Week 21 2 Chronicles 28
Ahaz did not do what was pleasing in the sight of the Lord…Instead he followed the example of the kings of Israel and cast images for the worship of Baal. He offered sacrifices in the valley of the son of Hinnom, even sacrificing his own sons in the fire. He imitated the detestable practices of the pagan nations…He offered sacrifices and burned incense at the pagan shrines.
Ahaz actively encouraged his people to sin and had been utterly unfaithful to the Lord.
He shut the doors of the Lord’s Temple so that no one could worship there and then set up altars to pagan gods in every corner of Jerusalem.
Ahaz sacrificed to the gods of Damascus (his logic was that if they helped Damascus they might help him. The book of Kings version of the story tells about how Ahaz had a replica model of the Damascus altar built for his own use in Jerusalem).
Ahaz proactively deliberately & self-consciously turned away from the Lord. He didn’t do anything that was positively good. And he took action that was positively contrary to the Lord.
As of now I’m dropping Ahaz down into the Bottom Four. There’s still Hezekiah Manasseh Amon & Josiah yet to go so I’ll wait-and-see. But Ahaz is looking to me like he’s competing hard for Last Place.
Note: quotes from 2 Chronicles 28:1-4 19 24 23 (NLT). The Damascus Altar story is in 2 Kings 16:10-16