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

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Five Kings Who Experienced the Consequences of Sin N N Shallum, Menahem, Pekahiah, Pekah, & H Oshea of Israel 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 LORD ; 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 LORD ; 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 LORD ; 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 Rema liah, 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 LORD , 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.
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