AHAZ (literally Possessor), son of Jotham, and the eleventh king of Judah, reigned 16 years, from 741 to 725 b.c. He was the most weak-minded and corrupt of all the kings that had hitherto reigned over Judah. About the time of his accession, Pekah, king of Israel, and Rezin, king of Syria, had formed an alliance with the view of acquiring the kingdom of Judah by conquest. They invaded the country, laid siege to Jerusalem, and carried away an immense number of captives, though they failed to secure their ultimate object. At the same time incursions were made by the Edomites and Philistines, and Ahaz was fain to call in the aid of Tiglath-Pileser, king of Assyria, who destroyed the power of Syria, but took care to exact heavy tribute for the service thus rendered. Ahaz was even compelled to appear as a vassal at Damascus, and so to bring his kingdom to the lowest point of political degradation. In religion Ahaz was a heathen. He broke in pieces the vessels of the temple of God, and at last ventured to close its gates altogether. He sacrificed to Syrian deities, erected altars on which incense was to be offered, and caused his son to pass through the fire to Moloch. He was succeeded by his son Hezekiah. In the inscriptions of Tiglath-Pileser II., king of Assyria, Yahu-khazi Jahudai, that is, Joahaz or Ahaz of Israel, appears among the names of those who acknowledged his sovereignty and paid tribute. (Schrader’s Die Keilinschriften und das Alte Testament.)

succeeded his father Jotham, as king of Israel, at the age of twenty years, reigned till the year before Christ, 726, and addicted himself to the practice of idolatry. After the customs of the Heathen, he made his children to pass through fire; he shut up the temple, and destroyed its vessels. He became tributary to Tiglath-pileser, whose assistance he supplicated against the kings of Syria and Israel. Such was his impiety, that he was not allowed burial in the sepulchres of the kings of Israel, 2 Kings xvi; 2 Chron. xxviii.

AHAZIAH (lit. Whom the Lord sustains), son and successor of Ahab, and eighth king of Israel, reigned scarcely two years, from 897 to 896 b.c. He continued in the idolatrous practices of his father, worshipping Baal and Astarte. Upon his accession the Moabites revolted, and refused any longer to pay the tribute which had been exacted from them since the establishment of Israel as a separate kingdom. Before Ahaziah could take measures to subdue them, he was seriously injured by a fall from the lattice of an upper chamber in his palace. He immediately sent messengers to the oracle of the god Baalzebub at Ekron to inquire the issue of his illness. While on their way they were met by Elijah the prophet, who bade them return and tell the king that he would surely die.

AHAZIAH, son of Jehoram and Athaliah, daughter of Ahab, and sixth king of Judah, reigned one year, 885 b.c. Under the evil influence of his mother, he walked in the ways of Ahab’s house, and was an idolatrous and wicked king. He was slain by Jehu, the son of Nimshi.

the son of Ahab, king of Israel. Ahaziah reigned two years, partly alone, and partly with his father Ahab, who appointed him his associate in the kingdom a year before his death. Ahaziah imitated his father’s impieties, 1 Kings xxii, 52, &c, and paid his adorations to Baal and Ashtaroth, the worship of whom had been introduced into Israel by Jezebel his mother. The Moabites, who had been always obedient to the kings of the ten tribes, ever since their separation from the kingdom of Judah, revolted after the death of Ahab, and refused to pay the ordinary tribute. Ahaziah had not leisure or power to reduce them, 2 Kings i, 1, 2, &c, for, about the same time, having fallen through a lattice from the top of his house, he was considerably injured, and sent messengers to Ekron to consult Baalzebub, the god of that place, whether he should recover, 2 Kings i, 1–17. Elijah met the messengers, and informed them he should certainly die; and he died accordingly....