2 Kings 16

Emmanuel

Emmanuel — God with us

Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to war: and they besieged Ahaz, but could not overcome him. 2 Kings 16:5–7

This is the same siege in which Isaiah told frightened King Ahaz to trust the LORD and gave him the sign that a virgin would bear a son called Immanuel. Ahaz ignores that and asks the king of Assyria to 'save' him. The contrast shows the choice between trusting the promised Saviour and trusting worldly power.

How we know: the verse itself names Him

• the same event in Isaiah 7:1 — Rezin and Pekah come up against Jerusalem in the days of Ahaz
• the same event in 2 Nephi 17:1 — Nephi's copy of the same Isaiah account

Sacrifice as a similitude of the Only Begotten

And he brought also the brasen altar, which was before the LORD, from the forefront of the house, from between the altar and the house of the LORD, and put it on the north side of the altar. 2 Kings 16:14–15

The brasen altar Jehovah commanded was where sacrifices, symbols of Christ's coming sacrifice, were offered. Ahaz pushes it aside for a foreign altar he likes better, which is a picture of replacing the Lord's way of redemption with a man-made one.

• interpreted by Moses 5:7 — sacrifice at the altar 'is a similitude of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten of the Father'
• alludes to Exodus 27:1-2 — the altar of burnt offering Jehovah commanded for the tabernacle