2 Kings 16:14

2Ki 16:14 And he brought also the brasen altar, which [was] before the LORD, from the forefront of the house, from between the altar and the house of the LORD, and put it on the north side of the altar.

Ver. 14. And put it on the north side.] As it were, in a corner out of the way. {a}

{a} Quasi vicarium et precarium in angulo collocavit. - Vatab.

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.

16:14 Solomon had originally placed the bronze altar in front of the Temple (see Exod 40:6; 2 Chr 4:1; 7:7-10). At first, Ahaz positioned his new altar so that worshipers would come to it before coming to the bronze altar. Then Ahaz had the bronze altar placed . . . on the north side of the new altar, completely replacing the bronze altar as the center of sacrificial activity.

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

That is, at the right hand, as men went into to Temple.

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

Verse 14. Put it on the north side] He seems to have intended to conform every thing in the Lord's house as much as possible to the idolatrous temples which he saw at Damascus, and to model the Divine worship in the same way: in a word to honour and worship the gods of Syria, and not the God of heaven. All the alterations specified here were in contempt of the true God. Thus he provoked to anger the Lord God of his fathers, 2Ch 28:25.

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

(14) And he brought also the brasen altar . . .—Literally, And as for the brasen altar, he brought it near (to the new one), away from the front of the house, to wit, from between the (new) altar, and the house of Jehovah; and put it at the side of the (new) altar northward. The brasen altar used to stand “before the Lord,” i.e., in the middle of the court of the priests, and in front of the Temple proper. The verse seems to imply that Urijah had pushed it forward nearer to the sanctuary, and set the new Syrian altar in its place. Ahaz, not satisfied with this arrangement, which appeared to confer a kind of precedence on the old altar, drew it back again, and fixed it on the north side of his new altar.

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

14. And he brought &c.] The R.V. adheres to the Hebrew order. And the brasen altar which was before the Lord, he brought from the forefront of the house. This brasen altar is described 2Ch_4:1, its length and breadth being each twenty cubits, and its height ten cubits. It is also mentioned, but not described, 1Ki_8:64. This altar, placed in its position when the temple was built, and standing exactly in front of the porch and entrance to the temple, Ahaz now removed.

from between the [R.V. his] altar and the house] At first the new altar was set a little behind the brasen one, but on the same line as one looked at them from the temple-porch. This arrangement Ahaz changes, and taking away the brasen altar, he leaves his own in the front of the temple, and carries the older and more sacred altar to the north side of the new one. Thus they both stood in a line parallel to the front of the house, but the king’s new altar had the place of honour, before the temple-doors.

north side of the [R.V. his] altar] As before.

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 King Ahaz commanded Urijah the priest, saying,.... Who was not to be commanded by the king in matters of worship, but to attend to the laws and institutions of God:

saying, upon the great altar; meaning the new one, which either was of a larger size than the altar of God, or was greater in the esteem of Ahaz:

burn the morning burnt offering, and the evening meat offering; the daily sacrifice, morning and evening:

and the king's burnt sacrifice, and his meat offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their meat offering, and their drink offerings; such as were offered up at any time on the account of the rulers of the land in particular, or of the whole congregation of Israel, see Lev 4:1

and sprinkle upon it all the blood of the burnt offering, and all the blood of the sacrifice; as it used to be sprinkled upon the altar of the Lord:

and the brasen altar shall be for me to inquire by; to search, inquire, and consider what was to be done with it; for altars were never inquired by as oracles; the meaning is, that it was never to be made use of but by him, and when he pleased.

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

Hereto the “Brasen altar” (marginal reference) had, it would seem, occupied a position directly in front of the temple porch, which it exactly equalled in width. Now Ahaz removed it from this place, and gave the honorable position to his new altar, which he designed to supersede the old far all ordinary purposes 2Ki 16:15.

From between the altar ... - Urijah, having received no official directions, had placed the new altar in front of the old, between it and the eastern gate of the court. Ahaz consequently on his arrival found the brasen altar “between the (new) altar and the house of the Lord.”

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

And from. Hebrew, "from between the new altar and the house of," &c. (Haydock) --- Achaz had placed his altar before that of Solomon: but he afterwards removed the latter from the right-hand of the sanctuary, to a corner of the court, on the north side. (Calmet) --- In the midst of his distress, he despised God; sacrificed to the gods of the Syrians, as more powerful and victorious than the Lord; pillaged the temple, which he shut up during the remainder of his reign, (Haydock) and erected altars for himself in all the corners of Jerusalem, 2 Paralipomenon xxviii. 24.

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).

