Ahaz אחז
king of Judah for sixteen years; he called in Assyria and shut the Temple
Ahaz became king at twenty and reigned sixteen years. When Rezin king of Aram and Pekah king of Israel came up together against Judah, Isaiah went out to meet him with his son and said: «Take heed and be quiet; do not fear» — and offered him a sign, in the depth or in the height above. Ahaz refused: «I will not ask, nor will I test the Lord.» Then the prophet gave a sign himself: «Behold, the young woman shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel» (Isaiah 7:14).
Instead he sent to Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria: «I am your servant and your son; come up and save me» — and sent silver and gold from the Temple and the palace. Assyria came and took Damascus; in Damascus Ahaz saw an altar, sent its design to Jerusalem, and had Uriah the priest build one like it, moving the bronze altar aside. Chronicles adds that he «shut the doors of the House of the Lord», set up altars at every corner of Jerusalem, and passed his sons through fire. He was buried in the city, but not in the tombs of the kings of Israel. AM 3184–3200, approximate; academically 732–716 BCE.
On the timeline
Sources
Tanakh
- Melachim II (2 Kings) 16 — the appeal to Assyria, the Damascus altar, and the changes in the Temple
- Isaiah 7 — the meeting with the prophet, the refusal of a sign, and the sign of Immanuel
- 2 Chronicles 28 — the shut doors of the Temple and the altars at every corner of Jerusalem
Basis: stated in the Tanakh.