BIG IDEA:
UNSTABLE SUCCESSION OF KINGS IN ISRAEL SANDWICHED BETWEEN TWO RIGHTEOUS KINGS IN JUDAH SHOW THE CONTRAST BETWEEN NORTH AND SOUTH – YET CONSISTENT DECLINE
INTRODUCTION:
Here you have a kingdom sandwich = 5 wicked kings of Israel sandwiched between 2 somewhat righteous reigns in Judah. As both kingdoms continue to decline, there is less of a moral distinction between God’s covenant people and the surrounding pagan nations. The transfer of power becomes the focus of much intrigue and treachery. Pride and selfish ambition fuel the lust for power as both Israel and Judah are viewed as justifiably headed for God’s judgment.
Wiersbe: In this section of 2 Kings, we meet with five kings of Israel who were notorious for their godless character and evil deeds. Four of them were assassinated! Shallum reigned only one month, Zechariah six months, and Pekahiah for two years. Menahem, the cruelest of them all, reigned for ten years, and Pekah for twenty years. As the Northern Kingdom stumbled toward destruction, their rulers hastened the coming of the judgment of God.
Dale Ralph Davis: Israel is in a race to ruin, running pell-mell to extinction. If civil stability is a divine gift (cf. 1 Tim. 2:1–2), it has been withdrawn from Israel. Her own chaos is a sign that God is in the process of destroying her.
I. (:1-7) AMAZIAH’S RIGHTEOUS REIGN IN THE SOUTH
A. (:1-2) Selected Touchpoints
1. (:1a) When Did He Become King?
“In the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel,”
2. (:1b) Who Was His Father?
“Azariah son of Amaziah king of Judah became king.”
Wiersbe: His given name was Azariah, which means “Jehovah has helped,” but when the became king of Judah at age sixteen, he took the “throne name” Uzziah which means “Jehovah is strength.” The people made him king when his father Amaziah was taken to Samaria after his foolish war against Jehoash, king of Israel (2 Kings 14:13).
3. (:2a) How Old Was He When He Became King?
“He was sixteen years old when he became king,”
4. (:2b) How Long Did He Reign?
“and he reigned fifty-two years”
5. (:2c) Over Which Kingdom Did He Reign?
“in Jerusalem;”
6. (:2d) Who Was His Mother?
“and his mother’s name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem.”
B. (:3-5) Moral Evaluation of His Reign
1. (:3) Summary Evaluation
“And he did right in the sight of the LORD,
according to all that his father Amaziah had done.”
Donald Wiseman: Jerusalem was fortified and given modern defence artillery with the army reorganized and re-equipped. Economically all was well, but when Uzziah became famous and very powerful his pride led to unfaithfulness and to his fall (2 Chr. 26:8, 15–16). Yet at the very time of his death the Lord called Isaiah to an initial or new vision of himself (Isa. 6:1; John 12:41).
2. (:4) Blemish on His Record
“Only the high places were not taken away;
the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.”
3. (:5) Divine Discipline
“And the LORD struck the king, so that he was a leper to the day of his death. And he lived in a separate house, while Jotham the king’s son was over the household, judging the people of the land.”
MacArthur: Azariah suffered from leprosy as punishment for usurping the priestly function of burning incense on the altar in the temple.
Peter Pett: His reign is summed up in terms of his wrong attitude towards YHWH, as is evidenced by the fact that YHWH smote him with skin disease. As with Naaman this was not true leprosy (Naaman had been able to continue serving the king and even to be present in the house of Rimmon), and it only happened in the latter years of his reign. He was not totally excluded from society. But it was sufficient to exclude him from entering the Temple of YHWH, and from taking his part in the worship there, and thus from fulfilling all his functions as the king. It also resulted in his living apart from the palace in his own separate house, because his presence in the palace, which was connected with the Temple, would have rendered the palace ritually ‘unclean’ and have tainted the Temple. (Compare how the skin-diseased had to live outside the camp in Leviticus 13:46). And his son Jotham took over the king’s household (in other words the court and its authority) and the general rulership of the ‘people of the land’.
C. (:6-7) Overall Summary of His Reign
1. (:6) Recorded Deeds
“Now the rest of the acts of Azariah and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?”
