2 Kings 15: Summary and Commentary

Verse 1

15:1-3 The name Uzziah means Yahweh is my strength. • fifty-two years: The length of Uzziah’s reign (792–740 BC) reflects changed conditions in the early 700s BC. Assyria was in decline and relations between Israel and Judah were cordial. Uzziah’s spiritual convictions earned God’s blessing so that Judah enjoyed its greatest prosperity since the days of Solomon (2 Chr 26:9-10).

Verse 4

15:4 In spite of his good spiritual evaluation, Uzziah continued to allow worship at the pagan shrines (14:4).

Verse 5

15:5 Because Uzziah usurped the prerogatives of the priesthood (2 Chr 26:16-21), the Lord struck the king with leprosy. His son Jotham became co-regent (about 750 BC). While Uzziah’s isolation kept him from public duties, he may have continued to exercise political power. King Tiglath-pileser III of Assyria (744–727 BC), in connection with his first western campaign (744–743 BC), mentioned an opponent named Azariau whom many scholars understand as Uzziah.

Verse 8

15:8-12 Jeroboam II’s son Zechariah was far less capable than his father. Zechariah perpetuated the sins that Jeroboam [I] . . . led Israel to commit. God had promised Jehu a royal line to the fourth generation (10:30); Zechariah’s six-month reign fulfilled that promise.

Verse 13

15:13 Jabesh, which lay east of the Jordan in northern Gilead, might have been the hometown of Shallum, whose reign was even shorter than Zechariah’s. Shallum was assassinated, as he had done to Zechariah (15:10).

Verse 14

15:14 Tirzah had been capital of the northern kingdom during Israel’s first two dynasties (1 Kgs 14:17; 15:21, 33; 16:8). • Menahem was an army commander.

Verse 16

15:16 At Tirzah, Menahem heard of King Zechariah’s assassination by Shallum. Menahem gathered his forces and moved against Samaria. • ripped open the pregnant women: This horrible wartime practice, noted in Assyrian and Babylonian documents, is also attributed to King Hazael of Aram (8:12). See also Hos 10:14; 13:16; Amos 1:13.

Verse 19

15:19-20 Tiglath-pileser: The NLT uses the Assyrian (see 15:29; 16:6) form of the name, rather than the Hebrew form, Pul, which is taken from the Babylonian. Tiglath-pileser III seized the throne of Assyria in 744 BC and provided able leadership until his death in 727 BC. • When Tiglath-pileser launched the western campaign to regain territory held by Aram, Menahem paid him a heavy tribute of thirty-seven tons of silver to keep him from overrunning Israel. • Although Menahem’s name means comfort, the unsettled conditions in the northern kingdom provided little consolation for God’s people during his reign (752–742 BC).

Verse 23

15:23-25 Menahem’s son Pekahiah reigned only two years before Pekah conspired to assassinate him. Pekahiah continued the sins associated with the religious policies initiated by Jeroboam I (1 Kgs 12:26-33). Pekah, an army commander, had apparently been a rival for the throne for some time.

Verse 27

15:27 fifty-second year of King Uzziah’s reign: The date for Pekah’s accession is the final year of Uzziah’s reign (740 BC). Because of the standing relationship between Tiglath-pileser and Menahem, Pekah confined his influence to Gilead during Menahem’s reign (752–742 BC). With Menahem’s death, Pekahiah made Pekah an army commander. This provided Pekah with a broader base of support and gave him opportunity to seize the throne of Israel in 740 BC.

Verse 29

15:29-30 With his second western campaign (734–732 BC), Tiglath-pileser . . . attacked Israel again. Pekah had allied himself with King Rezin of Aram in an ill-conceived anti-Assyrian coalition (see Isa 9:1). As a result of this invasion, Tiglath-pileser captured and conquered much of Israel’s northern and eastern territory. • Pekah’s doomed political policies caused dissension in Israel that led to his assassination by Hoshea, whose action was probably intended to placate the Assyrian king and preserve the northern kingdom. In his annals, Tiglath-pileser claimed that he put Hoshea on the throne and received his heavy tribute. • The twentieth year of Jotham, counting from the beginning of his co-regency with his father Uzziah in Judah, was 732 BC, the year of his death.

Verse 32

15:32-33 The second year of King Pekah’s reign reflects the first full year of Jotham’s independent reign; he was co-regent with his father for the previous decade. • sixteen years: From the beginning of his co-regency with his father Uzziah (750 BC) until his son Ahaz became the primary ruler of Judah (735 BC).

