2 Kings 14-15

 Ob and In:

(1) Repeated words: assasination (especially in the Northern Kingdom, Israel)

A. King #1 killed King #0

15:10 Shallum son of Jabesh conspired against him; he assassinated him [Zechariah] in Ibleam and took his place as king.

(BKC) Zechariah’s [King #0] death fulfilled God’s word to Jehu that four generations would succeed him on Israel’s throne (10:30).

(NAC) Shallum [King #1] lasts even less time than the man he murders. His one-month monarchy is second shortest in Israel’s history

B. King #2 killed King #1

14 Menahem son of Gadi went up from Tirzah to Samaria and attacked Shallum son of Jabesh. He killed him and took his place as king.

(NAC) v.16 his [King #2] brutality “is unparalleled in intertribal warfare in Israel, and matched only by the Ammonite barbarities mentioned in Amos.” Obviously Menahem’s butchery marks a new low in how Israel’s leadership conducts its affairs.

C.  King #3 killed King #2

25 His officer Pekah son of Remaliah conspired against him. He and fifty Gileadites assassinated Pekahiah, as well as Argob and Arieh, in Samaria in the fortress of the royal palace. Pekah then took his place as king.

(NAC)The description of Pekahiah’s [King #3] two-year “era” (ca. 742–740 B.C.) sounds very much like that of Zechariah’s [King #0] and Shallum’s [King #1] reigns. The author merely states the length of the reign, Pekahiah’s [King #3] support of the cult of Jeroboam I, and the events surrounding his assassination. In other words, the historian notes that nothing has changed for the better. 

Assyria continues to lurk in the shadows, waiting for a chance to extract more blood money; Israel’s kings fail to lead the people in a positive spiritual direction; and grasping, greedy, power-hungry men kill monarchs and take their place. Nothing occurs to slow Israel’s demise.

D. King #4 killed King #3

30 Hoshea son of Elah conspired against Pekah son of Remaliah. He assassinated him and took his place as king, in the twentieth year of the reign of Jotham son of Uzziah.

 Overall: 
(NAC) 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. 

(2) Phrase that was repeated not only in these 2 chapters, but from the beginning of the history of the Northern King was, "He did evil in the sight of the LORD; he did not repudiate the sinful ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat who encouraged Israel to sin."

Reflection: What causes the end of the Northern Kingdom: A strong opponent, Assyria? A series of weak kings who kept being assasinated in a short period of time? Absence of any change brought by good kings? King with brutal military strategy? Or was it because they stubbornly followed the sin of idolatry which caused all these problems? 

What does our stubbornness cause us? The judgment of Israel was imminent at that point of time in history. Let us learn from their example and do not wait any more to turn back to God. 

The usual number of kings being assassinated was obvious to us and supposed to act as the wake up call for Israel, but they did not get it. How about us? Is that any wake up call that we miss?

(3) Repeated theme: using money to buy foreign power to solve crisis

19 Pul king of Assyria invaded the land, and Menahem [King #2] paid him 1,000 talents of silver to gain his support and to solidify his control of the kingdom. 20 Menahem got this silver by taxing all the wealthy men in Israel; he took fifty shekels of silver from each one of them and paid it to the king of Assyria. Then the king of Assyria left; he did not stay there in the land.

(NAC) Menahem [King #2] immediately pays the antagonist [king of Assyria] a large sum of money to leave, which Tiglath-Pileser III  [king of Assyria] does, armed with the knowledge that Israel has neither the power nor the will necessary to oppose him. Menahem merely whets Assyria’s appetite for expansion and oppression....Menahem...[began] the ongoing policy of draining Israel’s resources... From now on the Northern Kingdom will never be rid of Assyria...His religious policies do not help Israel heal its breach with the Lord. Thus his reign is but a longer episode in the swift decline of the northern people.

29 During Pekah’s [King #3] reign over Israel, King Tiglath-Pileser of Assyria came and captured Ijon, Abel Beth Maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, including all the territory of Naphtali. He deported the people to Assyria.

(NAC) During Pekah’s [King #3] reign Israel opposes Assyria, a policy that results in the conflict known as the Syro-Ephraimite war. This war pits Israel (led by Pekah) and Syria (led by Rezin) against Tiglath-Pileser III. To strengthen their coalition, Israel and Syria seek to force Judah into joining them (cf. 2 Kgs 15:32–38). Judah resists, however, and calls upon Assyria for help, which Tiglath-Pileser III gladly provides (cf. 2 Kgs 16:7–9). Assyria enters the land, ravages the northernmost segment of Israel, and leaves Pekah with no mandate for leadership. This debacle leads to Pekah’s being assassinated by Hoshea.

Israel cannot afford many more political miscalculations. Alternating appeasement of, then rebellion against, Assyria simply does not work.

Reflection: No matter if the Israel kings appeased the Assyria king or formed an alliance to rebel against him, their country was not saved. It was eventually destroyed by Assyria. Nothing they could do would "work" for them, because God was against them. No one will want to fall on the hands of God. Do we fear God?

Audrey