Constable: Azariah was one of Judah’s most popular, effective, and influential kings. He expanded Judah’s territories, fortified several Judean cities, including Jerusalem, and reorganized the army (v. 22; cf. 2 Chron. 26:6-14). The combined territories over which he and Jeroboam II exercised control approximated those of David and Solomon.
David Guzik: 2 Chronicles 26 tells us much more about the successful reign of Uzziah (Azariah):
• He began his reign when he was only 16 years old (2 Chronicles 26:3).
• He reigned during the ministry of Zechariah the prophet (2 Chronicles 26:5).
• He defeated the Philistines and took many of their cities, and also kept the Ammonites in tribute (2 Chronicles 26:6-8).
• He was internationally famous as a strong king (2 Chronicles 26:8).
• He was an ambitious builder and skilled in agriculture (2 Chronicles 26:9-10). “He probably gave special attention to the tillage of the soil because of the prophecies of Hosea and Amos concerning the scarcity about to come. (See Hosea 2:9; 4:3; 9:2; Amos 1:2; 4:6-9; 5:16-19).” (Knapp)
• He built up and organized the army, introducing several new items of military technology (2 Chronicles 26:11-15).
2. (:7a) Death and Burial
“And Azariah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David,”
Wiersbe: A good beginning is no guarantee of a successful ending, and the sin of unholy ambition has ruined more than one servant of the Lord. Uzziah the soldier was defeated by his pride; Uzziah the builder destroyed his own ministry and testimony; and Uzziah the farmer reaped the painful harvest of what he had sown. He is a warning to all who nurture unholy ambitions to intrude into that which God hasn’t appointed for them.
3. (:7b) Succession
“and Jotham his son became king in his place.”
Paul House: Judah could not have realized it at this time, but the nation has enjoyed one of its last peaceful periods. Except for a few years in Josiah’s reign (640–609 B.C.), the people will now always be at the mercy of some other nation, or at least under constant pressure from some external force. It will indeed take longer for Judah to fall, but fall it will. Again the respite is over.
Events now move swiftly, and none of them are kind to Israel. At just the moment that Assyria becomes a belligerent, conquering nation, Israel suffers through a succession of weak kings who come to power usually through intrigue and assassination. Of course, the author does not view these events as simply bad luck and poor timing. God is at work, punishing the sins of a stubborn people. Two hundred years of rebellion will soon be judged.
II. (:8-16) ZECHARIAH’S EVIL REIGN IN THE NORTH
A. (:8) Selective Touchpoints
1. When Did He Become King?
“In the thirty-eighth year of Azariah king of Judah,”
2. Who Was His Fatther?
“Zechariah the son of Jeroboam”
3. Which Kingdom Did He Rule Over?
“became king over Israel in Samaria”
4. How Long Did He Reign?
“for six months.”
B. (:9) Summary Evaluation
“And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, as his fathers had done; he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel sin.”
Constable: “Zechariah” (“Yahweh Remembers”) reigned only six months (753-752 B.C.) before his successor Shallum assassinated him. Zechariah was the fifth and last king of Jehu’s dynasty (v. 12; cf. 10:30). The fact that the people made Shallum king after he killed Zechariah suggests that Zechariah was not popular.
“Zechariah’s reign also is noteworthy in that it begins an era of intrigue. Shallum becomes the first person of this current era to come to power through conspiracy and assassination.” — House
“The death of this last king of the dynasty of Jehu (v. 12) saw the end of the Northern Kingdom proper. In the last twenty years six rulers were to follow each other, but only one was to die naturally. Anarchy, rivalry and regicide led to terminal bloodshed which fulfilled Hosea’s prophecies (1:4).” – Wiseman
C. (:10) Death and Succession
“Then Shallum the son of Jabesh conspired against him and struck him before the people and killed him, and reigned in his place.”
MacArthur: Assyrian records call Shallum “the son of nobody,” indicating that he was not from the royal family.
D. (:11) Recorded Deeds
“Now the rest of the acts of Zechariah, behold they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.”
E. (:12) Fulfilled Prophecy
“This is the word of the LORD which He spoke to Jehu, saying, ‘Your sons to the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel.’ And so it was.”
