2 Chronicles 28:24

2Ch 28:24 And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God, and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and shut up the doors of the house of the LORD, and he made him altars in every corner of Jerusalem.

Ver. 24. And Ahaz gathered together.] See 2Ki 16:8.

And shut up the doors of the house of the Lord.] As Julian shut up the churches of the Christians. Herein Ahaz was worse than Athaliah; who suffered Jehoiada and the priests to execute their offices in the temple, though herself worshipped idols.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

28:24-25 Judah reached its spiritual nadir—a condition similar to exile—under King Ahaz.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 24. Shut up the doors] He caused the Divine worship to be totally suspended; and they continued shut till the beginning of the reign of Hezekiah, one of whose first acts was to reopen them, and thus to restore the Divine worship, 2Ch 29:3.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(24) Gathered together the vessels.—According to some MSS. the Syriac, Arabic, Vulg., and Targum, all the vessels.

And cut in pieces the vessels.—Literally, trimmed (qiççaç), i.e., cut off their metal ornaments. The same word is used in 2Ki_16:17, where it is said, “And king Ahaz cut off the plates of the bases, and removed the laver from upon them, and the sea he took down from off the brazen oxen that were under it, and put it on a pavement of stones.”

And shut up the doors of the house of the Lord.—Not in Kings. (Comp. 2Ch_29:3-7.) The doors of the sanctuary itself, not those of the great court, must be understood. (Comp. 2Ki_16:15-16, from which it appears that the new Syrian altar was erected in the inner court near the brazen altar.) By closing the doors Ahaz suspended all rites that could only be duly performed within the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. (Thenius thinks the verse involves a misunderstanding of 2Ki_16:18.)

In every corner of (in) Jerusalem.—Wanting in Kings.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

24. cut in pieces the vessels] Presumably in order to smelt them and put the metal to other uses; cp. 2Ki_24:13. According to 2Ki_16:17 Ahaz merely “cut off the borders (‘panels’ R.V. mg.) of the bases and removed the laver from off them, and took down the sea from off the brasen oxen that were under it, and put it upon a pavement of stone.” In Chron. something more than this is suggested, for “the vessels” would naturally mean such vessels as are mentioned in 2Ki_24:13.

shut up the doors] The Chronicler perhaps misunderstands the difficult passage 2Ki_16:18 (vide A.V. and R.V.). That passage speaks of an alteration carried out by Ahaz on one of the entrances to the Temple, but says nothing of a complete closing of the Temple; indeed it may be gathered from 2Ki_16:14-16 that the daily service went on with one great change, viz. that the king’s new altar was used instead of the brazen altar.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Compare 2Ki 16:17 note. The temple-worship was suspended, the lamps put out, and the doors shut, to prevent the priests from entering. The Jews still celebrate a yearly fast in commemoration of this time of affliction.

Altars - As the one altar for sacrifice, which alone the Law allowed, symbolized the doctrine of one God, so these many altars spoke unmistakeably of the all-embracing polytheism affected by Ahaz.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

God: first through fear of the Assyrian, (4 K.) but afterwards he permitted it to continue in the same state of irreligion. C. --- So easily do people fall into this abyss, who begin to neglect instruction! H. --- Ezechias took care to open the temple again, C. xxix. 3. C. --- None of the former kings had dared (H.) to prohibit the worship of the true God. T.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

24. Shut up… doors of the house of the Lord — This, of course, suspended the temple service, and so matters remained till the first year of Hezekiah, Comp. 2Ch_29:3; 2Ch_29:7. Ahaz seems to have acted on the thought that the erection of altars in every corner of Jerusalem rendered the service of the temple superfluous, and so he closed its doors, put out the sacred lamps, and brought its daily service to an end. So in wickedness and idolatry Ahaz surpassed all his predecessors in Jerusalem. On account of his great wickedness he was not buried in the royal sepulchre.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

This verse (completed, indeed, by the verse following) heightens to its climax the description of the guilt of Ahaz, which grew to madness. Vers. 17, 18 of the parallel enlarge our view of what Ahaz did in the way of destruction, relating his mutilation of the bases and laver and sea, after also the displacement of the brazen altar in favour of that the pattern of which he had sent from Damascus to Urijah the priest, who must have been a consenting party to the iniquity. Our 2Ch_30:14 speaks of the time that came when these wicked steps of king and priest began to be retraced, and, with the previous verses of same chapter, are the sad but interesting reverse of the present passage. The modern Jews commemorate, by the observance of a fast, this mournful crisis of Judah"s history.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

the house of God ... the house of Yahweh

Here the word "house" represents the temple. AT: "the temple of God ... the temple of Yahweh" (See: Metonymy)

in every corner of Jerusalem

Possible meanings are 1) the word "corner" refers to street corners, or places where streets intersect. AT: "on every street corner in Jerusalem" or 2) the various parts of Jerusalem are spoken of as if they were the corners of the city. AT: "in every part of Jerusalem" (See: Metaphor)

he made for himself altars ... he made high places to burn sacrifices

Since Ahaz was king, he may have had his workers make these high places. AT: "he had his workers make altars for him ... he had his workers make high places to burn sacrifices" (See: Metonymy)

translationWords

house of God

altar

Jerusalem

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

and he closed the doors of the House of the Lord so that the priests would not go to perform their service in the Tent of Meeting, but come to the altars that he erected on every corner in Jerusalem, and Hezekiah “opened the doors of the House of the Lord,” (below 29:3) because his father had closed the doors of the House of the Lord.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.