2 Kings 16:7
So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, I am thy servant and thy son: come up, and save me out of the hand of the king of Syria, and out of the hand of the king of Israel, which rise up against me. So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, I am thy servant and thy son: come up, and save me out of the hand of the king of Syria, and out of the hand of the king of Israel, which rise up against me.
Ahaz refused the heavenly message to take heed, be quiet, fear not and believe, choosing instead to lean on the arm of flesh by seeking help from a heathen power. Pressed in desperation by the alliance of Syria and Israel rising against him, he submitted himself to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, calling himself his servant and his son and asking him to come up and save him out of the hand of the king of Syria and out of the hand of the king of Israel. With that appeal he sent a rich present taken from the royal treasury and from the temple storehouse.
The help he asked for was sent and gave Judah temporary relief, but at great cost. The tribute aroused the greed of Assyria, and that treacherous and cruel nation soon threatened to overflow and spoil Judah, leaving Ahaz and his people harassed by fear of falling completely into its hands under Assyrian domination. The appeal illustrates how departure from God and alliance with a heathen power made the Jewish church unfaithful to the Lord.
The history surrounding this appeal shows the Jews forging fetters that bound them in a bondage no human power could break. Christ holds up this history in parable to present their future as the result of their course of action.