2 Kings 16:3

2Ki 16:3 But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, yea, and made his son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel.

Ver. 3. But he walked in the way, &c.] He "did wickedly as he could," as if he had been "delivered to do all these abominations," as Jer 7:10.

According to the abominations of the heathen.] Who offered their own flesh and blood in an idol’s fire. How gladly then should we offer to God our souls and bodies, which we may enjoy so much the more when they are his!

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 16:3. He walked in the way of the kings of Israel — Who all worshipped the calves, and were therefore idolaters. He was not joined in any affinity with them, as Jehoram and Ahaziah were with the house of Ahab, but of his own accord and voluntary motion, and, without any instigation, he walked in their way. The kings of Israel pleaded policy and reasons of state for their idolatry; but Ahaz had no such pretence: in him it was the most unreasonable and impolitic conduct that could be. They were his enemies, and had manifested that they were enemies to themselves too by their idolatry; yet he walked in their way. And made his son to pass through the fire — By way of oblation, so as to be consumed for a burnt- offering, which was the practice of heathen, and of some Israelites in imitation of them. Thus 2Ch 28:3, it is said, He burned his children in the fire, that is, some of them, first one, as is here mentioned, and afterward others, as is there observed. See on Lev 18:21, and Deu 18:10. According to the abominations of the heathen, whom the Lord cast out — It was an instance of his great folly that, in his religion, he would be guided by and imitate those whom he saw fallen into the ditch before his eyes; and of his great impiety, that he would conform to those usages which God had declared to be abominable to him.

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

That is, offered him to Molech, or made him to pass between two fires, as the manner of the Gentiles was, Lev. 18:21; Deut. 18:10.

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

walked in the way of the kings of Israel--This is descriptive of the early part of his reign, when, like the kings of Israel, he patronized the symbolic worship of God by images but he gradually went farther into gross idolatry (Ch2 28:2).

made his son to pass through the fire-- (Kg2 23:10). The hands of the idol Moloch being red hot, the children were passed through between them, which was considered a form of lustration. There is reason to believe that, in certain circumstances, the children were burnt to death (Psa 106:37). This was strongly prohibited in the law (Lev 18:21; Lev 20:2-5; Deu 18:10), although there is no evidence that it was practised in Israel till the time of Ahaz.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 3. Made his son to pass through the fire] On this passage I beg leave to refer the reader to my notes on Le 18:21; Le 20:2; Le 20:14, where the subject is considered at large.

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

(3) But he walked in the way.—See Notes on 2Ch_28:2.

Made his son to pass through the fire.—The chronicler rightly explains this as a sacrifice by fire. That such an appalling rite is really intended may be seen by reference to 2Ki_17:31; Jer_19:5; Eze_16:20; Eze_23:37; Jer_32:35. The expression, “To make-to pass through the fire to Moloch” (Lev_18:21) may have originated, as Movers suggests, in the idea that the burning was a kind of passage to union with the deity, after the dross of the flesh had been purged away; or it may be a mere euphemism. Ahaz appears to have been the first Israelite king who offered such a sacrifice. He, no doubt, regarded it as a last desperate resource against the oppression of his northern enemies. It is absurd to suppose that the king intended it in love to his child, as Thenius suggests. (See Jdg_11:31.) Such dreadful sacrifices were only made in cases of dire extremity. (Comp. 2Ki_3:27.)

The heathen.—More particularly the Ammonites, who made such sacrifices to Molech or Milcom.

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

3. he walked in the way of the kings of Israel] This is more fully explained by the Chronicler, and means that he followed after all kinds of heathen idolatry, not that he introduced the worship of the calves from Israel into Judah. ‘He made molten images for the Baalim, and burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom.’ ‘It is hard not to be infected with a contagious neighbourhood. Whoever read that the kingdom of Israel was seasoned with the vicinity of the true religion of Judah? Goodness, such as our nature is, is not so apt to spread. A tainted air doth more easily affect a sound body, than a wholesome air can clear the sick’. (Bp. Hall.)

yea, and made his son to pass through the fire] i.e. To Moloch. Thus introducing into Judah once more, as in Solomon’s days (1Ki_11:7) the worship of ‘the abomination of the children of Ammon’. The words of this verse might be made to refer only to a passing through flame, as a ceremony significant of purification. But the words of the Chronicler are stronger: ‘he burnt his children in the fire.’ From which it would appear that not one son only was offered. That the children offered in such sacrifices were actually burnt is seen from 2Ki_17:31; Eze_16:21; and many other passages. But from the words of Ezekiel it may perhaps be inferred that the victims were first slain and then burnt. ‘Thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters whom thou hast borne unto me and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured … thou hast slain my children and delivered them up in causing them to pass through the fire unto them.’

according to the abominations of the heathen] The word ‘abomination’ is constantly employed of idols and their worship, their rites being often of the foulest character. The heathen practices of Tyre and Sidon, of the Ammonites, and of the Syrians of Damascus all now found place and worshippers in Jerusalem.

