But Ahaz said, I will not ask
Why did Ahaz refuse to ask a sign?
Ahaz who looked on Jehovah not as his God, but only (like any of his heathen neighbours) as the god of Judaea, and as such inferior in the god of Assyria, and who had determined to apply to the King of Assyria, or perhaps had already applied to him as a more trustworthy helper than Jehovah in the present strait, declines to ask a sign, excusing himself by a canting use of the words of Moses, “Thou shalt not tempt Jehovah.” He refused the sign, because he knew it would confirm the still struggling voice of his conscience; and that voice he had resolved not to obey, since it bade him give up the Assyrian, and trust in Jehovah henceforth. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)
A secret disaffection to God
A secret disaffection to God is often disguised with the specious colours of respect to Him. (M. Henry.)
Making a decision
How often men, like Ahaz, arrive at decisions which are irrevocable and unspeakably momentous!
1. To have to make decisions that may be solemn in both these senses is one of the things that make the position of a ruler or statesmen so serious.
2. Every man is at some juncture celled to make a decision, the results of which to him individually will be of unspeakable importance; e.g., the young ruler. Every one of you will at some moment be called to decide for or against Christ, and the decision will be final and irreversible. The test may come to you in the shape of a temptation, appealing to some passion of the mind or lust of the flesh, and your eternal destiny may be determined by the manner in which you deal with that one temptation.
3. Like a railway train we are continually arriving at “points,” and the manner in which we “take” them affects our whole after career. (R. A. Bertram.)