Ahaz

Ahaz , d. c.727 BC, king of Judah (c.731-727 BC), son of Jotham. His reign marked the end of the real independence of Judah. A coalition of Pekah of Israel and Rezin of Syria attacked him and nearly took Jerusalem. Ahaz appealed for help to Tiglathpileser III of Assyria, who defeated Ahaz's enemies but demanded tribute of Judah. Ahaz sent some Temple gold as payment. The greatest figure of that time in Judah was the prophet Isaiah, who opposed the Assyrian alliance. Ahaz is denounced in the Bible for his heathen abominations and his sacrilege with the Temple gold. In Ahaz's reign Judah lost Elath, its Red Sea port, permanently. Ahaz was succeeded by Hezekiah.

Ahaz King of Judah, 735–715 BCE. The Assyrians were dominant, and Syria and Ephraim resolved to arrest their eastward expansion and tried to force Judah to join their coalition but Ahaz refused; Rezin of Syria and Pekah of Israel determined to replace Ahaz with Tabeel's son (2 Kgs. 16: 5; Isa. 7: 1–25). Isaiah supported Ahaz, but did not approve of his appeal to Tiglath-Pileser to rescue him from the Syro-Ephraimite conspirators. When Damascus, the capital of Syria, fell, Ahaz hastened to meet Tiglath-Pileser there. While he was in that city, Ahaz was attracted to a heathen altar and had a replica installed in Jerusalem.

Isaiah (8th century BC) Hebrew prophet, who preached during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. Isaiah's message was that the safety of Judah was in God's hands and the king should trust him and not rely on foreign allies. He advised Hezekiah to acknowledge Assyrian power and not ally with Egypt; when Judah was invaded by Israelites and Syrians in 735 BC, and by the Assyrians in 710 BC, and again in 703–701 BC, Isaiah promised that faith in God would guarantee the people's deliverance.