Did the king of Assyria help Ahaz?
He took Damascus and slew Rezin, as Ahaz asked; but he made Ahaz his vassal, took his treasures, and left him to the Edomites and Philistines: Ahaz was distressed, not strengthened.
The Passages
2 Kings 16:9
2 Chronicles 28:20-21
See Also
2 Kings 16:7-10
2 Chronicles 28:16-19
2 Kings 18:7
Isaiah 7:17
The Difficulty
Ahaz sent the silver and gold of the house of the LORD to Tiglathpileser, asking him to “come up, and save me out of the hand of the king of Syria, and out of the hand of the king of Israel” (2 Kings 16:7). Kings says, “the king of Assyria hearkened unto him: for the king of Assyria went up against Damascus, and took it, and carried the people of it captive to Kir, and slew Rezin” (16:9). Chronicles says, “Tilgathpilneser king of Assyria came unto him, and distressed him, but strengthened him not. For Ahaz took away a portion out of the house of the LORD … and gave it unto the king of Assyria: but he helped him not” (2 Chronicles 28:20–21).
The Answer
Both are true, and each book says what it means. Kings says the Assyrian “hearkened unto him”: he did what Ahaz asked, and struck Damascus and slew Rezin. Chronicles weighs what it came to for Ahaz and Judah, and says he “distressed him, but strengthened him not.”
Chronicles tells what Ahaz needed help against. Ahaz sent to Assyria “for again the Edomites had come and smitten Judah, and carried away captives. The Philistines also had invaded the cities of the low country, and of the south of Judah … and they dwelt there” (2 Chronicles 28:16–18). Against these the Assyrian did nothing; the cities stayed lost.
And the help that was given cost Ahaz his kingdom’s freedom. He had sent, “I am thy servant and thy son” (2 Kings 16:7); he had emptied the treasures of the house of the LORD, of the king, and of the princes (16:8; 2 Chronicles 28:21); and he went to Damascus to meet the king of Assyria as his vassal (2 Kings 16:10), and changed the house of the LORD “for the king of Assyria” (16:18). Judah was tributary to Assyria until Hezekiah “rebelled against the king of Assyria, and served him not” (18:7). Isaiah had warned Ahaz of it: “The LORD shall bring upon thee, and upon thy people … even the king of Assyria” (Isaiah 7:17).
Haley: “the king of Assyria helped Ahaz, yet helped him not.” Gill: he “made a diversion in his favour” by taking Damascus, but “exhausted his treasures, and laid a tribute upon him, but did not help him against the Edomites and Philistines.”
Sources
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In this strait, the king of Assyria helped Ahaz, yet helped him not. That is, this warlike monarch, at the request of Ahaz, attacked and conquered Rezin, one of the allies, thus affording temporary relief; but by his subsequent exactions and restrictions he really distressed and weakened Ahaz. For the latter was compelled to become tributary to him, to send him all the treasures of the temple and palace, and finally to appear before him in Damascus as a vassal.
Checked against: Internet Archive scan of the 1874 edition, 2026-10-23 -
Not to Jerusalem, but to Damascus, where he made a diversion in his favour, and took that city, and where Ahaz met him, (2 Kings 16:9) and distressed him, but strengthened him not; exhausted his treasures, and laid a tribute upon him, but did not help him against the Edomites and Philistines, or recover for him the cities they had taken from him.
Checked against: Internet Archive scan of the first edition, 2026-10-23 -
Though he weakened his present enemy, the Syrian, as is related 2 Kings 16:9, taking Damascus, and carrying the people away captive; yet really, all things considered, he did not strengthen Ahaz and his kingdom. He did not help him to recover the cities which the Philistines had taken from him; nor did he lend him any forces, or enable him to recruit his own.
Checked against: Bible Hub, 2026-10-23
