2 Kings 16:12

2Ki 16:12 And when the king was come from Damascus, the king saw the altar: and the king approached to the altar, and offered thereon.

Ver. 12. And the king approached to the altar.] Urijah suffering him so to do; whereas that zealous priest Azariah would not endure his grandfather Uzziah, a far better man, to offer sacrifice. {2Ch 26:17-18}

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.

16:12-13 The king initiated the new altar by making the traditional offerings upon it (see Lev 1–3; Num 15:1-10; 28:9-15, 24, 31; 2 Kgs 6:8-23; 7:11-20). Sadly, such offerings upon a pagan altar by a leader devoid of spiritual character constituted a mockery of their deep spiritual meaning.

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

Either offerings for peace or prosperity, or thanksgiving, as Lev. 3:1, or else meaning the morning and evening offering, Exod. 29:38, Num. 28:3, and thus he contemned the means and the altar which God had commanded by Solomon, to serve God after his own fantasy.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

(12) The king approached to the altar, and offered thereon.—So the Targum renders. But all the other versions: “The king approached to the altar, and went up thereon.” (Comp. 1Ki_12:32-33.) It thus appears that Ahaz, like Uzziah, personally exercised the priestly function of sacrifice.

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

12. and the king approached to [R.V. drew near unto] the altar] The rendering adopted by R.V. is much the most frequent in A.V. Except in this verse ‘approach’ is not used of ‘drawing near’ to an altar, but always ‘come near’ or ‘draw near’.

and offered thereon] At such an altar he might be his own priest. The LXX. does not represent these words.

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.

And he burnt his burnt offering, and his meat offering,.... Which went together according to the law of God, and was imitated by the Heathens:

and poured his drink offering; a libation of wine, as probably it was, like what they used according to the Levitical law:

and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings upon the altar; as used according to the same law; for all sorts of sacrifices were offered by idolaters, as by the people of God, in imitation of them.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

And worshipped. Hebrew simply, "and the king approached to the altar, and offered on it (13) his holocaust and his meat (or flour) offering, and poured hid drink-offering, and the blood of his peace-offerings, upon the altar." (Haydock) --- He dedicated it with all sorts of sacrifices, forbidding any other to be used in the temple. But shortly after he shut up the temple entirely, 2 Paralipomenon xxviii. 24., and xxix. 3. He offered sacrifice to idols upon this altar, (Abulensis) while the priests made use of the same altar to sacrifice the true God, (ver. 15.; Menochius) unlawfully.

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).

To wit, a sacrifice, and that not unto God, but unto the Syrian idols, as appears from 2Ch 28:23,24, to whom that altar was appropriated. Whether he offered by himself, or by a priest, is not certain.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

12. Saw the altar — That is, the new altar which Urijah had just completed, according to the pattern sent him from Damascus, and had erected, apparently, near the entrance into the court. This new altar is called emphatically the altar in this verse and the following, and in 2Ki_16:15, the great altar.

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

And when the king was come from Damascus, the king saw the altar: and the king approached to the altar, and offered thereon. It is not necessarily implied in these words that Ahaz, like Uzziah, usurped the priestly functions, though conceivably he may have done so, and Urijah may have stood tamely by. What the writer has it in his mind to record is that the king, on his return from Damascus, at once made use of the new" altar for his private sacrifices. If he had meant to tax Ahaz with so great a sin as that which brought the curse of leprosy upon Uzziah, he would almost certainly have made his meaning clearer.

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

Offered - A sacrifice, and that not to God, but to the Syrian idols, to whom that altar was appropriated.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.