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| − | {{epname|Ahaz}}
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| − | {{Kings of Judah}}
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| − | '''Ahaz''' ({{lang-he|אחז}}, lit. "has held," an abbreviation of '''Jehoahaz''', "God has held") was king of [[kingdom of Judah|Judah]], and the son and successor of [[Jotham of Judah|Jotham]]<ref>{{Bibleverse|Isaiah||7:1|121}}</ref>. He took the throne at the age of twenty ([[2 Kings]] 16:2). [[William F. Albright]] has dated his reign to 735 – 715 B.C.E., while [[Edwin R. Thiele|Edwin Thiele]] dates the beginning of his coregency with Jotham in 736/735 B.C.E., with his sole reign beginning in 732/731 and ending in 716/715 B.C.E.<ref>Edwin R. Thiele, ''The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings'' (3rd ed.; Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan/Kregel, 1983) 217.</ref> His reign is described in [[Books of Kings|2 Kings]] 16; [[Book of Isaiah|Isaiah]] 7-9; and [[Books of Chronicles|2 Chronicles]] 28. He is one the kings mentioned in the [[genealogy of Jesus]] in the [[Gospel of Matthew]].
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| − | He is said to have given himself up to a life of wickedness, introducing many pagan and idolatrous customs (Isa. 8:19; 38:8; {{bibleverse|2|Kings|23:12}}). Perhaps his wickedest deed was sacrificing his own son, likely to [[Rimmon]]; he also added an idolatrous altar into the Temple (II Kings 16). He ignored the remonstrances and warnings of the prophets [[Isaiah]], [[Hosea]], and [[Micah (prophet)|Micah]], and appealed to [[Tiglath-Pileser III]], the king of [[Assyria]], for help against [[Rezin]], king of [[Aram]], and [[Pekah]], Prince of [[kingdom of Israel|Israel]], who threatened [[Jerusalem]]. This brought a great injury to his kingdom, and his own humiliating subjection to the Assyrians (2 Kings 16:7, 9; 15:29).
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| − | He died at the age of 36 after reigning 16 years (2 Chronicles 28:1), and was succeeded by his son [[Hezekiah]]. Because of his wickedness he was "not brought into the sepulchre of the kings" (2 Chronicles 28:27). An insight into Ahaz's neglect of the worship of the Lord is found in the statement that on the first day of the month of Nisan that followed Ahaz's death, his son Hezekiah commissioned the priests and Levites to open and repair the doors of the Temple and to remove the defilements of the sanctuary, a task which took 16 days (2 Chronicles 29:3-20).
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| − | ==Chronological notes==
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| − | The calendars for reckoning the years of kings in Judah and Israel were offset by six months, that of Judah starting in Tishri (in the fall) and that of Israel in Nisan (in the spring). Cross-synchronizations between the two kingdoms therefore often allow narrowing of the beginning and/or ending dates of a king to within a six-month range. For Ahaz, the Scriptural data allow dating the beginning of his coregency with Jotham to some time in the six-month interval beginning of Nisan 1 of 735 B.C.E. By the Judean calendar that started the regnal year in Tishri (a fall month), this could be written as 736/735, or more simply '''736 B.C.E.'''. His father was removed from responsibility by the pro-Assyrian faction at some time in the year that started in Tishri of '''732 B.C.E.'''.<ref>Edwin R. Thiele, ''The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings'' (2nd. ed.; Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1965) 127.</ref> He died some time between Tishri 1 of 716 B.C.E. and Nisan 1 of 715 B.C.E., i.e. in 716/715, or more simply '''716 B.C.E.'''.
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| − | Rodger Young offers a possible explanation of why four extra years are assigned to Jotham in 2 Kings 15:30 and why Ahaz's 16 years of reign (2 Kings 16:2) are measured from the time of Jotham's death in 732/731 instead of when Jotham was deposed in 736/735. Taking into account the factionalism of the time, Young writes:
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| − | <blockquote>[A]ny record such as 2 Kings 16:2 that recognized these last four years for Jotham must have come from the annals of the anti-Assyrian and anti-Ahaz court that prevailed after the death of Ahaz. Ahaz is given sixteen years in these annals, measuring from the start of his sole reign, instead of the twenty or twenty-one years that he would be credited with if the counting started from 736t [i.e. 736/735 B.C.E.], when he deposed Jotham.<ref>Rodger C. Young, "When Was Samaria Captured? The Need for Precision in Biblical Chronologies," ''Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society'' 47 (2004) 588, available [http://home.swbell.net/rcyoung8/papers.html here].</ref></blockquote>
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| − | {{start}}
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| − | {{s-hou|[[Davidic line|House of David]]}}
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| − | {{s-bef|before=[[Jotham of Judah|Jotham]]}}
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| − | {{s-ttl|title=[[Kingdom of Judah#The Kings of Judah|King of Judah]]|years=Coregency: 736 – 732 B.C.E.<br/>Sole reign: 732 – 716 B.C.E.}}
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| − | {{s-aft|after=[[Hezekiah]]}}
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| − | {{end}}
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| − | ==Notes==
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| − | {{Reflist}}
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| − | ==References==
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| − | ==External links==
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| − | *[http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=971&letter=A|title=Ahaz|publisher=JewishEncyclopedia.com]
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| − | [[Category:philosophy and religion]]
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| − | [[Category:religion]]
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| − | [[Category:Judaism]]
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| − | [[category:Bible]]
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| − | {{credit|265765436}}
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