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 sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills,.... Which none of the kings of Judah before him ever did; for though they connived at this practice in the people, they never encouraged it by their own example; and very probably he offered sacrifices there to idols, see Ch2 28:25 whereas the people sacrificed to the true God, though at a wrong place:

and under every green tree; and which is never said of the people, and seems to confirm it, that Ahaz sacrificed to other gods, since the Heathens used to place idols under green trees, and worship them, whom the Jews imitated, Jer 2:2.

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

Ahaz was the worst of all the kings of Judah. He imitated the worst of the Israelite kings - Ahab and Ahaziah - by a re-introduction of the Baal worship, which had been rooted out of Israel by Jehu and out of Judah by Jehoiada.

And made Iris son to pass through the fire - i. e. Ahaz adopted the Moloch worship of the Ammonites and Moabites 2Ki 3:27; Mic 6:7, and sacrificed at least one son, probably his firstborn, according to the horrid rites of those nations, and the Canaanite tribes Deu 12:31; Psa 106:37-38. Hereto, apparently, the Jews had been guiltless of this abomination. They had been warned against it by Moses (marginal reference; Deu 18:10); and if (as some think) they had practiced it in the wilderness Eze 20:26; Amo 5:26, the sin must have been rare and exceptional; from the date of their entrance into the promised land they had wholly put it away. Now, however, it became so frequent (compare 2Ki 17:17; 2Ki 21:6) as to meet with the strongest protest from Jeremiah and Ezekiel (Jer 7:31-32; Jer 19:2-6; Jer 32:35; Eze 16:20; Eze 20:26; Eze 23:37, etc.).

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

Fire, to purify him (or them, Paralipomenon filios, all were treated thus. Haydock) according to the superstitions of the pagans: omnia purgat edax ignis. (Ovid, Fast.) (Theodoret, q. 16.) (Menochius) --- Others believe that the child was burnt to death in honour of Moloch, and in imitation of the Chanaanites, Psalm cv. 37., and Deuteronomy xviii. 10. The Carthaginians were required by Gelon, king of Syracuse, to lay aside this most barbarous custom. (Phil. apoph.) Yet, "infants were publicly immolated to Saturn, in Africa, till the proconsulate of Tiberius, who ordered the priests to be exposed on those same trees which shaded their crimes, as on votive crosses. This the soldiers, my countrymen, who executed the proconsul’s orders, can testify; and still the sacred crime is perpetrated in secret." (Tertullian, Apol. viii.) --- How tenacious are people of old errors! (Haydock)

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).

Made his son to pass through the fire; either,

1. By way of lustration, to pass hastily through it, so as to be scorched, and, as it were, baptized with it. Or,

2. By way of oblation, so as to be utterly consumed, and offered for a burntoffering, which was the practice of heathens, and of some Israelites, in imitation of them; of which see 2Ki 21:6; Psa 105:35; Jer 7:31; which seems best to agree with 2Ch 28:3, where it is said he burnt his children, i.e., some of them; first one, as is here noted; and afterwards others of them, as is there observed. Of these practices, see more on Lev 18:21; Deu 18:10.

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

3. Walked in the way of the kings of Israel — By running into all sorts of idolatry, and forming leagues with the heathen. His reign was a period of enormous wickedness, and to Judah one of numerous disasters.

Made his son to pass through the fire — This expression, more fully written in 2Ki_23:10, to pass through the fire to Molech, is interpreted by the rabbies to mean merely the passing between two burning pyres as a purificatory rite. But this is refuted by the parallel passage in 2Ch_28:3 : He burnt his children in the fire, and also by the unequivocal statements of the following texts: Psa_106:37-38; Jer_7:31; Jer_19:4-5; Eze_16:20-21; Eze_23:37. A comparison of all these passages will show that the victims were slain before they were burned. The laws of Moses warned the Israelites against this very abomination, Compare Lev_18:21; Lev_20:2-4; Deu_18:10. The rabbinical theory evidently sprung from a desire to escape the charge of the atrocious idolatries of the ancient Jews.

