Read 2 Kings 15 here (text coming …) or at Bible Gateway.
The Hebrew paragraphs:
15:1-7 {p} Reign of Azariah (Uzziah) king of Judah; 52 years, doing right
15:8-12 {p} Reign of Zechariah king of Israel; 6 months, doing evil/ murdered in a conspiracy
15:13-15 {s} Reign of Shallum king of Israel; 1 month/ murdered in a conspiracy
15:16 {p} Menahem attacked Tipshah with cruel slaughter because they did not submit to him
15:17-22 {p} Reign of Menahem king of Israel; 10 years, doing evil + treaty with Assyria
15:23-26 {p} Reign of Pekahiah son of Menahem king of Israel; 2 years, doing evil/ murdered
15:27-31 {p} Reign of Pekah king of Israel; 20 years. doing evil/ Assyria carried some of Israel captive + Pekah murdered
15:32-38 {p} Reign of Jotham son of Uzziah, king of Judah; 16 years, doing right
The Strong theme:
15:13-16 {s+p} Reigns of Shallum and Menahem, kings of Israel; they gained the throne by murdering their predecessors, and savagely put down rebellion
If we were to construct a simple history of Israel from these past few chapters with additional detail from other books of the Bible, clearly spelled out with background context, it would read:
Jehu the son of Nimshi was anointed king over Israel at the direction of Elisha. He reigned twenty-eight years over Israel.
He slew the house of Ahab and cleansed Israel of Baal. Because this was right in the eyes of YHVH, therefore He told him by the prophet that four generations of his sons would reign. In those days Hazael the king of Syria conquered all the territory of Israel from the Jordan eastward: all the land of Gad, Reuben, and half Manasseh.
Jehoahaz the son of Jehu, king of Israel, reigned seventeen years. He did evil in the eyes of YHVH.
Therefore YHVH delivered Israel into the hand of Hazael king of Syria, and into the hand of Ben-Hadad the son of Hazael, all their days. He left of the army of Jehoahaz only fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and ten thousand foot soldiers; for the king of Syria had destroyed them and made them like the dust at threshing. Hazael king of Syria oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz. So Jehoahaz pleaded with YHVH, and YHVH listened to him; YHVH was gracious to them, had compassion on them, and regarded them, because of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not yet destroy them or cast them from His presence, for He saw the oppression of Israel at the hand of the king of Syria. Then YHVH gave Israel a deliverer, so that they escaped from under the hand of the Syrians.
Who was the deliverer? We know that as the Assyrian rose in power they threatened Syria on their eastern border. All of the sudden, Syria no longer had the resources to devote to its wars with Israel and Judah that it had pursued since David was king hundreds of years earlier.
Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel reigned sixteen years. He did evil in the eyes of YHVH.
Elisha delivered his final prophecy: YHVH would deliver Israel from Syria at the hands of Jehoash. And the king recaptured from Ben-Hadad, the son of Hazael, the cities which he had taken out of the hand of Jehoahaz his father by war.
Thus the unnamed deliverer appeared in two ways: 1) pressure applied by the Assyrians, which weakened Syria, and 2) Jehoash capitalizing on Syria’s weakness to recover Israel’s towns.
Then Amaziah the king of Judah provoked a battle with Jehoash, which he lost. Jehoash took all the gold and silver from YHVH’s house and the king’s house, and returned to Samaria.
Jeroboam the son of Jehoash, king of Israel reigned forty-one years. He did evil in the eyes of YHVH.
He regained the territory of Israel which Hazael had taken from the entrance of Hamath to the Dead Sea—the territory on the east side of the Jordan inherited by the two and half tribes—according to the word of YHVH spoken by Jonah the prophet (yes, that Jonah, who has an encounter with a great fish later on). YHVH saw that the affliction of Israel was very bitter; and that there was no helper for them. So He saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Jehoash.
Zechariah the son of Jeroboam, king of Israel, reigned six months. He did evil in the eyes of YHVH.
Then Shallum the son of Jabesh conspired against him, and killed him in front of the people; and he reigned in his place. This was the word of YHVH which He spoke to Jehu, saying, “Your sons shall sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.” And so it was.
Shallum the son of Jabesh, king of Israel, reigned a full month in Samaria.
For Menahem the son of Gadi came to Samaria, and struck Shallum the son of Jabesh and killed him; and he reigned in his place. When cities in Israel resisted this series of coups, he attacked the first city brutally, making an example of it to send the message to any of the others still thinking of resisting, to stand down.
Menahem the son of Gadi, king of Israel, reigned ten years. He did evil in the eyes of YHVH.
Pul, the king of Assyria, came against the land; and Menahem gave him a thousand talents of silver which he exacted from the wealthy in Israel. So the king of Assyria turned back, and did not remain in the land.
Pekahiah the son of Menahem, king of Israel, reigned two years. He did evil in the eyes of YHVH.
Then Pekah the son of Remaliah, an officer of his, conspired against him and killed him in Samaria, in the citadel of the king’s house, and reigned in his place.
Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, reigned twenty years. He did evil in the eyes of YHVH.
Now Tiglath-Pileser, king of Assyria, had laid Syria, Israel, and Judah under tribute. Pekah king of Israel and Rezin king of Syria allied together to break free of the Assyrian yoke, but they needed Judah to join them to ensure success. Judah refused. So Pekah and Rezin threatened Judah; they tried to depose the house of David and place their own puppet on the throne. The king of Judah appealed to Tiglath-Pileser for aid, so that in the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-Pileser came and took the major cities of Naphtali, as well as all its tribal territory, and the broader region of the Galilee, and carried them captive to Assyria. He also exiled the two and a half tribes who were east of the Jordan, and he placed them in the cites and mountains of the Medes east of Assyria. Only Ephraim, part of Asher, and the half of Manasseh west of the Jordan remained in their native land. Then Hoshea the son of Elah led a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah, and killed him; and he reigned in his place.
Concerning Pul and Tiglath-Pileser, kings of Assyria:
2 Kings 15, Assyria enters the Biblical narrative – Christine Miller
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