2 Kings 15
PATwere to come; and the meaning is, Azariah was made king when Jeroboam had yet twenty-seven years to reign; before tho family of Jehu came to an end. For after this Jeroboam reigned twenty-six years, and his son sixmonths; which make twenty-seven imperfect years. This Abarhinel thinks is the literal sense: but the othet is more agreeable to the constant account of the reigns of other kings. (See Mr. Whiston,‘in his lato View of tho Chronology ofthe Old Testament, p. 91.) Vcr. 2. Sixteeyi years old teas he when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Jecholiah of Jerusalem.’] In which time, which was longer than any king of Judah or Israel reigned, he did many great things; which are recorded in 2 Chron. xxvi. from ver. 5. to 16.
2 Kings 15:1
J[N the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel, began Azariah son of Amaziah king of Judah to reign,. Here is a great difficulty, in the solving of which interpreters much vary: for Amaziah the father of Azariah lived but fifteen years after the beginning of Jeroboam’s reign; (xiv. 17.) therefore Azariah began his reign, not in the twenty-seventh, but in the beginning of the seventeenth of Jeroboam. Some think Jeroboam reigned with his father eleven years: others, that there was an interregnum: that is, the throne was vacant eleven, or rather twelve years, between the death of Amaziah and the inauguration of Azariah. Dr. Lightfoot makes no doubt of the truth of this: that Azariah being but sixteen years old in the seven-andtwentieth of Jeroboam, he was but four years old at his father’s death; and the throne being empty for eleven, or twelve years, the government was managed by some of the grandees in his minority. But Ralbag will have these twenty-seven years of Jeroboam not to be those which were past, but those which 3T
2 Kings 15:3
And he did that tvhich was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that Amaziah his father had done. He governed well in the former part of his reign, and was prospered by God; (2 Chron. xxvi. 5.) but offended in the latter end of it, as Amaziah his father had done.’
2 Kings 15:4
Save that the high places were not removed: the 2>eoplc sacrificed and offered incense still on the high places. Which was a common error (as I have often observed) which continued through the reign of the best of their kings, till the time of Hezekiah."
2 Kings 15:5
And the Lord smote the king, so that he was a leper to the day of his death, and he dwelt in a several house. The cause of this stroke is related at large in 2 Chron. xxvi. 16, &c. And by a several house the Jews understand a house in the country, which was domus libera: w r herc he might have liberty to take his pleasure, but not to meddle with public affairs. And Jotham the king*s son ivas over the house, judging the people ofthe land.] Over the king’s house, as it is in 2 Chron. xxvi. 23. That is, he lived in the palace, and managed all the affairs of the court, and ofthe kingdom. This was in the seven-and-twentieth year of Azariah, when he was smote with the leprosy (as Rasi makes account), and he continued a leper twenty-five years, during which time Jotham toolc upon him the administration of the government, his father being incapable of it.
2 Kings 15:6
And the rest ofthe acts of Azariah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book ofthe Chronicles of the kings of Judah?
2 Kings 15:7
So Azariah slept with his fathers; and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David; and Jotham his son reigned in his stead. He was not buried in the very city of David, but in the field ofthe burial tvhich belonged to the kings, (2 Chron. xxvi. 23.) In which field, it is probable, the sepulchre of the kings was: wherein they would not bury Azariah, because he was a leper; but yet very near to the sepulchre, where his ancestors lay interred.
2 Kings 15:8
In the thirty-eighth year of Azariah king of Judah did Zachariah the son of Jeroboam reign over. Israel in Samaria six months. Some are confident the throne was vacant two-and-twenty years between the death of Jeroboam and the inauguration of his son; either through wars from abroad (which Jeroboam might have provoked against his house, by the conquest of Hamath and Damascus), or through war at home, which appears, they think, from this disastrous end of Zachariah, ver. 10. (See Dr. Lightfoot, in his Prolegomena to his Harmony of the Evangelists, sect. 6.) But there are few that follow this opinion, though one most learned in these, as well as other things (Dr. Alix), thinks there was an interregnum of twenty-four years. If there be any difficulty in this account, most think it is sufficiently solved, by saying, that it was the thirtyeighth year, from the time that Azariah began to reign with his father.
