2 Kings 16:10

RELIGIOUS INNOVATIONS WHICH WERE PROBABLY REQUIRED BY ASSYRIA

"And king Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, and saw the altar that was at Damascus; and king Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest the fashion of the altar, and the pattern of it, according to all the workmanship thereof. And Urijah the priest built an altar: according to all that king Ahaz had sent from Damascus, so did Urijah the priest make it against the coming of king Ahaz from Damascus. And when the king was come from Damascus, the king saw the altar, and offered thereon."

From the inscriptions of Tiglath-pileser, we learn that his custom was to hold court in various conquered cities, demanding the appearance (with their tribute) of all the vassal kings throughout the area.[15] It was to such a court in Damascus that king Ahaz was summoned by the king of Assyria. There were three types of altars used in Nineveh, and one was the portable altar which Tiglath-pileser carried with him in his campaigns. It was probably that portable altar from Assyria that Ahaz copied, very likely upon the insistence of Tiglath-pileser. Montgomery noted that, "Ahaz's attendance upon Tiglath-pileser at Damascus and the resulting ritual innovations in the temple, and certain reconstructions, were after the usual Assyrian manner."[16] "The altar Ahaz copied was Assyrian, and Ahaz was doing honor unto the Assyrian gods."[17]

It was a terrible price that Ahaz had paid for Assyrian assistance. When he wrote, "I am thy servant and thy son," it was understood from that time forward that, "Ahaz and his advisers had surrendered themselves body and soul into the hands of the great world-power of that period. It meant complete submission and enrollment among Assyria's tribute-paying vassal states."[18]; "Urijah the priest made it" (2 Kings 16:11). This reprobate priest was named by Isaiah as a witness (Isaiah 8:2), but what the man did here was evil. "A bold priest like Azariah (1 Chronicles 26:17) would have refused to do what the king requested, which was a desecration of the temple and at least an evil compromise with idolatry."[19]