Verse 34

15:34-35 Although Jotham did what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight, he allowed worship at pagan shrines to continue. • rebuilt the upper gate of the Temple: The prosperity of Uzziah’s reign continued during his son Jotham’s reign. Jotham built onto Jerusalem’s wall at the hill of Ophel and did construction at many Judean sites (2 Chr 27:3-4). He also conquered the rebellious Ammonites (2 Chr 27:5), whom Uzziah had forced into subservience (2 Chr 26:8).

Verse 37

15:37 Rezin . . . Pekah: See 16:5.

Verse 1

This is a short account of the reign of Azariah. 1. Most of it is general, and the same that has been given of others; he began young and reigned long (Kg2 15:2), did, for the most part, that which was right, Kg2 15:3 (it was happy for the kingdom that a good reign was a long one), only he had not zeal and courage enough to take away the high places, Kg2 15:4. 2. That which is peculiar, Kg2 15:5 (that God smote him with a leprosy) is more largely related, with the occasion of it, Ch2 26:16, etc., where we have also a fuller account of the glories of the former part of his reign, as well as of the disgraces of the latter part of it. He did that which was right, as Amaziah had done; like him, he began well, but failed before he finished. Here we are told, (1.) That he was a leper. The greatest of men are not only subject to the common calamities, but also to the common infirmities, of human nature; and, if they be guilty of any heinous sin, they lie as open as the meanest to the most grievous strokes of divine vengeance. (2.) God smote him with this leprosy, to chastise him for his presumptuous invasion of the priests' office. If great men be proud men, some way or other God will humble them, and make them know he is both above them and against them, for he resisteth the proud. (3.) That he was a leper to the day of his death. Though we have reason to think he repented and the sin was pardoned, yet, for warning to others, he was continued under this mark of God's displeasure as long as he lived, and perhaps it was for the good of his soul that he was so. (4.) That he dwelt in a separate house, as being made ceremonially unclean by the law, to the discipline of which, though a king, he must submit. He that presumptuously intruded into God's temple, and pretended to be a priest, was justly shut out from his own palace, and shut up as a prisoner or recluse, ever after. We suppose that his separate house was made as convenient and agreeable as might be. Some translate it a free house, where he had liberty to take his pleasure. However, it was a great mortification to one that had been so much a man of honour, and a man of business, as he had been, to be cut off from society and dwell always in a separate house: it would almost make life itself a burden, even to kings, though they have never any to converse with but their inferiors; the most contemplative men would soon be weary of it. (5.) That his son was his viceroy in the affairs both of his court (for he was over the house) and of his kingdom (for he was judging the people of the land); and it was both a comfort to him and a blessing to his kingdom that he had such a son to fill up his room.

Verse 8

The best days of the kingdom of Israel were while the government was in Jehu's family. In his reign, and the next three reigns, though there were many abominable corruptions and miserable grievances in Israel, yet the crown went in succession, the kings died in their beds, and some care was taken of public affairs; but, now that those days are at an end, the history which we have in these verses of about thirty-three years represents the affairs of that kingdom in the utmost confusion imaginable. Woe to those that were with child (Kg2 15:16) and to those that gave suck in those days, for then must needs be great tribulations, when, for the transgression of the land, many were the princes thereof.

