Either,
1. Metaphorically; they have wilfully, and obstinately, and contumeliously forsaken God, and his house and worship; that posture being a signification of contempt. Or,
2. Literally and properly. For Ahaz having removed the altar of God into a by-place, 2Ki 16, and directing his worship towards the east, after the manner of the heathens, whom he designed to follow; and not to the west, as the Israelites did by God's command, in which quarter the ark was; he must needs consequently turn his back upon the altar, and house, and ark of God.