2 Chronicles 28
Ahaz, Jotham's son, 'did not do what was right in the sight of the LORD' but instead emulated the idolatrous practices of the northern kingdom, casting idols, even offering his own sons as sacrifices, and walking in the ways of Judah's enemies. The narrative catalogs Ahaz's covenant unfaithfulness with particular emphasis on the depth and breadth of his idolatry, suggesting that his defection from the LORD is comprehensive and dramatic in a way that brings swift and overwhelming judgment. When Aram and Israel attack Judah in a military coalition, they inflict massive casualties, and the narrative explicitly states that this defeat occurs 'because they had abandoned the LORD,' establishing directly that military defeat is the divine response to covenant unfaithfulness. Ahaz seeks help from the Assyrian king rather than the LORD, establishing a pattern of trusting human political alliance over covenantal prayer that will characterize his entire reign and that extends Judah's spiritual and political decline. The prophet Isaiah confronts Ahaz with a word from the LORD, offering him a sign of God's faithfulness and promise, but Ahaz refuses, hardening himself against the LORD's merciful approach and accelerating his own judgment. Ahaz's extensive sacrifices to foreign gods and his systematic desecration of the temple and its utensils represent a near-total reversal of the covenant faithfulness that had characterized Judah's greatest kings and suggest that apostasy, once begun, escalates rapidly without the restraining influence of fear of the LORD and respect for prophetic voices.
2 Chronicles 28:23
The death and succession — 'Now the rest of his acts and all his ways, from first to last, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of Jerusalem, for they did not bring him into the tombs of the kings of Israel. And his son Hezekiah reigned in his place' (וישׁאר דברי אחז הראשׁנים והאחרונים הנם כתובים בספר מלכי יהודה וישׂראל וישׁכב אחז עם אבתיו ויקברוהו בעיר בירושׁלם כי לא הביאוהו לקברי מלכי ישׂראל). Ahaz dies and is buried in Jerusalem, but notably 'not in the tombs of the kings' (לא הביאוהו לקברי מלכי) — the burial denial reflects his apostasy. His son Hezekiah succeeds him, beginning the era of reform.
2 Chronicles 28:1
Ahaz's accession and apostasy — 'Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in the sight of the LORD, like his father David, but he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel' (אחז בן עשׂרים שׁנה בממלכו וששׁ עשׂרה שׁנה מלך בירושׁלם ולא עשׂה הישׁר בעיני יהוה כדוד אביו). The assessment is immediately negative — Ahaz 'did not do what was right,' contrasting with David. The phrase 'walked in the ways of the kings of Israel' invokes northern apostasy as the paradigm.
2 Chronicles 28:2
Cultic violations — 'For he even made cast images for the Baals. And he made offerings in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, and burned his sons as an offering, according to the abominable practices of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel' (כי עשׂה אלילים לבעלים והקטיר בגיא בן הנם וגם הביא בנים באשׁ כתועבות הגוים). Ahaz actively constructs Baal idols and, horrifyingly, engages in child sacrifice (המביא בנים באשׁ, burning his sons). The phrase 'according to the abominable practices' (כתועבות הגוים) indicates the violation of covenant law against human sacrifice.