III. (:13-15) SHALLUM’S BRIEF EVIL REIGN IN THE NORTH
A. (:13) Selective Touchpoints
1. Who Was His Father?
“Shallum son of Jabesh”
Jerry Thrower: SHALLUM’S name means recompense, retribution, or spoilation. Well, he was recompensed by receiving what he dished out! (i.e. A takeover by assassination)
2. When Did He Reign?
“became king in the thirty-ninth year of Uzziah king of Judah,”
3. How Long Did He Reign?
“and he reigned one month”
4. Which Kingdom Did He Reign Over?
“in Samaria.”
B. (:14) Death and Succession
“Then Menahem son of Gadi went up from Tirzah and came to Samaria, and struck Shallum son of Jabesh in Samaria, and killed him and became king in his place.”
John Schultz: The rapid successions on the throne of Israel and the violence that accompanied them indicate in what state of anarchy the nation had fallen. All this was the result of the fact that they had abandoned the true worship of YHWH. The Book of Proverbs states: “Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; but blessed is he who keeps the law.”
C. (:15) Recorded Deeds
“Now the rest of the acts of Shallum and his conspiracy which he made, behold they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.”
IV. (:16-22) MENAHEM’S EVIL REIGN IN THE NORTH
A. (:16) Defining Atrocity
“Then Menahem struck Tiphsah and all who were in it and its borders from Tirzah, because they did not open to him, therefore he struck it; and he ripped up all its women who were with child.”
Constable: As the history of Israel unfolds, the reader cannot help noticing how the kings increasingly behaved as their Gentile neighbors, who had no special regard for God’s Law.
Peter Pett: It would appear that Tiphsach was Shallum’s power base. Thus when Shallum took the throne after assassinating Zechariah without popular support, not only was he killed by Menahem in his turn but Tiphsach, which refused to yield and surrender to Menahem, was put to the sword, and every man, woman and child killed. Menhem is thus revealed as a man without mercy. The reference to the resistance of Tiphsach may suggest that that was where Shallum’s sons had holed up. But the fact that Menahem received the kingship suggests either that he was acting with the support of the people of the land, or that he was a powerful military commander with great influence in the army, or indeed both. Shallum clearly had little support. He was simply an opportunist. Apart from this we know nothing of either man.
Wiseman: The action by Menahem against the inhabitants of Tiphsah is unparalleled for brutality by any Israelite. Here it may mark the increasing influence of the surrounding nations. It was a foreign practice inflicted on the Israelites themselves by Aram (2 Kings 8:12), Ammon (Amos 1:13) and Assyria (Hosea 13:8).
B. (:17) Selected Touchpoints
1. When Did He Become King?
“In the thirty-ninth year of Azariah king of Judah,”
2. Who Was His Father?
“Menahem son of Gadi”
Jerry Thrower: Now, MENAHEM’S name means “comforter”. Of course he wasn’t much of a comforter to SHALLUM! And he wasn’t much of a comforter to some of the people of ISRAEL!
3. Which Kingdom Did He Rule Over?
“became king over Israel”
4.. How Long Did He Reign?
“and reigned ten years in Samaria.”
C. (:18) Summary Evaluation
“And he did evil in the sight of the LORD; he did not depart all his days from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel sin.”
D. (:19-20) Paying Off Assyria
“Pul, king of Assyria, came against the land, and Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver so that his hand might be with him to strengthen the kingdom under his rule. 20 Then Menahem exacted the money from Israel, even from all the mighty men of wealth, from each man fifty shekels of silver to pay the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria returned and did not remain there in the land.”
E. (:21) Recorded Deeds
“Now the rest of the acts of Menahem and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?”
F. (:22) Death and Succession
“And Menahem slept with his fathers,
and Pekahiah his son became king in his place.”
V. (:23-26) PEKAHIAH’S EVIL REIGN IN THE NORTH
A. (:23) Selected Touchpoints
1. When Did He Become King?
“In the fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah,”
2. Who Was His Father
“Pekahiah son of Menahem”
3. Which Kingdom Did He Rule?
“became king over Israel in Samaria,”
4. How Long Did He Reign?
“and reigned two years.”
B. (:24) Summary Evaluation
“And he did evil in the sight of the LORD; he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he made Israel sin.”