2 Kings 15:9
And he did that which was evil in the sight oftlie Lord, as his fathers had done: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son ofNebat, who made Israel to sin. Therefore God cuthim off speedily; the time approaching, when he intended to put an end to the kingdom of Israel.
2 Kings 15:10
And Shallum the sonofJabesh conspired against him, and smote him before the people, and slew him, and reigned in his stead. It is uncertain who this Shallum was, Or what was the pretence of his conspiracy, and of his possessing himself of the throne; but it is pretty plain, I think; that he laid his treason privately and secret, (ver. 15.) and then made an open assault upon the king’s person in the face of all the people.
2 Kings 15:11
And the rest of the acts of Zachariah, behold, they are written in the book ofthe Chronicles ofthe kings of Israel. We read of nothing that he did; therefore the meaning is, that his behaviour in the six months’ time wherein he reigned, how he managed things, and provoked this conspiracy, are recorded elsewhere: the author of this book intending only to give a brief account of the remaining kings of Israel.
2 Kings 15:12
Tliis was the word ofthe Lord which he spake to Jehu, saying, Thy sons shall sit on the throne of Israel, unto the fourth generation. And so it came to pass. How unfaithful soever they proved to God, he faithfully kept his promise which he made to Jehu: whose sons Jehoahaz, Jehoash, Jeroboam, and Zachariah, succeeded him in the throne of Israel. But this Shallum put an end to that family, and fulfilled the prophecy of Hosea, i. 4. " I will avenge the bloodof Jezreelupon the house of John, and will cause to cease the kingdom of thehouse of Israel." For though Jehu had a command from God to destroy the house of Ahab, yet he did it with such ill affections, and for such wrong ends, that God avenged that blood by this man, who slew Zachariah, and the rest of his posterity, if there were any: at least, he made the kingdom to cease in this family, and not long after in all Israel; who were rooted out, and never restored to their country, as Judah was. *
2 Kings 15:13
Shallum the son ofJabesh began to reign in the nine-and-thirticth year of Uzziah, king of Judah; and he reigned a full month in Samaria. We are not told how he reigned, but it is likely he followed the steps of Jeroboam, who made Israel to sin.
2 Kings 15:14
For Menahem the son of Gadi went up from Tirzah, and came to Samaria, and smote Shallum, the son of Jabesh, in Samaria, and slew him, and reigned in his stead. Josephus thinks Menahem was general of the army of Israel, which besieged Tirzahfwhen Zachariah was slain: and he hearing what Shallum had done, came and served him in his kind, and made himself king.
2 Kings 15:15
And the rest ofthe acts of Shallum, and the conspiracy which he made, behold, they are tvritten in the book ofthe Chronicles of the kings of Israel. A larger account was given of his conspiracy, and the occasion of it, and his success in it, in that book; where some other memora- Digitfeed by Microsoft ® CHAP. XV.] THE SECOND BOOK OF THE KINGS. ble acts, which it seems he did in a month’s time, were recorded.
2 Kings 15:16
Tlien Mendhem smote Tiphsah, and the coasts thereof from Tirzah: because they opened not to him, therefore he smote it. Some take this Tiphsah to be the same with that mentioned in 1 Kings iv. 24. But that lay upon the river Euphrates, whereas this was near to Tirzah; which was once the royal city of Israel: to the siege of which Josepbus thinks Menahem returned after the slaughter of Shallum; not as general of the host, but as their king: but they knowing he had no title to the kingdom, would not open their gates to him. Therefore he took it by force, and spoiled it, and all the territory about it, until he came to Tiphsah, which he used more cruelly. And all the women therein that icere with child he ripped up.] By which barbarity he thought to terrify the whole kingdom, that none might dare to withstand him.
2 Kings 15:17
In the thirty-ninth year ofAzariah, king ofJudah, began Menahem the son of Gadi to reign over Israel, and reigned ten years in Samaria. He seems to have reigned with such fury, that none durst oppose him; but he possessed the throne ten years before God cut him off.
2 Kings 15:18
And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord: he departed not all his days from the sins of Jeroboam the soil of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.
