Chapter 16
Also about Ahaz. A few details not covered in 2Ch 28:
5 Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to wage war on Jerusalem, and they besieged Ahaz but could not conquer him. [2Ki 16:5 ESV] So we see here that Israel and Syria teamed up to take Jerusalem but couldn't do it. So the captives taken - referenced in 2Ch 28, must have been from the surrounding area.
2023 - Ahaz was an evil King in Judah. He even burned his own son as an offering to some pagan god. So we see that the purpose of God in sending Rezin and Pekah to attack Judah may have just been preparatory to what needed to happen to Ahaz. The hostile attitudes were already in place when Ahaz came to power. And while Ahaz was King, they even attacked Jerusalem itself.
2Ch implied that Assyria did nothing to help Ahaz after he paid them tribute. But this chapter says Tiglath-Pilesar III made war on Syria at Damascus and took it, killing Rezin in the process. And here also it says Assyria took the Syrian captives to Kir...where ever that may have been. A note in MSB says that extant Assyrian records show that in 733 BC T-P III besieged Damascus for two years, and then it fell. These records also say Rezin, King of Syria was executed by Tig, and that the captives went to Kir. So we have to interpret what was in 2 Chron about Ahaz being afflicted instead of helped as meaning that Assyria took Ahaz's bribe, treating Judah from then on as a vassal stated, and they invaded Syria for their own reasons, throwing no bones at all to Judah. As I read it, Tig left Judah to deal with the encroaching Edomites and the Philistine raiders alone.
Ahaz goes to meet T-P at Damascus, and is impressed by the altar he sees there. Seems like this would be the altar built for the Syrian god. (MSB note says it is more likely this altar was to an Assyrian god.) Ahaz has this altar - whatever god it served - copied in Jerusalem and put in the Temple, and has all the people's sacrifices made on it. Ahaz reserves the bronze altar that was God's to make "inquiries"...The priest at the time, I assume the high priest, Urijah, agrees to all these changes. So here, instead of shutting down the temple, Ahaz corrupts its use, and offers sacrifices himself to the Syrian god within the Jewish temple. Not only is Ahaz corrupt, but the High Priest of God goes along with it.
2021 - It seems to me at this point that Ahaz was probably offering sacrifices to God, but doing so on what he thought was a "way more cool" altar, originally built to honor an Assyrian deity. Ahaz rejects not only the uniqueness of God, but discounts His commandments as to how he wants sacrifices offered. This throws out a huge portion of Mosaic Law. Surely this would anger God greatly. But there is nothing about God getting angry and sending chastisement or punishment on Judah - or on Ahaz.
Ahaz also made other modifications of the Temple - originally designed by God himself - as if he could do it better. At the age of 36, Ahaz dies. We don't get any information about that in 2Ki either.
Hezekiah becomes king.