The brazen altar of burnt-offerings, made by Solomon, and placed there by God’s appointment. Which was before the Lord, i.e. from before the Lord’s house: See Poole "Lev 1:3". From between the altar and the house of the Lord; or rather, from between his altar, &c., or, that altar, &c. His new altar was at first set below the brazen altar, and at a further distance from the temple. This he took for a disparagement to his altar; and therefore most impiously and audaciously takes that away, and puts his in its place.

On the north side of the altar; or, of that altar; or, of his altar; as before. So he put God’s altar out of its place and use.

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

14. The brazen altar — This stood in the midst of the inner court, the court of the priests. See cut, page 68. It was, according to 2Ch_4:1, twenty cubits square and ten cubits high. Its position is described as before the Lord, that is, in front of the holy place.

Brought… from the forefront of the house — Moved from its old sacred place in front of the temple, and placed, as the sequel shows, nearer to the north side of the court, so as not to stand between the (new) altar and the house of the Lord. In the spot where Urijah had placed it, the new altar was not properly before the Lord, inasmuch as the brazen altar stood between it and the holy place. So the king changed the position of both altars, placing the new one nearer to the temple, and the brazen altar on the north side of it. He would not have the new altar occupy a secondary place. So, says Wordsworth, “the new altar became the principal central object, and the brazen altar was only an adjunct and appendage to it.”

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

And he brought also the brazen altar, which was before the Lord. One sin leads on to another. Having introduced his self-invented quasi-idolatrous altar into the temple, and so inserted "the thin end of the wedge," Ahaz was not satisfied, but proceeded to another innovation. Urijah, having had no express order from the king with respect to the position of the new altar, had placed it in front of the old one, between it and the eastern gate of the court. Thus the old altar, which was directly in front of the temple porch, seemed to cut the new altar off from the temple. Ahaz would not have this continue, and resolved on removing the altar of Solomon from, its place, and putting it elsewhere. From the forefront of the house, (comp. 1Ki_8:54) from between the altari.e. , the new altarand the house of the Lordi.e. the temple buildingand put it on the north side of the altar. The removal of Solomon"s altar from its place of honor to a side position left the space clear between the temple and the new altar, which thus, without exactly occupying the same site, took practically the place of Solomon"s altar. Solomon"s altar, shifted to one side, was put, as it were, in the background; the eye rested on the new altar, right in front of the porch and temple, which so became "the main altar" (lwOdGj tBzMih), as it is called in the next verse.

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

Brazen altar - Of burnt-offerings, made by Solomon, and placed there by God's appointment. From between, &c. - His new altar was at first set below the brazen altar, and at a farther distance from the temple. This he took for a disparagement to his altar; and therefore impiously takes that away, and puts his in its place. And put, &c. - So he put God's altar out of its place and use! A bolder stroke than the very worst of kings had hitherto given to religion.

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

Soon after this Ahaz went still further, and had "the copper altar before Jehovah," i.e., the altar of burnt-offering in the midst of the court before the entrance into the Holy Place, removed "from the front of the (temple-) house, from (the spot) between the altar (the new one built by Urijah) and the house of Jehovah (i.e., the temple-house(, and placed at the north side of the altar." הקריב does not mean removit, caused to be taken away, but admovit, and is properly to be connected with הם על־ירך, notwithstanding the fact that אתו ויּתּן is inserted between for the sake of greater clearness, as Maurer has already pointed out.

(Note: There is nothing in the text to support the view of Thenius, that Urijah had the brazen altar of burnt-offering erected by Solomon moved farther forwards, nearer to the temple-house, and the new one put in its place, whence it was afterwards shifted by Ahaz and the new one moved a little farther to the south, that is to say, that he placed the two altars close to one another, so that they now occupied the centre of the court.)

On the use of the article with המּזבּח in the construct state, see Ewald, 290, d.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

And the Copper Altar … he brought, etc. It is impossible to say that this was the Copper Altar that Moshe made, because it was hidden. It is also impossible to say that his was the stone altar that Shlomo made, and he called it the “Copper Altar,” because it was impossible to move it from one corner to another without taking it apart, but we learned that the fire that descended in Shlomo's time, did not leave the altar until Menashe came and removed it, for he demolished the altar, as we find in the Aggadah of [the chapter entitled] “Cheilek.” I have no way to explain this “[copper] altar” except as [referring to] the basin and the bases of copper, which were accessories of the altar and were near the holy altar. Now, when Achaz made the altar for the idols, he removed the basin and moved it to another side, [farther] away from the Temple, so as not to intervene between the altar he made and the Temple of Adonoy, and he placed it next to the holy altar on the north. We find that our Rabbis explained a passage in a similar manner, ”And they came and stood next to the Copper Altar.” Did the Copper Altar exist? He said to them, ”Begin from the place where they recite songs before Me.” Thus we see here that copper musical instruments are referred to as a “[copper] altar.”

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.