and which Ahaz took away to discourage them from that worship; or a canopy under which the... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 2 Kings 16:20

Was buried with his fathers in the city of David - But it is expressly declared, 2 Chronicles 28:27 , that he was not buried in the sepulchres of the kings of Israel; and this was undoubtedly intended as a mark of degradation. His reign was disastrous and impious; and it was disastrous because it was impious. He had been a scourge, not a blessing, to his people. He had not only made illegal alterations in the temple, and in the mode of worship prescribed by the true... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Kings 16:1-20

REIGN OF AHAZ OVER JUDAH . WAR OF AHAZ WITH PEKAH AND REZIN . EXPEDITION OF TIGLATH - PILESER AGAINST THEM . RELIGIOUS CHANGES MADE BY AHAZ . HIS DEATH . read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Kings 16:1-20

Steps in a downward path: the reign of Ahaz. In the opening chapters of Isaiah we have an account of the condition of the kingdom of Judah at the time that Ahaz succeeded to the throne. The prosperity which the country had enjoyed under Uzziah had been continued and increased under the righteous reign of his son Jotham. And now the grandson, Ahaz, a young man of twenty, finds the country abounding in wealth, full of silver and gold. Isaiah says there was no end of their treasure; their land... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Kings 16:1-20

A people's king and priest; or, kinghood and priesthood. "In the seventeenth year of Pekah," etc. Throughout all lands, almost throughout all times, two functionaries have been at the head of the peoples, too often treading them down by oppression, and fattening on them by their greed. One of these functionaries was not, among the Jews, of Divine ordinations; for the Almighty is represented as saying, "They have set up kings, but not by me: they have made princes, and I knew it not." Let... read more

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