📖 Biblical Definition
Twelfth king of Judah (2 Kings 16; 2 Chronicles 28; Isaiah 7), reigning sixteen years (c. 735-715 BC). Ahaz is the great wicked king of the late-eighth-century Judean monarchy, the negative foil to his son Hezekiah's reformation. He did not that which was right in the sight of the LORD, like David his father, but walked in the way of the kings of Israel, made molten images for Baalim, burned incense in the valley of Hinnom, and even made his son to pass through the fire (human sacrifice; 2 Chronicles 28:3). When Rezin king of Syria and Pekah king of Israel besieged Jerusalem, Ahaz refused the prophet Isaiah's offered sign (Isaiah 7:10-12, the famous Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel) and instead sent silver and gold to Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria for help, becoming an Assyrian vassal and importing an Assyrian altar pattern into the Jerusalem temple (2 Kings 16:7-18). The reign is a catalog of apostasy: temple-doors shut, Jerusalem altars defiled, foreign idolatries adopted. The remarkable note is that this same Ahaz fathered Hezekiah, the great reformer-king, demonstrating the Lord's sovereignty in raising up godly sons even from apostate fathers.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Twelfth king of Judah (c. 735-715 BC); great apostate of late-eighth-century Judah; refused Isaiah's Immanuel-sign; sacrificed his son in the fire; Assyrian vassal; father of Hezekiah.
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AHAZ, proper n. (twelfth king of Judah) Son of Jotham. Reigned sixteen years (c. 735-715 BC; 2 Kings 16; 2 Chronicles 28; Isaiah 7). The great wicked king of the late-eighth-century Judean monarchy. Made molten images for Baalim; burned incense in the valley of Hinnom; made his son pass through the fire (2 Chronicles 28:3, human sacrifice). Refused Isaiah's offered sign (Isaiah 7:10-12, the Immanuel prophecy); sent silver and gold to Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria; became an Assyrian vassal; imported Assyrian altar-pattern into the Jerusalem temple. Shut the temple-doors; defiled the altars; adopted foreign idolatries. Father of Hezekiah.
📖 Key Scripture
2 Chronicles 28:3 — "Moreover he burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burnt his children in the fire, after the abominations of the heathen whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel."
Isaiah 7:10-14 — "Moreover the LORD spake again unto Ahaz, saying, Ask thee a sign of the LORD thy God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above. But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the LORD... Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel."
2 Kings 16:10-11 — "And king Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, and saw an altar that was at Damascus: and king Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest the fashion of the altar, and the pattern of it... And Urijah the priest built an altar according to all that king Ahaz had sent from Damascus."
Ezekiel 18:20 — "The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
No major postmodern redefinition. Ahaz is rightly remembered as one of Judah's most apostate kings; the principal pastoral lessons are the warning against unbelieving political alliances and the doctrine that godly sons can come from apostate fathers (Hezekiah from Ahaz).
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Ahaz as a proper name does not undergo lexical corruption. The principal pastoral lessons are the warning against unbelieving political alliances (Ahaz's voluntary Assyrian vassalage in place of trust in the LORD's Immanuel-promise) and the remarkable note that the great reformer-king Hezekiah was the son of the great apostate Ahaz. The latter point demonstrates the Lord's sovereignty in raising up godly sons even from apostate fathers (Ezekiel 18:20, the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him) and gives hope to the household struggling under generational apostasy. The Lord's covenant kindness is not bound to the parent's faithfulness; He can raise up a Hezekiah from the bloodline of an Ahaz.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Twelfth king of Judah; 735-715 BC; great apostate; Isaiah's Immanuel-sign refused; Assyrian vassal; father of Hezekiah.
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['Hebrew', 'H271', 'Achaz', 'he has grasped']
['Hebrew', 'H6004', "'amad", 'to stand, withstand (Ahaz refused to ask for a sign)']
['Hebrew', 'H6005', 'Immanu-el', "God with us (the sign given despite Ahaz's refusal)"]
Usage
"Twelfth king of Judah; sixteen-year reign; great apostate."
"Refused Isaiah's Immanuel-sign (Isaiah 7:10-14)."
"Father of the reformer-king Hezekiah, despite his own wickedness."