Five Kings Who Experienced the Consequences of Sin N N Shallum, Menahem, Pekahiah, Pekah, & H Oshea of Israel

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n The Kings of the Divided Kingdom n

Five Kings Who Experienced The Consequences of Sin n n Shallum, Menahem, Pekahiah, Pekah, & H oshea of Israel

(2 Ki n g s 1 5 —17)

As Israel struggled through its final years, thirty-ninth year of Uzziah king of Judah, and he reigned one month in Samaria. Then Menahem five kings reigned over the northern kingdom. son of Gadi went up from Tirzah and came to Each experienced the consequences of the sins Samaria, and struck Shallum son of Jabesh in of his predecessors and contributed, by his own Samaria, and killed him and became king in wrongdoing, to the dissolution and final destruc- his place. Now the rest of the acts of Shallum and his conspiracy which he made, behold they tion of the nation. Let us consider briefly the are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the reigns of the last five kings of Israel so that we Kings of Israel (2 Kings 15:13–15). might be reminded of the terrible consequences of sin. Shallum’s short reign began in violence and ended the same way. He killed to become king, THE FIVE KINGS IN SUMMARY and another killed him to replace him. Who were the last five kings of Israel, and what does the Bible tell us about the reign of each? Menahem, a King of Terror Their histories are found in 2 Kings 15—17. As the story of the last days of Israel contin- ues, we learn that after Menahem2 became the Shallum, a King for a Month sixteenth king of Israel by assassinating Shallum, The first of the five was Shallum, the fifteenth he “struck Tiphsah and all who were in it and its 1 king of Israel. Our introduction to Shallum is borders from Tirzah, because they did not open the statement that he murdered the king who to him; therefore he struck it and ripped up all preceded him: “Then Shallum the son of Jabesh its women who were with child” (2 Kings 15:16). conspired against him [Zechariah] and struck him The text then summarizes Menahem’s reign in before the people and killed him, and reigned the following words: in his place” (2 Kings 15:10). Next, 2 Kings tells us, In the thirty-ninth year of Azariah king of Judah, Menahem son of Gadi became king over Shallum son of Jabesh became king in the Israel and reigned ten years in Samaria. He did

1Shallum reigned in 752 B.C. 2Menahem reigned from about 752 to 742 B.C.

Pekah hoshea pekahiah Menahem Shallum ISRAEL Jeroboam II Zechariah

793 753 742 732 722 586 B.C.

1 evil in the sight of the Lo r d ; he did not depart him were fifty men of the Gileadites, and he all his days from the sins of Jeroboam the son killed him and became king in his place. Now of Nebat, which he made Israel sin. the rest of the acts of Pekahiah and all that he Pul,3 king of Assyria, came against the land, did, behold they are written in the Book of and Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel (2 Kings silver so that his hand might be with him to 15:23–26). strengthen the kingdom under his rule. Then Menahem exacted the money from Israel, even from all the mighty men of wealth, from each Even though he inherited the throne from his man fifty shekels of silver to pay the king of father, Pekahiah was unable to hold onto the Assyria. So the king of Assyria returned and kingship. After two years, he was killed by did not remain there in the land. Now the rest of the acts of Menahem and all that he did, are Pekah in what appears to have been a military they not written in the Book of the Chronicles coup, since Pekah was joined in the overthrow of the Kings of Israel? And Menahem slept with of the king by fifty warriors of Gilead (2 Kings his fathers, and Pekahiah his son became king in his place (2 Kings 15:17–22). 15:25).

Menahem appears to have been one of the more Pekah, a King Who Reigned capable of the final kings of Israel—at least, he Between Two Assassinations 6 was able to maintain his power longer than most Pekah, the eighteenth king of Israel, became (about ten years). Unlike any of the others, he king by conspiring with other men and killing died a natural death. The means he used to main- King Pekahiah. Ultimately, he himself was assas- tain power, though effective, were hardly right sinated. We read concerning his rule, eous: He used the tactics of terrorism to bring In the fifty-second year of Azariah king of reluctant subjects into line. He slaughtered en- Judah, Pekah son of Remaliah became king over emies, including “women who were with child”; Israel in Samaria, and reigned twenty years. He did evil in the sight of the Lo r d ; he did not he paid tribute to the Assyrian monarch to gain depart from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, his support; and he taxed the “mighty men” of which he made Israel sin. Israel in order to pay off the Assyrians. In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath- pileser king of Assyria came and captured Ijon and Abel-beth-maacah and Janoah and Kedesh Pekahiah, a King and Hazor and Gilead and Galilee, all the land Killed by His Chief Officer of Naphtali; and he carried them captive to As- syria. And Hoshea the son of Elah made a The seventeenth king to reign over Israel conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah, 4 was Pekahiah, the son of Menahem. Of the last and struck him and put him to death and be- five kings, he alone inherited the kingdom from came king in his place, in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah. Now the rest of the his father. Second Kings contains the following acts of Pekah and all that he did, behold, they account of his reign: are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel (2 Kings 15:27–31). In the fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekahiah son of Menahem became king over Israel in Samaria, and reigned two years. He During his reign Pekah joined forces with did evil in the sight of the Lo r d ; he did not Rezin, the king of Aram (Syria), to attack Judah. depart from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, Although they won several victories over the which he made Israel sin. Then Pekah son of Remaliah, his officer, conspired against him southern kingdom (see 2 Chronicles 28:5, 6), they and struck him in Samaria, in the castle of the did not succeed in conquering Jerusalem (2 Kings king’s house with Argob and Arieh;5 and with 15:37; 16:5; see also Isaiah 7:1–9). If Pekah thought that becoming king would 3“Pul” is another name for Tiglath-pileser III. (R. D. enable him to rescue Israel from the clutches of Patterson and Hermann J. Austel, “1, 2 Kings,” in The Exposi- the Assyrians, he was sadly disappointed; for tor’s Bible Commentary, vol. 4, 1 Kings—Job [Grand Rapids, during his reign much of the land of Israel was Mich.: Zondervan Publishing House, 1988], 236.) 4Pekahiah reigned from 742 to 740 B.C. taken over by Assyria. In spite of some successes, 5The reference to “Argob” and “Arieh” is usually taken his reign ended with the decimation of the king- to mean two men who were Pekahiah’s bodyguards and who dom and his own assassination. died, along with Pekahiah, in Pekah’s coup. However, other interpretations of these two words are possible. (Patterson and Austel, 238.) 6Pekah’s reign is dated about 752 to 732 B.C.

