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2 Kings 16 Bible study: Come up and save me
The war of 2 Kings 16:5 is the war of Isaiah 7:1. In the war in which Ahaz sent to Assyria, "Come up and save me" (16:7), Isaiah 7 gives the sign Ahaz wouldn't ask for: "the virgin will conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel" (Isaiah 7:14), which Matthew quotes of Jesus's birth (Matthew 1:22-23).
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“Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to wage war. They besieged Ahaz, but could not overcome him.”
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“In 2 Kings, Ahaz asks the king of Assyria to save him; his son Hezekiah asks the LORD to save them out of the king of Assyria's hand.”
Is that in 2 Kings 16, or not? Make your call.
What's really going on
Between two kings who did right
Of Ahaz's father Jotham the chapter before says, "He did that which was right in the LORD’s eyes" (15:34). Of his son Hezekiah the book will say, "He did that which was right in the LORD’s eyes, according to all that David his father had done" (18:3). Between them stands Ahaz: "He didn’t do that which was right in the LORD his God’s eyes, like David his father" (16:2) (tap right). In the whole WEB those words, "didn’t do that which was right", come only twice, both of Ahaz (16:2 and 2 Chronicles 28:1). The chapter goes on: "But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and even made his son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel" (16:3) (tap abominations). It gives no more detail than that. The law had said, "There shall not be found with you anyone who makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire" (Deuteronomy 18:10). And "He sacrificed and burned incense in the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree" (16:4).
Honest questions
Questions people ask about 2 Kings 16
That was a taste
The rest of 2 Kings 16 is waiting in Favor
- "Come up and save me"
- A pattern from Damascus
- Because of the king of Assyria
- The same war in Isaiah 7
- Who can save?
- The bronze altar before the LORD
- 9 questions as you read
- 9 more Hebrew words
- A short check at the end
- Your notes, saved as you go
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The Hebrew word behind it
יָשַׁעyasha'say ya-SHA
Brown-Driver-Briggs: "deliver, save". Strong's: "to free or succor", and among the ways it is rendered, "deliver(-er)" and "save(-iour)". "Come up and save me" (16:7): Ahaz asks it of the king of Assyria. His son Hezekiah will ask it of the LORD, against the king of Assyria: "Now therefore, LORD our God, save us, I beg you, out of his hand" (19:19), and the LORD answers, "For I will defend this city to save it" (19:34). It was the word of the woman's cry in besieged Samaria, "Help, my lord, O king!" (6:26), and of the king's answer, "If the LORD doesn’t help you, where could I get help for you?" (6:27).
For your group
2 Kings 16 Bible study questions
- 1Ahaz sent to the king of Assyria, "Come up and save me" (16:7). When you're afraid or under pressure, who or what do you call on first, and what would it look like to bring it to God first?
- 2Ahaz saw an altar at Damascus and had one built like it (16:10-11). What around you shapes the way you worship God, and how do you weigh it against what God has said?
- 3The sign of Immanuel, "God with us" (Matthew 1:23), was first given in a time of war, after a king wouldn't ask for a sign (Isaiah 7:12-14). What would it change this week to remember that Jesus is God with us?
Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads 2 Kings 16 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.
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Questions
What is Favor?
Favor is a Bible study app that explains every chapter as you read: the Hebrew and Greek behind the words, the details most readers miss, and how each part of the Bible leads to Jesus. Read on your own, or start a Bible study with friends, family or your church.
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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home