Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Kings 16:17
And king Ahaz cut off the borders of the bases, and removed the laver from off them; and took down the sea from off the brazen oxen that [were] under it, and put it upon a pavement of stones.
17. Ahaz cut off the borders of the bases ] For a description of these bases, which were moveable stands to carry the lavers used for the sacrifices, see 1Ki 7:27-39. The borders were of highly wrought ornamental work, made by Hiram of Tyre for king Solomon.
removed the laver from off them ] i.e. From each of them. There were ten bases, with a laver on the top of each one.
and took down the sea from off the brasen oxen ] This sea was also the work of Hiram. See 1Ki 7:23-26. It was supported by twelve oxen, three looking each way, and standing with their tails beneath the huge vessel. Ahaz took these beautiful castings away and allowed the sea to rest upon stone supports. As all these acts are in the next verse said to be done ‘because of the king of Assyria’ we may suppose that Tiglath-pileser was disposed to ask for the beautiful things which he saw, and as it was not in Ahaz’s power to say him nay, the king removed these treasures that the Assyrian monarch might not see and ask for them.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
See the marginal references. The acts recorded here, were probably not mere wanton acts of mutilation, but steps in the conversion of these sacred objects to other uses, as to the ornamentation of a palace or of an idol temple. The bases, the oxen, and the sea were not destroyed – they remained at Jerusalem until its final capture Jer 52:17, Jer 52:20. Probably they were restored to their original uses by Hezekiah 2Ch 29:19.
A pavement of stones – Probably a pavement made expressly, for the stones of the court seem to have been covered with a planking of cedar 1Ki 6:36; 1Ki 7:12.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Which he did, either to express his contempt of them, or to render them inconvenient for the uses to which they had been designed; or to dispose of them, or of the brass of them, in some other place and way, as best suited with his fancy; or for the king of Assyria as it follows in the next verse.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
17. cut off the borders of thebases, &c.It is thought that he did this to use theelaborate sculpture in adorning his palace.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And King Ahaz cut off the borders of the bases, and removed the laver from off them,…. In the temple there were ten lavers for the priests to wash in, which are here meant, the singular being put for the plural; and these had bases of brass, on which they were set; and about these bases were borders, which had on them figures of various creatures, lions, oxen, and cherubim; and these Ahaz cut off, either to deface them, in contempt of them, or to convert the brass to other uses, as he might also the bases themselves, since he removed the lavers from off of them, see 1Ki 7:27
and took down the sea from off the brasen oxen [that were] under it; the molten sea Solomon made, which he set upon twelve oxen made of brass; this Ahaz took down from thence, either to abate its magnificence, and render it despicable, or for the sake of the brass, of which the oxen were made, see 1Ki 7:23
and put it upon a pavement of stones; not upon the floor of the temple, for that was of wood, fir, or cedar, but on rows of stones, placed instead of bases for it to stand upon.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Ahaz also laid his hand upon the other costly vessels of the court of the temple. He broke off the panels of the Solomonian stands, which were ornamented with artistic carving, and removed the basins from the stands, and took the brazen sea from the brazen oxen upon which they stood, and placed it upon a stone pavement. The before can only have crept into the text through a copyist’s error, and the singular must be taken distributively: he removed from them (the stands) every single basin. (without the article) is not the stone pavement of the court of the temple, but a pedestal made of stones ( , lxx) for the brazen sea. The reason why, or the object with which Ahaz mutilated these sacred vessels, is not given. The opinion expressed by Ewald, Thenius, and others, that Ahaz made a present to Tiglath-pileser with the artistically wrought panels of the stands, the basins, and the oxen of the brazen sea, is not only improbable in itself, since you would naturally suppose that if Ahaz had wished to make a “valuable and very welcome present” to the Assyrian king, he would have chosen some perfect stands with their basins for this purpose, and not merely the panels and basins; but it has not the smallest support in the biblical text, – on the contrary, it has the context against it. For, in the first place, if the objects named had been sent to Tiglath-pileser, this would certainly have been mentioned, as well as the sending of the temple and palace treasures. And, again, the mutilation of these vessels is placed between the erection of the new altar which was constructed after the Damascene model, and other measures which Ahaz adopted as a protection against the king of Assyria (2Ki 16:18). Now if Ahaz, on his return from visiting Tiglath-pileser at Damascus, had thought it necessary to send another valuable present to that king in order to secure his permanent friendship, he would hardly have adopted the measures described in the next verse.