2 Hoshea, the King Who Saw THE ERA OF THE FIVE KINGS Samaria Fall IN SUMMARY The last king of Israel—the nineteenth king of In twenty-four verses, the author of 2 Kings 7 the northern kingdom—was Hoshea. His reign summarized the reigns of the last five kings of began violently when he murdered his prede- Israel. What was the era of those five kings like? cessor, Pekah. It ended when he was captured (1) An era of political and social upheaval. Four by the king of Assyria, the kingdom of Israel of the five kings became king by violence, each was destroyed, and the people of the northern assassinating the king who preceded him. Only kingdom were taken into Assyrian captivity. Pekahiah became king by acceding to the throne The sad story is told without detail, in two brief of his father. Just one of the kings—Menahem— paragraphs: concluded his reign by dying a natural death. In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Shallum, Pekahiah, and Pekah were murdered, Hoshea the son of Elah became king over Is- while Hoshea was imprisoned by the Assyrian rael in Samaria, and reigned nine years. He did monarch. This was an age of conspiracies (see evil in the sight of the Lo r d , only not as the kings of Israel who were before him. Shalmaneser 2 Kings 15:10, 15, 25, 30; 17:4). Altogether, the king of Assyria came up against him, and Ho- five kings reigned no more than forty-one years shea became his servant and paid him tribute. (and possibly considerably less).9 Shallum’s reign But the king of Assyria found conspiracy in lasted a single month. The frequent turnover of Hoshea, who had sent messengers to So king of Egypt and had offered no tribute to the king of kings indicates the instability of Israel’s govern- Assyria, as he had done year by year; so the ment. king of Assyria shut him up and bound him in (2) A period of Assyrian dominance, which prison. Then the king of Assyria invaded the whole ended with the destruction of the kingdom by As- land and went up to Samaria and besieged it syria. The large and powerful kingdom that had three years. In the ninth year of Hoshea, the been constructed by Jehoash and Jeroboam II king of Assyria captured Samaria and carried Israel away into exile to Assyria, and settled fell apart after the death of Jeroboam II. Three them in Halah and Habor, on the river of of Israel’s last five kings had dealings with Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes (2 Kings Assyrian kings. Menahem paid tribute to the As- 17:1–6; see 18:10, 11). syrian king Tiglath-pileser III so that he would leave Israel alone (2 Kings 15:19, 20). During the At the beginning of his reign, Hoshea acted as reign of Pekah, Tiglath-pileser captured much a loyal vassal to the Assyrian king Shalmaneser V, of Israel’s land (15:29). Hoshea “became [the] paying him tribute. However, when the time servant [of Shalmaneser V, king of Assyria] and seemed right, he tried to throw off the Assyrian paid him tribute” (17:3) but later sought to rebel yoke by seeking help from So, the king of Egypt. against the Assyrian king. This action provoked When the Assyrian king learned about Hoshea’s Assyria into capturing Hoshea and destroying treachery, he invaded the land, took him prisoner, the kingdom (17:4–6). Even as Judah was a vas- and laid siege to Samaria. Sargon II finished the sal state of Egypt and Babylon in the last days siege and conquered the nation, taking its people of the southern kingdom (more than a century into captivity. later), so in the last days of Israel—at least from It is ironic that the name of the last king the reign of Menahem—Israel was little more of Israel was “Hoshea,” a name that means 8 than a vassal state of Assyria. “salvation.” Hoshea was anything but the sav- (3) A time of spiritual apostasy. Israel’s kings ior of the land. He was a destroyer rather than themselves were guilty of terrible sins. The Scrip- a savior; he finished the destruction which the preceding kings had started. Israel was destroyed because of its evil kings! 9The chronology of the era is uncertain because it is difficult to synchronize the dates given for the various kings of the two kingdoms. A partial solution to the problem is 7Hoshea reigned about 732 to 722 B.C. provided by assuming that Pekah’s reign of twenty years 8Joan Comay, “Who’s Who in the Old Testament,” in was basically a reign over a portion, not all, of Israel. If so, Joan Comay and Ronald Brownrigg, Who’s Who in the Bible the amount of time involved in the reigns of the five kings (New York: Bonanza Books, 1971), 154. “Joshua” is another would be reduced considerably. (Patterson and Austel, form of the name “Hoshea,” and the name in Greek is “Jesus.” 238–39.)

