2 Kings 16:2

2Ki 16:2 Twenty years old [was] Ahaz when he began to reign, and reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem, and did not [that which was] right in the sight of the LORD his God, like David his father.

Ver. 2. When he began to reign,] i.e., Himself alone after his father’s death; in whose lifetime he had been designed to the kingdom, and then he was but twenty years old. Or, When he, that is, Jotham, began to reign. See the like, 2Ch 36:9.

And reigned sixteen years.] But had an ill life of it all the while, by reason of oppressions and miseries.

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.

2Ki 16:2. Ahaz did not that which was right in the sight of the Lord — Contrary to what might have been expected, considering the good education which, doubtless, Jotham, his pious father, gave him, and the excellent example he set him. Like David his father — Or progenitor. It was his honour that he was of the house and lineage of David, and it was owing to God’s ancient covenant with David, that he was now upon the throne: but he had none of that concern and affection for the instituted worship and service of God, for which David was so remarkable. He had no love for the temple, made no conscience of his duty to God, nor had any regard to his law, and therefore was a reproach to that honourable name and family, to which he was under such great obligations, and which, of consequence, was really a reproach to him, showing his wickedness in a more aggravated point of view.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

16:2-3 Again, his ancestor David serves as the standard for measuring the spiritual character of Judah’s kings (14:3; 1 Kgs 15:3, 11). • the example of the kings of Israel: Ahaz was one of Judah’s most wicked kings. He indulged in the apostate religion of Israel and the pagan practices of other nations to the extent of even sacrificing his own son in the fire (see Jer 19:5; 32:35). Although Levitical regulations prohibited such sacrifices as an abomination detestable to the Lord (Lev 18:10; 20:1-5), the practice was repeated among God’s people (Isa 30:33; Jer 7:31) until Josiah’s reforms (2 Kgs 23:10).

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

Verse 2. Twenty years old was Ahaz] Here is another considerable difficulty in the chronology. Ahaz was but twenty years old when he began to reign, and he died after he had reigned sixteen years; consequently his whole age amounted only to thirty-six years. But Hezekiah his son was twenty-five years old when he began to reign; and if this were so, then Ahaz must have been the father of Hezekiah when he was but eleven years of age! Some think that the twenty years mentioned here respect the beginning of the reign of Jotham, father of Ahaz; so that the passage should be thus translated: Ahaz was twenty years of age when his father began to reign; and consequently he was fifty-two years old when he died, seeing Jotham reigned sixteen years: and therefore Hezekiah was born when his father was twenty-seven years of age. This however is a violent solution, and worthy of little credit. It is better to return to the text as it stands, and allow that Ahaz might be only eleven or twelve years old when he had Hezekiah: this is not at all impossible; as we know that the youth of both sexes in the eastern countries are marriageable at ten or twelve years of age, and are frequently betrothed when they are but nine. I know a woman, an East Indian, who had the second of her two first children when she was only fourteen years of age, and must have had the first when between eleven and twelve. I hold it therefore quite a possible case that Ahaz might have had a son born to him when he was but eleven or twelve years old.

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

XVI.

THE REIGN OF AHAZ.

(Comp. 2 Chronicles 28)

(2) Twenty years old.—The number should probably be twenty -and- five, according to the LXX., Syriac, and Arabic of 2Ch_28:1. Otherwise, Ahaz was begotten when his father was ten (or, eleven) years old—a thing perhaps not impossible in the East, where both sexes reach maturity earlier than among Western races.

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

2. and did [R.V. he did] not that which was right] This negative form of statement has not occurred in the account of any previous king of Judah. The offences of Ahaz were exceptional.

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.

But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel..... Worshipping the calves as they did; which, as it was contrary to the religious sentiments in which he was educated, so against his political interest, which was the only, or at least the principal thing, which swayed with the kings of Israel to continue that idolatry:

yea, and made his son to pass through the fire; between two fires to Molech, by way of lustration; which might be true of Hezekiah his son, and others of his sons, for he had more he burnt with fire, as appears from Ch2 28:3, both ways were used in that sort of idolatry; see Gill on Lev 18:21,

according to the abominations of the heathen, whom the Lord cast out from before the children of Israel; the old Canaanites; so the Carthaginians, a colony of the Phoenicians, used in time of calamity to offer human sacrifices, and even their children, to appease their deities (l). Theodoret says, he had seen in some cities, in his time, piles kindled once a year, over which not only boys, but men, would leap, and infants were carried by their mothers through the flames; which seemed to be an expiation or purgation, and which he takes to be the same with the sin of Ahaz.

