What is the meaning of 2 Chronicles 28:23? He sacrificed to the gods of Damascus Ahaz, king of Judah, left the temple of the LORD and turned to the pagan deities of Syria. • 2 Kings 16:10-16 shows him copying the altar he saw in Damascus and replacing the bronze altar in Jerusalem. • 2 Chronicles 28:2-4 already summarized his earlier idol worship, including burning his sons in the fire—clear violation of Exodus 20:3 and Deuteronomy 12:31. • Like Amaziah before him, who bowed to Edomite idols (2 Chronicles 25:14), Ahaz lets proximity and politics dictate his worship instead of God’s revealed word. who had defeated him Aram’s armies had just beaten Judah (2 Chronicles 28:5). Rather than viewing the defeat as divine discipline (Deuteronomy 28:25; Judges 2:14), Ahaz misreads the event. • He ignores the precedent that sin leads to national weakness (2 Chronicles 24:24) and assumes military power resides in foreign gods. • His reasoning is like Israel’s elders carrying the ark as a lucky charm after defeat (1 Samuel 4:3)—a superstitious reflex rather than repentance. and he said, “Because the gods of the kings of Aram have helped them,” Ahaz concludes that what “works” pragmatically must be true spiritually. • Similar logic appears when Ben-hadad’s advisers claim, “Their god is a god of the hills” (1 Kings 20:23). • Jeremiah mocks this notion: “Where are your gods that you made for yourself? Let them rise up… if they can save you” (Jeremiah 2:28). • The Chronicler has already recorded the folly of thinking captured idols could help (2 Chronicles 25:15). I will sacrifice to them that they may help me. Ahaz seeks help from what cannot help, exchanging the living God for silent idols. • Isaiah warns, “Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help… but do not look to the Holy One” (Isaiah 31:1). • Psalm 115:4-8 describes idols and their worshipers as alike—lifeless. • His plan backfires politically as well; the alliance with Tiglath-pileser strips Judah of treasure and autonomy (2 Chronicles 28:19-21). • Trusting anything but the LORD—whether idols, wealth, or foreign powers—always proves futile (Psalm 146:3; 2 Chronicles 16:12). But these gods were the downfall of Ahaz and of all Israel. Idolatry does not merely fail; it destroys. • Deuteronomy 29:25-28 foretold national ruin for covenant infidelity. • The prophet Zechariah had warned an earlier king, “Because you have forsaken the LORD, He has forsaken you” (2 Chronicles 24:20). • The northern kingdom’s exile was rooted in the same sin (2 Kings 17:7-18). • Proverbs 14:12 sums it up: “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” summary 2 Chronicles 28:23 portrays a tragic inversion: instead of letting defeat drive him to repentance, Ahaz doubles down on rebellion, sacrificing to the very gods of the nation that beat him. His pragmatic, fear-based worship ignores God’s clear commands and results in deeper disaster for himself and for Judah. The verse warns that any attempt to seek security outside the LORD—even one that seems reasonable in the moment—will ultimately lead to downfall. |
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