Abominations of the heathen — Several of the Canaanitish nations, as well as the Ammonites and Moabites, appear to have practised this horrible rite. According to Movers, “the burning of the children was regarded as a passing through, by which they attained to purification with the deity after the dissolution of the earthly, impure dross of the body.”

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

But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel. Not, of course, by establishing a worship of calves, but by following the worst practices of the worst Israelite kings, e.g. Ahab and Ahaziah, and reintroducing into Judah the Phoenician idolatry, which Joash and the high priest Jehoiada had cast out. (2Ki_11:17, 2Ki_11:18) As the writer of Chronicles says, (2Ch_28:2) "He walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and made also molten images for Baalim." Baalim is either a plural of dignity, or a word denoting the different forms under which Baal was worshipped, as Melkarth, Adonis, Rimmon, etc. Yea, and made his son to pass through the fire. In Chronicles (2Ch_28:3) we are told that "he burnt incense in the valley of Hinnom, and burnt his children in the fire," as if he had sacrificed more than one son. The practice of offering children in sacrifice was not a feature of the Assyro-Babylonian religion, as some suppose, but an intrinsic part of the worship of the Phoenicians, common to them with the Moabites, Ammonites, and others. It was based upon the principle of a man"s offering to God that which was dearest and most precious to himself, whence the crowning sacrifice of the kind was a man"s offering of his firstborn son (see 2Ki_3:27; Mic_6:7) Some hare supposed that the rite was a mere dedication or lustration, the children passing between two fires, and being thenceforward employed only in God"s service. But the expressions used by the sacred writer and others, and still more the descriptions that have come down to us from heathen and patristic authors, make it absolutely certain that the "passing through the fire" was no such innocent ceremony as this, but involved the death of the children. The author of Chronicles says, "Ahaz burnt his children in the fire;" Jer_19:5, "They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Eze_16:21, "Thou hast slain my children, and delivered them to cause them to pass through the fire." Josephus declares of Ahaz that he "made his own son a whole burnt offering (idion wjlokautwse paida)." Diodorus Sicalus describes the ceremony as it took place at Carthage, the Phoenician colony. There was in the great temple there, he says, an image of Saturn (Moloch), which was a human figure with a bull"s head and outstretched arms. This image of metal was made glowing hot by a fire kindled within it; and the children, laid in its arms, rolled from thence into the fiery lap below. If the children cried, the parents stopped their noise by fondling and kissing them; for the victim ought not to weep, and the sound of complaint was drowned in the din of flutes and kettle-drums (Died. Sic., 20:14). "Mothers," says Plutarch ("De Superstitione," "stood by without tears or sobs; if they wept or sobbed, they lost the honor of the act, and the children were sacrificed notwithstanding." The only doubtful point is whether the children were placed alive in the glowing arms of the image, or whether they were first killed and afterwards burnt in sacrifice; but the description of Diodorus seems to imply the more cruel of the two proceedings. According to the abominations of the heathen, whom the Lord east out from before the children of Israel. (On the practice of this terrible rite by the Canaanitish nations at the time of the Israelite invasion, (Lev_18:21; Deu_12:31 Deu_18:9, Deu_18:10; Psa_106:37, Psa_106:38)

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

Pass - By way of oblation, so as to be consumed for a burnt- offering, which was the practice of Heathens, and of some Israelites, in imitation of them.

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

he walked in the way of the kings of Israel

Walking represents behavior and actions. AT: "King Ahaz acted the same way that the kings of Israel had acted" or "he did the things that the kings of Israel had done" (See: Metaphor)

following the detestable practices of the nations

Here "following" represents doing what others do. AT: "copying the disgusting things that the other nations did, the nations" (See: Metaphor)

the nations

The word "nations" represents the people of other nations. Here it refers to the people of the nations who had lived in that land. AT: "the people of other nations" (See: Metonymy)

which Yahweh had driven out

"Drive out" means "force out." AT: "which Yahweh had forced to leave"

before the people of Israel

The people of those nations fled as the people of Israel moved into the land. The full meaning of this statement can be made explicit. AT: "before the people of Israel who moved into the land" or "as the people of Israel moved into the land" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

the high places, on the hilltops, and under every green tree

These are places where the people of the other nations worshiped their false gods.

under every green tree

God wanted his people to offer sacrifices to him in Jerusalem. The word "every" here is an exaggeration to show how determined King Ahaz was to disobey God by offering sacrifices in many other places instead. AT: "under many green trees" or "under many green trees around the country" (See: Hyperbole and Generalization)

translationWords

walk

kingdom of Israel

fire

burnt offering

nation

sacrifice

incense

high place

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