Figure Analysis
Ahaz, the son of Jotham, breaks Judah's string of pretty good kings. He engages in all sorts of abominable religious practices, like making his son "pass through fire" (apparently, the same as sacrificing him in fire). After paying King Tiglath-Pileser of Assyria to save him from Pekah of Israel and Rezin of Aram, Ahaz visits him and builds an altar in imitation of Tiglath-Pileser's in Damascus. He ends up performing all sorts of alterations on the Temple in Jerusalem, messing it up and contaminating its rituals.