Uzziah, Ahaz, and the Philistines

… strength. At any rate, he besieged, took, and sacked many cities of the Philistines (the “foreigners,” that is, the people of Palestine), and some of those of what is called Coele-Syria. It is written of him thus in the Second Book of Chronicles: “He went out and fought against the foreigners, and overpowered the walls of Gath and the walls of Azotus, and built cities of Azotus and among the foreigners. And the Lord strengthened him against the foreigners and against the Arabs who dwelt on the Rock, and against the Minaeans. And the Minaeans gave gifts to Uzziah, and his name spread as far as the entrance of Egypt, for he grew exceedingly strong” (2 Chronicles 26:6–8).

When he died, Jotham, his son, succeeded to his kingdom. Then after him came Ahaz, a wicked and apostate man who had sunk into the swamps of deceit. For he worshiped wood and stones and all the host of heaven, and he made his son pass through fire, for he sacrificed him to the demons.

It is written of him thus in the Second Book of Kings: “He did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God faithfully, as David his father had done. He walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and even made his son pass through fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the sons of Israel. He burned incense on the high places, and on the hills, and under every leafy tree. Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up against Jerusalem to war, and they besieged Ahaz, but could not prevail” (2 Kings 16:2–5). And after other things: “Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of the Assyrians, saying, ‘I am your servant and your son. Come up and save me from the hand of the king of Syria and from the hand of the king of Israel, who are rising up against me.’ And Ahaz took the silver and gold found in the treasuries of the house of the Lord and of the king’s house, and sent gifts to the king. And the king of the Assyrians listened to him, and came to Damascus, and took it, and carried its people into exile, and put Rezin to death” (2 Kings 16:7–9).

So first Uzziah, also called Azariah, ravaged the foreigners, laid waste all their land, and collected tribute and taxes from them. Second, after him, Ahaz hired the Assyrian and let him loose on them. He uprooted the whole country of the Palestinians (for these, he says, are the foreigners) and carried off to his own land as captives those who were left from the war. When Ahaz died, the cities of the foreigners leapt for joy at it, as though the one who struck them had been taken out of the way, and as if unbearable …