Ahaz [was] twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: but he did not [that which was] right in the sight of the LORD, like David his father:
Ver. 1. Ahaz was twenty years old.] And reigned but sixteen years; and yet when he died, Hezekiah his son was twenty-five years old. 2Ch 29:1 Some a say this was extraordinary, and render this reason: Ahaz so young a father, as Elizabeth an old mother, should have hoped in Emmanuel, born of a virgin. Others b solve it thus: The beginning of that reign, when Ahaz was but twenty years old, is to be referred to Jotham, his father; for Ahaz was twenty years old when he - namely Jotham - began to reign: as Jehoiachin was eight years old when he - namely Jehoiakim his father - began to reign: for Jehoiachin was eighteen when he himself began to reign. 2Ch 36:9 2Ki 24:8
Like David his father.] No, nor like either Jotham, his immediate father, or Hezekiah, his son and successor; betwixt which two Ahaz standeth here in the history, as a thorn between two lilies, or as a collier between a couple of fullers, himself being so much the worse and more wicked, by how much better they were, and more virtuous.
a Brought. Consent.
b Dr Gouge.