C. (:25) Death and Succession
“Then Pekah son of Remaliah, his officer, conspired against him and struck him in Samaria, in the castle of the king’s house with Argob and Arieh; and with him were fifty men of the Gileadites, and he killed him and became king in his place.”
Peter Pett: Pekahiah (‘YHWH is open eyed’) succeeded his father, but it was as king of a country seething with discontent at having had to pay tribute to Assyria. Few in Israel actually really knew what they were now dealing with. To most the kings of Assyria were simply booty seeking kings who came and went (as they had done in the past), similar, for example, to the kings of Aram. The vision of a powerful country which exceeded the strength of all the surrounding nations put together and was building a great empire was outside their conception. Thus when Pekahiah came to the throne, and had presumably indicated that he would continue his father’s policy of submission to Assyria, it was inevitable that there would be a reaction. And that reaction took the form of his deputy who had been ruling on Menahem’s behalf in Gilead (or had set up a rival kingship in Gilead). He also was named Pekahiah, and therefore Pekah for short, (or took the name on becoming king), and he was himself anti-appeasement. He assassinated Pekahiah in Samaria, and took over the throne, presumably with the consent of most of Israel who favoured the anti-appeasement policy. They would learn their lesson too late.
D. (:26) Recorded Deeds
“Now the rest of the acts of Pekahiah and all that he did, behold they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.”
VI. (:27-31) PEKAH’S EVIL REIGN IN THE NORTH
A. (:27) Selected Touchpoints
1. When Did He Become King?
“In the fifty-second year of Azariah king of Judah,”
2. Who Was His Father?
“Pekah son of Remaliah”
Jerry Thrower: Though PEKAH’S name means “opening of the eyes” or “watchfulness”, he was just as spiritually blinded as all the kings of ISRAEL before him!
3. Which Kingdom Did He Ruler Over?
“became king over Israel in Samaria,”
4. How Long Did He Reign?
“and reigned twenty years.”
B. (:28) Summary Evaluation
“And he did evil in the sight of the LORD; he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he made Israel sin.”
C. (:29) Assyrian Conquests and Captivity
“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 and Hazor and Gilead and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali; and he carried them captive to Assyria.”
Constable: Part of Pekah’s reason for opposing Menahem seems to have been a difference in foreign policy. Menahem was willing to submit to Assyrian control (vv. 19-20). Pekah evidently favored a harder line of resistance since he made a treaty with Rezin, the king of Damascus, against Assyria. This resulted in Tiglath-Pileser invading Israel, along with Philistia and Aram, in 734-732 B.C. (2 Chron. 28:5-8). He captured much of Israel’s territory (v. 29) and deported many Israelites to Assyria about 733 B.C.
“This was to be the beginning of the elimination of Israel as an independent state.” — Wiseman
Israel’s defeat encouraged Hoshea to assassinate Pekah and succeed him in 732 B.C. Tiglath-Pileser claimed to have had a hand in setting Hoshea on Israel’s throne. Obviously Assyria was in control of affairs in Israel at this time.
John Schultz: Quoting Donald J. Wiseman: “The Assyrians moved west up the valley to Kedesh … and to Janoah … thus cutting northern Israel off from possible Aramean aid. So all Galilee and Gilead were now lost and Israel was pressed back into the ‘Ephraim’ hill country. . . This first reference to the practice of removing leaders and selected experts into exile shows that the next step had now been taken towards making Israel a vassal-state. Some action had provoked the Assyrian Tiglath-pileser III who records ‘From Israel (Bît Humria) … I led off its inhabitants and possessions to Assyria’ … Deportation served as a punishment to rebels, weakening possible centers of resistance, as well as warning of exile for continuing offenders. It was to be expected as a punishment for any deviation from a covenant-treaty made with the Assyrians or Babylonians.”
D. (:30) Death and Succession
“And Hoshea the son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah, and struck him and put him to death and became king in his place, in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah.”
E. (:31) Recorded Deeds
“Now the rest of the acts of Pekah and all that he did, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.”
Paul House: Israel cannot afford many more political miscalculations. Alternating appeasement of, then rebellion against, Assyria simply does not work. Poor leadership, coupled with spiritual and social decline, is proving a deadly combination. As Bright says, “Only uncommon wisdom could possibly have saved Israel in this desperate predicament, if indeed anything could have. But instead of exhibiting wisdom, her leaders manifested a complete inability to assess the realities of the situation.” Tiglath-Pileser III seems to understand the situation, though, so Israel is in deep trouble.