I. Let us observe something, in general, concerning these unhappy revolutions and the calamities which must needs attend them - these bad times, as they may truly be called. 1. God had tried the people of Israel both with judgments and mercies, explained and enforced by his servants the prophets, and yet they continued impenitent and unreformed, and therefore God justly brought these miseries upon them, as Moses had warned them. If you will yet walk contrary to me, I will punish you yet seven times more, Lev 26:21, etc. 2. God made good his promise to Jehu, that his sons to the fourth generation after him should sit upon the throne of Israel, which was a greater favour than was shown to any of the royal families either before or after his. God had said it should be so (Kg2 10:30) and we are told in this chapter (Kg2 15:12) that so it came to pass. See how punctual God is to his promises. These calamities God long designed for Israel, and they deserved them, yet they were not inflicted till that word had taken effect to the full. Thus God rewarded Jehu for his zeal in destroying the worship of Baal and the house of Ahab; and yet, when the measure of the sins of the house of Jehu was full, God avenged upon it the blood then shed, called the blood of Jezreel, Hos 1:4. 3. All these kings did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, for they walked in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat. Though at variance with one another, yet in this they agreed, to keep up idolatry, and the people loved to have it so; though they were emptied from vessel to vessel, that taste remained in them, and that scent was not changed. It was sad indeed when their government was so often altered, yet never for the better - that among all those contending interests none of them should think it as much their interest to destroy the calves as others had done to support them. 4. Each of these (except one) conspired against his predecessor, and slew him - Shallum, Menahem, Pekah, and Hoshea, all traitors and murderers, and yet all kings awhile, one of them ten, another twenty, and another nine years; for God may suffer wickedness to prosper and to carry away the wealth and honours awhile, but, sooner or later, blood shall have blood, and he that dealt treacherously shalt be dealt treacherously with. One wicked man is often made a scourge to another, and every wicked man, at length, a ruin to himself. 5. The ambition of the great men made the nation miserable. Here is Tiphsah, a city of Israel, barbarously destroyed, with all the coasts thereof, by one of these pretenders (Kg2 15:16), and no doubt it was through blood that each of them waded to the throne, nor could any of these kings perish alone. No land can have greater pests, nor Israel worse troubles, than such men as care not how much the welfare and repose of their country are sacrificed to their revenge and affectation of dominion. 6. While the nation was thus shattered by divisions at home the kings of Assyria, first one (Kg2 15:19) and then another (Kg2 15:29), came against it and did what they pleased. Nothing does more towards the making of a nation an easy prey to a common enemy than intestine broils and contests for the sovereignty. Happy the land where that is settled. 7. This was the condition of Israel just before they were quite ruined and carried away captive, for that was in the ninth year of Hoshea, the last of these usurpers. If they had, in these days of confusion and perplexity, humbled themselves before God and sought his face, that final destruction might have been prevented; but when God judgeth he will overcome. These factions, the fruit of an evil spirit sent among them, hastened that captivity, for a kingdom thus divided against itself will soon come to desolation.

II. Let us take a short view of the particular reigns.

1. Zachariah, the son of Jeroboam, began to reign in the thirty-eighth year of Azariah, or Uzziah, king of Judah, Kg2 15:8. Some of the most critical chronologers reckon that between Jeroboam and his son Zachariah the throne was vacant twenty-two years, others eleven years, through the disturbances and dissensions that were in the kingdom; and then it was not strange that Zachariah was deposed before he was well seated on the throne: he reigned but six months, and then Shallum slew him before the people, perhaps as Caesar was slain in the senate, or he put him to death publicly as a criminal, with the approbation of the people, to whom he had, some way or other, made himself odious; so ended the line of Jehu.

2. But had Shallum peace, who slew his master? No, he had not (Kg2 15:13), one month of days measured his reign and then he was cut off; perhaps to this the prophet, who then lived, refers (Hos 5:7), Now shall a month devour them with their portions. That dominion seldom lasts long which is founded in blood and falsehood. Menahem, either provoked by his crime or animated by his example, soon served him as he had served his master - slew him and reigned in his stead, Kg2 15:14. Probably he was general in the army, which then lay encamped at Tirzah, and, hearing of Shallum's treason and usurpation, hastened to punish it, as Omri did that of Zimri in a like case, Kg1 16:17.

3. Menahem held the kingdom ten years, Kg2 15:17. But, whereas we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel were merciful kings (Kg1 20:31), this Menahem (the scandal of his country) was so prodigiously cruel to those of his own nation who hesitated a little at submitting to him that he not only ruined a city, and the coasts thereof, but, forgetting that he himself was born of a woman, ripped up all the women with child, Kg2 15:16. We may well wonder that ever it should enter into the heart of any man to be so barbarous, and to be so perfectly lost to humanity itself. By these cruel methods he hoped to strengthen himself and to frighten all others into his interests; but it seems he did not gain his point, for when the king of Assyria came against him, (1.) So little confidence had he in his people that he durst not meet him as an enemy, but was obliged, at a vast expense, to purchase a peace with him. (2.) Such need had he of help to confirm the kingdom in his hand that he made it part of his bargain with him (a bargain which, no doubt, the king of Assyria knew how to make a good hand of another time) that he should assist him against his own subjects that were disaffected to him. The money wherewith he purchased his friendship was a vast sum, no less than 1000 talents of silver (Kg2 15:19), which Menahem exacted, it is probable, by military execution, of all the mighty men of wealth, very considerately sparing the poor, and laying the burden (as was fit) on those that were best able to bear it; being raised, it was given to the king of Assyria, as pay for his army, fifty shekels of silver for each man in it. Thus he got clear of the king of Assyria for this time; he staid not to quarter in the land (Kg2 15:20), but his army now got so rich a booty with so little trouble that it encouraged them to come again, not long after, when they laid all waste. Thus was he the betrayer of his country that should have been the protector of it.