2Ki 16:18 “The covered Sabbath-stand, which they had built in the house (temple), and the outer entrance of the king he turned (i.e., removed) into the house of Jehovah before the king of Assyria.” ( Keri , from , to cover) is no doubt a covered place, stand or hall in the court of the temple, to be used by the king whenever he visited the temple with his retinue on the Sabbath or on feast-days; and “the outer entrance of the king” is probably the special ascent into the temple for the king mentioned in 1Ki 10:5. In what the removal of it consisted it is impossible to determine, from the want of information as to its original character. According to Ewald ( Gesch. iii. p. 621) and Thenius, means, “he altered (these places), i.e., he robbed them of their ornaments, in the house of Jehovah.” This is quite arbitrary. For even if could mean “in the house of Jehovah” in this connection, does not mean to disfigure, and still less “to deprive of ornaments.” In 2Ki 23:34 and 2Ki 24:17 it signifies to alter the name, not to disfigure it. Again, , “for fear of the king of Assyria,” cannot mean, in this connection, “to make presents to the king of Assyria.” And with this explanation, which is grammatically impossible, the inference drawn from it, namely, that Ahaz sent the ornaments of the king’s stand and king’s ascent to the king of Assyria along with the vessels mentioned in 2Ki 16:17, also falls to the ground. If the alterations which Ahaz made in the stands and the brazen sea had any close connection with his relation to Tiglath-pileser, which cannot be proved, Ahaz must have been impelled by fear to make them, not that he might send them as presents to him, but that he might hide them from him if he came to Jerusalem, to which 2Ch 28:20-21 seems to refer. It is also perfectly conceivable, as Zllich ( Die Cherubimwagen, p. 56) conjectures, that Ahaz merely broke off the panels from the stands and removed the oxen from the brazen sea, that he might use these artistic works to decorate some other place, possibly his palace. – Whether these artistic works were restored or not at the time of Hezekiah’s reformation or in that of Josiah, we have no accounts to show. All that can be gathered from 2Ki 25:13-14; Jer 52:17, and Jer 27:19, is, that the stands and the brazen sea were still in existence in the time of Nebuchadnezzar, and that on the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldaeans they were broken in pieces and carried away to Babylonia as brass. The brazen oxen are also specially mentioned in Jer 52:20, which is not the case in the parallel passage 2Ki 25:13; though this does not warrant the conclusion that they were no longer in existence at that time.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
17 And king Ahaz cut off the borders of the bases, and removed the laver from off them; and took down the sea from off the brasen oxen that were under it, and put it upon a pavement of stones. 18 And the covert for the sabbath that they had built in the house, and the king’s entry without, turned he from the house of the LORD for the king of Assyria. 19 Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 20 And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David: and Hezekiah his son reigned in his stead.
Here is, I. Ahaz abusing the temple, not the building itself, but some of the furniture of it. 1. He defaced the bases on which the lavers were set (1Ki 7:28; 1Ki 7:29) and took down the molten sea, v. 17. These the priests used for washing; against them therefore he seems to have had a particular spite. It is one of the greatest prejudices that can be done to religion to obstruct the purifying of the priests, the Lord’s ministers. 2. He removed the covert for the sabbath, erected either in honour of the sabbath or for the conveniency of the priests, when, on the sabbath, they officiated in greater numbers than on other days. Whatever it was, it should seem that in removing it he intended to put a contempt upon the sabbath, and so to open as wide an inlet as any to all manner of impiety. 3. The king’s entry, which led to the house of the Lord, for the convenience of the royal family (perhaps that ascent which Solomon had made, and which the queen of Sheba admired, 1 Kings x. 5), he turned another way, to show that he did not intend to frequent the house of the Lord any more. This he did for the king of Assyria, to oblige him, who perhaps returned his visit, and found fault with this entry, as an inconvenience and disparagement to his palace. When those that have had a ready passage to the house of the Lord, to please their neighbours, turn it another way, they are going down the hill apace towards their ruin.
II. Ahaz resigning his life in the midst of his days, at thirty-six years of age (v. 19) and leaving his kingdom to a better man, Hezekiah his son (v. 20), who proved as much a friend to the temple as he had been an enemy to it. Perhaps this very son he had made to pass through the fire, and thereby dedicated him to Moloch; but God, by his grace, snatched him as a brand out of the burning.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
(17, 18) And king Ahaz cut off.The key to the right understanding of these verses is given in the last words of 2Ki. 16:18. Ahaz spoiled the Temple of its ornamental work, not out of wanton malice, but from dire necessity. He had to provide a present for the king of Assyria. Thus these verses are really a continuation of the first statement of 2Ki. 16:10. They inform us how Ahaz managed not to appear empty-handed at Damascus. (So Thenius.) Prof. R. Smith says: Ahaz, whose treasures had been exhausted by his first tribute, was soon driven by the repeated demands of his masters to strip the Temple even of its ancient bronze-work and other fixed ornaments. The incidental mention of this fact in a fragment of the history of the Temple incorporated in the Book of Kings is sufficient evidence of the straits to which the kingdom of Judah was reduced.
Borders of the bases.See 1Ki. 7:28. Thenius thinks Ahaz replaced them with unadorned plates, and set the laver up in a different fashion; but the text does not say so. (Comp., however, 2Ki. 25:13; 2Ki. 25:16; Jer. 52:17.)
The brasen oxen.These were ultimately carried off by the Babylonians (Jer. 52:20).
A pavement of stonesi.e., a pedestal or foundation of stonework: (LXX.).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
17. Borders of the bases laver sea brazen oxen See notes and cuts at 1Ki 7:23-39. On his object in removing these precious things, see next verse.
A pavement of stones A structure or pedestal made of stones; less costly and attractive than the brazen oxen.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2Ki 16:17 And king Ahaz cut off the borders of the bases, and removed the laver from off them; and took down the sea from off the brasen oxen that [were] under it, and put it upon a pavement of stones.
Ver. 17. And king Ahaz cut off the borders. ] He took away both the ornaments and instruments of the true religion.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
the laver. Compare 1Ki 7:23-39. 2Ch 28:24, 2Ch 28:25.
the Sea. Compare 1Ki 7:23-26.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
am 3265, bc 739
cut off: 2Ch 28:24, 2Ch 29:19
borders: 1Ki 7:23, 1Ki 7:27-39, 2Ch 4:14
sea: 2Ki 25:13-16, 1Ki 7:23-26, 2Ch 4:15, Jer 52:20
Reciprocal: 2Ki 16:8 – the silver 2Ch 29:7 – General
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2Ki 16:17. Ahaz cut off the borders of the bases, and took down the sea from off the brazen oxen, &c. Probably that he might dispose of them, or of the brass of them, in some other way; perhaps that he might turn them into money, either by casting them into such pieces as were current, or by selling them as they were.