King Ahaz (Judah)

Ahaz son of Jotham became king of Judah at 20 and reigned 16 years. Kings and Chronicles rank him among Judah's worst rulers: he "made his son pass through the fire" in the manner of the nations and sacrificed at the high places (2 Kings 16:3). When Rezin of Aram and Pekah of Israel besieged Jerusalem, Isaiah urged him to stay calm and offered him a sign; Ahaz refused to ask for one, and Isaiah gave him the Immanuel prophecy anyway (Isaiah 7). Instead he sent the Temple's silver and gold to Tiglath-pileser III, declaring, "I am your servant and your son."

After meeting the Assyrian king in conquered Damascus, Ahaz had the priest Uriah build a copy of an altar he had seen there, moved Solomon's bronze altar aside, and stripped the bronze stands and the great basin "because of the king of Assyria" (2 Kings 16:10–18); Chronicles says he finally shut the Temple doors. Tiglath-pileser's inscriptions list "Jehoahaz of Judah," Ahaz's full name, among his tributaries, and the "steps of Ahaz," a sundial or stairway, figure in the sign given to his son Hezekiah (Isaiah 38:8).