4. Pekahiah, the son of Menahem, succeeded his father, but reigned only two years, and then was treacherously slain by Pekah, falling under the load both of his own and of his father's wickedness. It is repeated concerning him as before that he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam. Still this is mentioned, to show that God was righteous in bringing that destruction upon them which came not long after, because they hated to be reformed, Kg2 15:24. Pekah, it seems, had some persons of figure in his interest, two of whom are here named (Kg2 15:25), and with their help he compassed his design.

5. Pekah, though he got the kingdom by treason, kept it twenty years (Kg2 15:27), so long it was before his violent dealing returned upon his own head, but it returned at last. This Pekah, son of Remaliah, (1.) Made himself more considerable abroad than any of these usurpers, for he was, even in the latter end of his time (in the reign of Ahaz, which began in his seventeenth year), a great terror to the kingdom of Judah, as we find, Isa 7:1, etc. (2.) He lost a great part of his kingdom to the king of Assyria. Several cities are here named (Kg2 15:29) which were taken from him, all the land of Gilead on the other side Jordan, and Galilee in the north containing the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulon, were seized, and the inhabitants carried captive into Assyria. By this judgment God punished him for his attempt upon Judah and Jerusalem. It was then foretold that within two or three years after he made that attempt, before a child, then born, should be able to cry My father and my mother, the riches of Samaria should be taken away before the king of Assyria (Isa 8:4), and here we have the accomplishment of that prediction. (3.) Soon after this he forfeited his life to the resentments of his countrymen, who, it is probable, were disgusted at him for leaving them exposed to a foreign enemy, while he was invading Judah, of which Hoshea took advantage and, to gain his crown, seized his life, slew him, and reigned in his stead. Surely he was fond of a crown indeed who, at this time, would run such a hazard as a traitor did; for the crown of Israel, now that it had lost the choicest of its flowers and jewels, was lined more than ever with thorns, had of late been fatal to all the heads that had worn it, was forfeited to divine justice, and now ready to be laid in the dust - a crown which a wise man would not have taken up in the street, yet Hoshea not only ventured upon it but ventured for it, and it cost him dear.

Verse 32

We have here a short account of the reign of Jotham king of Judah, of whom we are told, 1. That he reigned very well, did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, Kg2 15:34. Josephus gives him a very high character, stating that he was pious towards God, just towards men, and laid out himself for the public good, - that, whatever was amiss, he took care to have it rectified, - and, in short, wanted no virtue that became a good prince. Though the high places were not taken away, yet to draw people from them, and keep them close to God's holy place, he showed great respect to the temple, and built the higher gate which he went through to the temple. If magistrates cannot do all they would for the suppressing of vice and profaneness, let them do so much the more for the support and advancement of piety and virtue, and the bringing of them into reputation. If they cannot pull down the high places of sin, yet let them build and beautify the high gate of God's house. 2. That he died in the midst of his days, Kg2 15:33. Of most of the kings of Judah we are told how old they were when they began their reign, and by that may compute how old they were when they died; but no account is kept of the age of any of the kings of Israel that I remember, only of the years of their reigns. This honour God would put upon the kings of the house of David above those of other families. And by these accounts it appears that there was none of all the kings of Judah that reached David's age, seventy, the common age of man. Asa's age I do not find. Uzziah lived to be sixty-eight, Manasseh sixty-seven, and Jehoshaphat sixty; and these were the three oldest; many of those that were of note did not reach fifty. This Jotham died at forty-one. He was too great a blessing to be continued long to such an unworthy people. His death was a judgment, especially considering the character of his son and successor. 3. That in his days the confederacy was formed against Judah by Rezin and Remaliah's son, the king of Syria and the king of Israel, which appeared so very formidable in the beginning of the reign of Ahaz that, upon notice of it, the heart of that prince was moved and the heart of the people, as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind, Isa 7:2. The confederates were unjust in the attempt, yet it is here said (Kg2 15:37), The Lord began to send them against Judah, as he bade Shimei curse David, and took away from Job what the Sabeans robbed him of. Men are God's hand - the sword, the rod in his hand - which he makes use of as he pleases to serve his own righteous counsels, though men be unrighteous in their intentions. This storm gathered in the reign of pious Jotham, but he came to his grave in peace and it fell upon his degenerate son.