2 Kings 15:19
And Pul the king of Assyria came against the land. That is, the land of Israel. He was governor of Babylon, who, together with Arbaccs the Mede, slew Sardanapulus, the last of the Assyrian kings, and translated the empire to the Chaldeans. For he Teigned over Babylon and Nineveh, and Arbaces over the Medcs and Persians. He was the first king of Assyria that invaded Israel, and began their transportation out of their own country; as Abarbinel gathers from 1 Chron. v. 26. And this is the first time that we find any mention of the kingdom of Assyria, since the days of Nimrod, who erected a small kingdom here, (Gen. x. 11.) And they were no gTeat people, one would think, when the seventy-second psalm was penned, where they arc reckoned as auxiliaries to the children of Lot, against the Israelites, together with other small nations; but now they had a great and powerful empire. And Menahem gave Pnl a thousand talents of silver, that his hand might be with him, to confirm the kingdom in his hand.] By this great present he not only turned away the army of Pul from him, but purchased his friendship; so that he helped to establish his authority. Which was very tottering, by reason he was not only an usurper, but had exercised extreme great cruelty upon his people, which no doubt made him extremely hated, (ver. 10.)
2 Kings 15:20
And Menahem exacted the money of Israel, even of all the mighty men of wealth, of each man fifty shekels of silver, to give to the king of Assyria. By this means, J suppose, he thought to. ingratiate himself with the common people; upon whom he laid no tax, but charged only the rich, according to the proportion of their wealth. For the Hebrew words do not import that he made every rich man in Israel pay fifty sbckcls; but that he gave to the king of Assyria so many shekels for every man, that is, for every one in his army. So they run exactly, to give to the king of Assyria fifty shekels of silver for each man. So the king of Assyria turned back, and stayed not there in the land.] At that time he departed; but it is likely ho afterward returned, in the reign of Pckah, and made the deportation beforcmentioned.. And the rest of the acts of Pekahiah, and all that he did, behold, they are tcritten in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel.
2 Kings 15:21
And 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?
2 Kings 15:22
And Menahem slept with his fathers, and Pekahiah his son reigned in his stead. This shews him to have been a mighty man, that, notwithstanding his violence and cruelty, he left the kingdom in his family: which the two foregoing kings could not do. But it is evident, there was an interregnum of a year between the reign of Menahem and Pekahiah: for Pekahiah did not begin his reign till the fiftieth year ofAzariah (as it here follows), and Menahem died the year before; for he began to reign in the thirtyninth ofAzariah, (ver. 17.) and reigned but ten years.
2 Kings 15:23
In the fiftieth year ofAzariah king of Judah, Pekahiah, the son of Menahem, began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned two years. His reign was short; both because he himself was wicked, and his father also was an usurper.
2 Kings 15:24
And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin. He was the wicked son of a wicked father; and so perished (as it here follows) by such a conspiracy as his father made against Shallum. Ven25. And Pekah the son of Remaliah, a captain of his, conspired against him, and smote him in Samaria, in the palace of the king’s house, tvith Argob and Arieh.] These were’ two valiant men, who some think were in the conspiracy with him against Pekahiah. But Abarbinel rather thinks they were two eminent courtiers, who were always about the king. And with him fifty men of the Gileadites.] Who were his guards, and, perhaps, assisted him in his treason. And he killed him, and reigned in his stead.] He was a great commander under Pekahiah; for the Hebrew word shalish signifies more than a bare captain. Therefore Josephus calls him a chiliarch, or an officer over a thousand men. And the word carrying in it the notion of three, some later writers have therefore thought him to be the third person in the kingdom, next the king. No question he was some considerable person, who had soldiers at his command to execute his designs.
2 Kings 15:27
In the fifty-second year of Azariah king of Jitdah, Pekah the son of Remaliah began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned twenty years. This is the fifth king that reigned over Israel during the reign of Azariah king of Judah.
2 Kings 15:28
lie did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.
2 Kings 15:29
In the days of Pekah king of Israel. In the last year of his reign, as the Jews say in Seder Olam Rabba. Came Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria.] He was tho son of Pul, and is called by other authors Phul, or Phul-Assur, and here Tiglath-Pul-Assur: the former part of this name being taken from the river Tigris, which is called by the inhabitants Diglito; from whose borders this king came.