Judah’s ultimate downfall only occurs more slowly than Israel’s because its kings adopt a consistently pro-Assyrian policy. Otherwise, it is safe to say that Judah is weaker than Israel, almost as corrupt, and certainly no wiser than the Northern Kingdom. Its leaders fail to grasp the importance of covenant faithfulness. Though destruction comes later, the seeds of that devastation are sown as much in this era as in the decades that follow.
VII. (:32-38) JOTHAM’S RIGHTEOUS REIGN IN THE SOUTH
A. (:32-33) Selected Touchpoints
1. When Did He Become King?
“In the second year of Pekah the son of Remaliah king of Israel,”
2. Who Was His Father?
“Jotham the son of Uzziah king of Judah became king.”
3. How Old Was He When He Began to Reign?
“He was twenty-five years old when he became king,”
4. How Long Did He Reign?
“and he reigned sixteen years”
5. Which Kingdom Did He Rule Over?
“in Jerusalem;”
6. Who Was His Mother?
“and his mother’s name was Jerusha the daughter of Zadok.”
B. (:34-35) Moral Evaluation
1. (:34) Summary Positive Evaluation
“And he did what was right in the sight of the LORD;
he did according to all that his father Uzziah had done.”
2. (:35a) Negative Caveat
“Only the high places were not taken away;
the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.”
3. (:35b) Significant Accomplishment
“He built the upper gate of the house of the LORD.”
Peter Pett: Jotham was in fact an effective king (see 2 Chronicles 27:1-9), however, the sole achievement mentioned by the prophetic author connected with his reign is that of repairing one of the Temple gateways, which demonstrated his concern for YHWH. To the author only what we do for God counts for anything.
C. (:36) Recorded Deeds
“Now the rest of the acts of Jotham and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?”
Wiersbe: Like his father, Uzziah, Jotham was both a builder and a warrior. He repaired the walls of Jerusalem and the Upper Gate of the temple. He also built cities in the Judean mountains and fortresses and towers in the wooded areas. His army confronted the armies of Israel and Syria, and he won a great victory over the Ammonites and put them under a very heavy annual tribute.
William Barnes: King Jotham is a sort of “placeholder,” a “Zechariah of the south,” as it were, a nondescript loop in the chain of Davidic kings linking the lengthy and mostly positive reign of his father Uzziah to the relatively short and mostly disastrous reign of his son Ahaz. But not all of the present description of Jotham’s reign is so colorless. As already noted, 15:37 gives us the unsettling indication that something new is on the horizon. God is again at work, and as Isaiah put it (in reference to events not far from that time), God’s work may well be characterized as “a strange thing” and “an unusual deed” (see Isa 28:21–22). So it is here. For it was certainly God’s prerogative, and evidently it was God’s plan, to send the two infamous kings (both usurpers?), Rezin of Aram and Pekah of Israel, against his own people in Judah—and for reasons which seem clear only to him. We will have to wait for the Ahaz passage, and its parallels in Chronicles and Isaiah, to find out more. King Jotham remains, for the moment, the calm before the storm (cf. Isa 8:5–10). Placeholders do have their rightful place in the Kingdom of God.
D. (:37) Attacks from Foreign Adversaries = Instruments of Divine Judgment
“In those days the LORD began to send Rezin king of Aram
and Pekah the son of Remaliah against Judah.”
Peter Pett: Apart from the building work carried out on the Temple the most notable feature of his reign from the author’s point of view was that YHWH demonstrated His discontent with the spiritual condition of Judah by sending against them Rezin the king of Aram and Pekah the son of Remaliah, the king of Israel. As we have already seen this was because they wanted to pressurise Judah into joining an alliance against the king of Assyria by establishing a puppet king over them, but the author recognised in it the hand of YHWH. It was a sign that He did not see all as right with Judah. Jotham died before their action began in earnest (‘they began to –’). It was his son Ahaz therefore who would bear the full brunt of the attack.
E. (:38) Death, Burial and Succession
“And Jotham slept with his fathers, and he was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father; and Ahaz his son became king in his place.”