Verse 8

ZECHARIAH'S REIGN OVER ISRAEL. (Kg2 15:8-16)

In the thirty and eighth year of Azariah king of Judah did Zechariah the son of Jeroboam reign over Israel—There was an interregnum from some unknown cause between the reign of Jeroboam and the accession of his son, which lasted, according to some, for ten or twelve years, according to others, for twenty-two years, or more. This prince pursued the religious policy of the calf-worship, and his reign was short, being abruptly terminated by the hand of violence. In his fate was fulfilled the prophecy addressed to Jehu (Kg2 10:30; also Hos 1:4), that his family would possess the throne of Israel for four generations; and accordingly Jehoahaz, Joash, Jehoram, and Zechariah were his successors—but there his dynasty terminated; and perhaps it was the public knowledge of this prediction that prompted the murderous design of Shallum.

Verse 13

Shallum . . . reigned a full month—He was opposed and slain by Menahem, who, according to JOSEPHUS, was commander of the forces, which, on the report of the king's murder, were besieging Tirzah, a town twelve miles east of Samaria, and formerly a seat of the kings of Israel. Raising the siege, he marched directly against the usurper, slew him, and reigned in his stead.

Verse 16

Menahem . . . smote Tiphsah—Thapsacus, on the Euphrates, the border city of Solomon's kingdom (Kg1 4:24). The inhabitants refusing to open their gates to him, Menahem took it by storm. Then having spoiled it, he committed the most barbarous excesses, without regard either to age or sex.

Verse 17

MENAHEM'S REIGN. (Kg2 15:17-21)

reigned ten years in Samaria—His government was conducted on the religious policy of his predecessors.

Verse 19

Pul the king of Assyria—This is the first Assyrian king after Nimrod who is mentioned in biblical history. His name has been recently identified with that of Phalluka on the monuments of Nineveh, and that of Menahem discovered also.

came against the land—Elsewhere it is said "Ephraim [Israel] went to the Assyrian" [Hos 5:13]. The two statements may be reconciled thus: "Pul, of his own motion, induced, perhaps, by the expedition of Menahem against Thapsacus, advanced against the kingdom of Israel; then Menahem sent him a thousand talents in order not only to divert him from his plans of conquest, but at the same time to purchase his friendship and aid for the establishment of his own precarious sovereignty. So Menahem did not properly invite the Assyrian into the land, but only changed the enemy when marching against the country, by this tribute, into a confederate for the security of his usurped dominion. This the prophet Hosea, less concerned about the historical fact than the disposition betrayed therein, might very well censure as a going of Ephraim to the Assyrians (Hos 5:13; Hos 7:1; Hos 8:9), and a covenant-making with Asshur" (Kg2 12:1) [KEIL].

a thousand talents of silver—Equal to £262,200. This tribute, which Menahem raised by a tax on the grandees of Israel, bribed Pul to return to his own country (see on Ch1 5:26).

Verse 23

PEKAHIAH'S REIGN. (Kg2 15:22-24)

Pekahiah . . . son of Menahem began to reign—On comparing the date given with Azariah's reign, it seems that several months had intervened between the death of Menahem and the accession of Pekahiah, probably owing to a contest about the throne.

Verse 25

with Argob and Arieh, &c.—Many commentators view these as the captain's accomplices. But it is more probable that they were influential friends of the king, who were murdered along with him.

Verse 29

PEKAH'S REIGN. (Kg2 15:27-31)

in the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglath-pileser—This monarch, who succeeded Pul on the throne of Assyria, is the only one of all the kings who does not give his genealogy, and is therefore supposed to have been an usurper. His annals have been discovered in the Nimroud mound, describing this expedition into Syria. The places taken are here mentioned as they occurred and were conquered in the progress of an invasion.

Verse 30

Hoshea the son of Elah made a conspiracy . . . and slew him—He did not, however, obtain possession of the kingdom till about nine or ten years after the perpetration of this crime [HALES].

in the twentieth year of Jotham—Jotham's reign lasted only sixteen years, but the meaning is that the reign of Hoshea began in the twentieth after the beginning of Jotham's reign. The sacred historian, having not yet introduced the name of Ahaz, reckoned the date by Jotham, whom he had already mentioned (see Ch2 27:8).

Verse 33

JOTHAM'S REIGN OVER JUDAH. (Kg2 15:32-38)

Five and twenty years was he when he began to reign—that is, alone—for he had ruled as his father's viceroy [Kg2 15:5].

Verse 35

the higher gate of the house of the Lord—not the temple itself, but one of its courts; probably that which led into the palace (Ch2 23:20).

Verse 37

the Lord began to send against Judah Rezin the king of Syria, &c.—This is the first intimation of the hostile feelings of the kings of Israel and Syria, to Judah, which led them to form an alliance and make joint preparations for war. [See on Ch2 27:5.] However, war was not actually waged till the reign of Ahaz.

Next: 2 Kings Chapter 16