Ahaz remodels the temple

2 Kings 16:10-18 - Then King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria. He saw an altar in Damascus and sent to Uriah the priest a sketch of the altar, with detailed plans for its construction. So Uriah the priest built an altar in accordance with all the plans that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus and finished it before King Ahaz returned. When the king came back from Damascus and saw the altar, he approached it and presented offerings on it. He offered up his burnt offering and grain offering, poured out his drink offering, and sprinkled the blood of his fellowship offerings on the altar. The bronze altar that stood before the LORD he brought from the front of the temple—from between the new altar and the temple of the LORD -and put it on the north side of the new altar.

King Ahaz then gave these orders to Uriah the priest: "On the large new altar, offer the morning burnt offering and the evening grain offering, the king's burnt offering and his grain offering, and the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their grain offering and their drink offering. Sprinkle on the altar all the blood of the burnt offerings and sacrifices. But I will use the bronze altar for seeking guidance." And Uriah the priest did just as King Ahaz had ordered.

King Ahaz took away the side panels and removed the basins from the movable stands. He removed the Sea from the bronze bulls that supported it and set it on a stone base. He took away the Sabbath canopy that had been built at the temple and removed the royal entryway outside the temple of the LORD, in deference to the king of Assyria.

I wonder how complex the new Assyrian-Judean altar was. Detailed plans imply some level of difficulty. Yet under Uriah's direction, it was built before Ahaz returned from Damascus. I wonder how long Ahaz stayed as Tiglath-Pileser's guest.

The king is the king, and what he says is law, but I wonder that there was no one -- not even a prophet or a priest -- who questioned Ahaz's remodeling of the temple and restructuring of worship and sacrifices. Apparently Tiglath-Pileser had some influence on the changes too, since some of them were made "in deference" to him.