(l) Justin. e Trogo, Hist. l. 18. c. 6. Curt. Hist. l. 4. c. 3. Pescennius Festus apud Lactant. de fals. Relig. l. 1. c. 21.

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

When he, Joatham, "had begun," cœpisset. (Haydock) --- Thus Junius evades the following difficulty. (Du Hamel) --- Sixteen, consequently he died when he was 36 years old. As Ezechias was 25 when he came to the throne, Achab must have been a father at 11 (Calmet) or 12 year of age. (Bochart, Dissert. xxiii.) --- St. Jerome asserts the same of Solomon, and observes, that "many things which seem incredible in Scripture, are nevertheless true." (ep. ad Vital.) He, with some others, has recourse to a miracle. Others suppose that Ezechias was an adopted son, or kinsman, or that the numbers are incorrect, &c. But we are assured by respectable authors, (Haydock) that people have children very soon in the hotter climates. Busbeque (Ep. 3.) says, in Colchis many are mothers at ten years of age; and to convince the incredulous, produce their infants "not much bigger than a large frog." Albert the Great says he knew one who had a child at 10, and Navarre (following Sanchez, Matthew vii. 2, 5. disp. 104.) was credibly informed that a similar fact was seen at Naples. Mandesle observes that this is common in India. He says one had lately a child at six year of age, which was there thought remarkable. St. Jerome mentions a boy who became a father at 10, and Sanchez relates that the same happened in Spain. A boy under 12 had a child by a girl of 10, in Provence. (Scaliger Elenc.) The Romans laws fix upon the age of 14 for males, and 12 for females’ lawfully marrying; (Haydock) though many examples of people having children before that age are produced by Tiraqueau, 6. conn. 36. Yet physicians require 13 in males, and 14 years complete in females before they are capable of this effect. (Genebrard) St. Augustine (City of God xv. 11., and xvi. c. ultra[last chap.] and in psalm civ.) maintains that a person of 10 years of age is unfit for generation. (Calmet) --- Malitia supplet ætatem. Achaz was a monster of wickedness. (Haydock) --- In the first year of his reign, and in the fifth Olympiad, the Ephori were appointed at Sparta under Theopompus, nephew of Lycurgus. (Salien, the year before Christ 59.)

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).

Twenty years old was Ahaz when he began to reign: of the difficulty hence arising, See Poole "2Ki 18:2", to which it more properly belongs.

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

2. Twenty years old… sixteen years — So his whole age was thirty-six years. But he was immediately succeeded by his son Hezekiah, who was at the time twenty-five years old. 2Ki_18:2. Accordingly Ahaz must have begotten his son Hezekiah when he was only eleven years old. To meet this difficulty some copies of the Septuagint, and the Syriac and Arabic versions at the parallel place in Chronicles (2Ch_28:1,) read twenty-five instead of twenty years. But most interpreters accept the common reading, and argue that it was nowise impossible for Ahaz to beget a son in his eleventh or twelfth year. Compare note on 2Ki_18:2.

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

Twenty years old was Ahaz when he began to reign. As sixteen years afterwards his son Hezekiah was twenty-five, (2Ki_18:2) it is scarcely possible that Ahaz can have been no more than twenty at his accession, since in that case he must have married at ten years of age, and have had a son at eleven! The reading of "twenty-five" instead of "twenty," found in some Hebrew codices, in the Vatican manuscript of the Septuagint, and elsewhere, is therefore to be preferred. And reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. So the author of Chronicles (2Ch_28:1) and Josephus ("Ant. Jud:," 9:12. The reign of Ahaz probably lasted from B.C. 742 to B.C. 727. And did not that which was right in the sight of the Lord his God, like David his father. Compare what is said of Abijah, (1Ki_15:3) but the form of speech here used is stronger. Manasseh (2Ki_21:2) and Amon (2Ki_21:20-22) alone, of all the kings of Judah, receive greater condemnation.

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