2 Chronicles 28 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
~735-715 BC, the reign of Ahaz of Judah, during the rise of the Assyrian Empire under Tiglath-Pileser III
Location
Jerusalem and the surrounding territory of Judah, with fighting spilling into the lowland hills toward Philistine country to the west and the Edomite territory to the south
Audience
Jewish families who had returned from exile in Babylon roughly a century later, rebuilding Jerusalem and asking what had gone wrong with the old kingdom
Situation
Ahaz turns to the gods of the surrounding nations, even burning his own sons as offerings, and Judah is battered on every side by Aram, Israel, Edom and the Philistines. When Israel's army marches 200,000 captives north, a prophet named Oded stops them and the northern soldiers clothe, feed and send the prisoners home.
Key Background
Ahaz asked Assyria for military help and paid for it with treasure stripped from the temple, a common move for a small kingdom that wanted a superpower as a patron, and the price was becoming a tribute-paying vassal. Child sacrifice in the Valley of Ben Hinnom just outside Jerusalem was borrowed from Canaanite practice and treated in Israel's law as the worst thing a person could do. The writer of Chronicles works with a running principle that a king's fortunes on the battlefield track his loyalty to God, so the string of defeats here is presented as verdict rather than accident.
Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he ruled in Jerusalem for sixteen years. Unlike his he did not do what was right in Yahweh's eyes.
Instead, he followed the ways of the kings of Israel and even made for the
He incense in the of and even own in the fire, copying the of the nations that Yahweh had driven out before the Israelites.
He offered sacrifices and burned incense at the on the hilltops, and every
So Yahweh his God to the king of The Arameans struck down and carried off a large number of his people as prisoners to Damascus. He was also to the king of Israel, who dealt a devastating defeat.
son of Remaliah killed 120,000 soldiers in Judah in a single day — all of them capable warriors — because they had Yahweh, the God of their ancestors.
Zichri, a warrior from Ephraim, killed Maaseiah the king's son, Azrikam the palace administrator, and Elkanah who was to the
The Israelites took 200,000 of their own captive — women, sons, and daughters. They also seized a huge amount of plunder and brought it all to
But a of Yahweh named Oded was there. He went out to meet the army returning to Samaria and said to them, "Look — Yahweh, the God of your ancestors, was angry with Judah, so he handed them over to you. But you've slaughtered them with a that has all the to
And now you're planning to force the people of Judah and Jerusalem into as your servants? Don't you have your own your God to worry about?
Now listen to me! Send back the prisoners you captured from your own relatives. Yahweh's is burning against you."
Then some of the from the tribe of Ephraim — Azariah son of Jehohanan, Berechiah son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah son of Shallum, and Amasa son of Hadlai — stood up against those returning from battle.
They told them, "Don't bring those prisoners here! You'll bring Yahweh's down on us, adding to our failures and offenses. We're already carrying enough and his fierce anger is already burning against Israel."
So the soldiers released the prisoners and handed over the plunder in the presence of the officers and the entire
The men who were designated by name stood up, took the prisoners, and used the plunder to clothe all of them who were naked. They provided them with clothing and sandals, gave them food and drink, and their with Then they put all the weak ones on donkeys and brought them back to their relatives at Jericho, the of After that, they returned to Samaria.
Around that same time, King Ahaz sent to the kings of for help.
The had invaded again and carried off prisoners from Judah.
The had also raided the towns in the foothills and the of Judah. They captured Beth-Shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, Soco with its surrounding villages, Timnah with its surrounding villages, and Gimzo with its surrounding villages — and they settled in them.
Yahweh had because of of — because he had all in and been completely unfaithful to Yahweh.
king of Assyria came to but instead of helping he
Ahaz the temple of Yahweh, the royal palace, and the officials' houses, and gave everything to the king of Assyria — but it didn't help him at all.
in his of this same King Ahaz became more to Yahweh.
He offered sacrifices to the of who had defeated him, thinking, "The of the kings of Aram helped them, so I'll sacrifice to them and they'll help me too." But they only brought to him and to all Israel.
Ahaz gathered up the equipment from God's temple, it all to and the of Yahweh's temple. Then he set up altars on every in Jerusalem.
In every single town throughout Judah, he set up high places to burn incense to other gods, Yahweh, the God of his ancestors.
The rest of what Ahaz did and all his policies, from beginning to end, are recorded in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.
Ahaz rested with his ancestors and was buried in the city of Jerusalem — but they did not in the of the of Israel. His son became king after