10 Now King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria , and saw the altar which was at Damascus ; and King Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest the pattern of the altar and its model , according to all its workmanship . 11 So Urijah the priest built an altar ; according to all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus , thus Urijah the priest made it, before the coming of King Ahaz from Damascus . 12 When the king came from Damascus , the king saw the altar ; then the king approached the altar and went up to it, 13 and burned his burnt offering and his meal offering , and poured his drink offering and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings on the altar . 14 The bronze altar , which was before the Lord , he brought from the front of the house , from between his altar and the house of the Lord , and he put it on the north side of his altar . 15 Then King Ahaz commanded Urijah the priest , saying , "Upon the great altar burn the morning burnt offering and the evening meal offering and the king's burnt offering and his meal offering , with the burnt offering of all the people of the land and their meal offering and their drink offerings ; and sprinkle on it all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the sacrifice . But the bronze altar shall be for me to inquire by." 16 So Urijah the priest did according to all that King Ahaz commanded .
Matthew Henry's Commentary on 2 Kings 16:10-16
Commentary on 2 Kings 16:10-16
(Read 2 Kings 16:10-16)
God's altar had hitherto been kept in its place, and in use; but Ahaz put another in the room of it. The natural regard of the mind of man to some sort of religion, is not easily extinguished; but except it be regulated by the word, and by the Spirit of God, it produces absurd superstitions, or detestable idolatries. Or, at best, it quiets the sinner's conscience with unmeaning ceremonies. Infidels have often been remarkable for believing ridiculous falsehoods.