2 Kings 16:8
And Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the LORD, and in the treasures of the king’s house, and sent it for a present to the king of Assyria. And Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the LORD, and in the treasures of the king’s house, and sent it for a present to the king of Assyria.
Threatened by Syria and Israel, Ahaz refused heaven's call to trust God and instead departed from the Lord by leaning on the arm of flesh in an alliance with a heathen nation. In desperation he sent Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria a rich present taken from the royal treasury and from the temple storehouse. The help he bought gave Judah only temporary relief at great cost to the kingdom. The tribute aroused Assyria's cupidity, and that treacherous and cruel nation soon threatened to overflow and spoil Judah, leaving Ahaz and his subjects harassed by fear of falling completely into its hands.
By this course of action Judah forged fetters that bound it in a bondage no human power could break. Christ holds up that history in parable to present Judah's future as the result of its own course of action. Judah's departure from the Lord through alliance with a heathen power provides the pattern seen again in Rome's corrupt alliance with worldly rulers.