3 tures specifically note that three of the five fol- for themselves “molten images” (particularly lowed in the steps of Jeroboam I. Of Menahem, the two calves of Jeroboam I; 17:16), and (c) they it is said, “. . . he did evil in the sight of the Lo r d ” sacrificed their children and practiced divination and “he did not depart . . . from the sins of Jero- (17:17). Consequently, “the Lo r d was very angry boam the son of Nebat” (2 Kings 15:18). Nearly with Israel and removed them from His sight; identical statements are made about Pekahiah none was left except the tribe of Judah” (17:18). (15:24) and Pekah (15:28). Concerning Hoshea, In other words, God destroyed Israel because the text says simply that “he did evil in the sight He had no choice. Israel had fallen so far into of the Lo r d , only not as the kings of Israel who sin and had persisted so long in their unfaithful- were before him” (2 Kings 17:2).10 The text does ness that God’s holy nature demanded that He not pass judgment on Shallum, who reigned just destroy the nation! one month, but we can assume that he was no better than the others. In addition, we learn that Lessons for Us several of the kings engaged in conspiracies and assassinations. Menahem is specifically said to have committed atrocities against expectant REFUSING TO REPENT mothers (2 Kings 15:16). In other words, Israel’s We must change the pattern of sin in our lives! apostasy was furthered, not slowed, by these five Paul wrote of the Israelites with regard to an- idolatrous and murderous kings! other incident, “Do not be idolaters, as some (4) An era that concluded with the destruction [in this case, all] of them were” (1 Corinthians of the kingdom as a consequence of the sins of the 10:7a). We should not imitate the ungodly prac- nation. Why was Israel destroyed? Because As- tices of the kings and citizens of the northern syria was strong and Israel was weak? Because kingdom—turning to other gods, failing to obey God enjoyed destroying His people? No! Rather, God’s commandments, and engaging in immoral the destruction of Israel came about because the practices. people had abandoned God; therefore, God We must realize that the consequence of sin is abandoned Israel. The author of 2 Kings, after death! This truth is emphasized throughout the describing Assyria’s triumph over the northern Old Testament: The consequences of sin—the kingdom, went on to give the reason for Israel’s wages of sin—is death (see Romans 6:23a)! Ga- destruction: latians 6:7 puts it like this: “Whatever a man sows, this he will also reap” (Galatians 6:7b). Anyone Now this [the fall of Israel] came about because the sons of Israel had sinned against the who is tempted to do violence to another should Lo r d their God, who had brought them up from remember those kings who assassinated their the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pha- predecessors and were, in turn, assassinated raoh, king of Egypt, and they had feared other gods and walked in the customs of the nations themselves. Those who live by the sword (or by whom the Lo r d had driven out before the sons violence) die by the sword (or suffer violence of Israel, and in the customs of the kings of Israel themselves) (see Matthew 26:52). which they had introduced (2 Kings 17:7, 8). God is altogether holy and altogether just;

He cannot allow sin to go unpunished! He may The author then elaborated on the reason for postpone the punishment in order to give destruction. He said that (a) Israel refused to lis- people time to repent (2 Peter 3:9), but eventu- ten to the prophets who were sent to warn them ally He will punish sin and destroy unrepentant (17:13, 14), (b) they rejected God’s law and made sinners! We must recognize the possibility of forgiveness 10Perhaps the difference between the judgment pro- for sin! There is a way out if we find ourselves nounced on Hoshea and on the kings who preceded him condemned by our sins. God can and will for- is that Hoshea did not promote the worship of the golden calves as previous kings had done, and he may have refrained give sins! Israel was not destroyed because they from such worship because the Assyrians had carried away sinned; they were condemned because “they did those golden calves. This is the view expressed in Herbert not listen” to the prophets whom God sent to Lockyer, All the Kings and Queens of the Bible (Grand Rap- ids, Mich.: Zondervan Publishing House, 1961), 168. (See warn them. Instead, they “stiffened their neck Hosea 10:5, 6.) like their fathers, who did not believe in the Lo r d

4 their God” (2 Kings 17:14). The people would not it is the fact that they refuse to listen to God’s listen to God’s prophets, and they did not repent command to repent! Those who listen to God’s of their sins. Therefore, they were destroyed! In messengers and repent can be forgiven of what- the same way, it is not merely the fact that people ever sins they may have committed! today sin that will cause them to be destroyed; Coy Roper