Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 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. So the king of Assyria turned back, and stayed not there in the land.
20. Menahem exacted the money ] Fifty shekels=one maneh, was the sixtieth part of a talent of silver. Hence the mighty men of wealth must have numbered 60,000, a number which tells of the richness of the time. The population of Israel in David’s time had 800,000 soldiers (2Sa 24:9).
stayed not there ] He had evidently made his approach to the very border, and perhaps over it.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Menahem exacted the money – The kings of Israel had no such ready resource in difficulties as that possessed by the kings of Judah in the temple treasury 2Ki 12:18; 2Ki 16:8. Hence, the forced contribution from the people, the odium of which was diminished by confining the levy to the comparatively rich.
Each man fifty shekels – As the silver talent contained 3,000 shekels, the levy of fifty shekels a head must have extended to 60,000 persons.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 20. Each man fifty shekels of silver] Upwards of five pounds sterling a man.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Of each man, i.e. of each of those wealthy Israelites. But as each of these were not equally wealthy, so it is not probable that he taxed them equally. Others therefore render it to or for each man, i.e. for every Assyrian soldier; which interpretation is favoured by the placing of the words in the Hebrew text, which differs from that in our translation.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And Menahem exacted the money of Israel, even of all the mighty men of wealth,…. Who were most able to pay it, by which means he eased the poor, and might thereby attach them to him:
of each man fifty shekels of silver, to give to the king of Assyria: that is, he required them to pay fifty shekels apiece to make up the above sum as a present to Pul; though the words in the original text lie more naturally thus, “to give to the king of Assyria fifty shekels of silver for one man”; that is, for every man in his army; which amounted to about six pounds a man:
so the king of Assyria turned back; to his own country:
and stayed not there in the land; in the land of Israel, neither to distress nor to help Menahem, for which he gave him the money.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
To collect the requisite amount, Menahem imposed upon all persons of property a tax of fifty shekels each. with , he caused to arise, i.e., made a collection. in a causative sense, from , to arise, to be paid (2Ki 12:13). : not warriors, but men of property, as in Ruth. 2Ki 2:1; 1Sa 9:1. , for the individual. Pul was the first king of Assyria who invaded the kingdom of Israel and prepared the way for the conquest of this kingdom by his successors, and for the extension of the Assyrian power as far as Egypt. According to the thorough investigation made by Marc. v. Niebuhr ( Gesch. Assurs u. Babels, pp. 128ff.), Pul, whose name has not yet been discovered upon the Assyrian monuments, was the last king of Nineveh of the family of the Derketades, who still ruled over Babylon according to Berosus, and the last king but one of this dynasty.
(Note: It is true that some trace of his expedition has been found in the monuments, since an inscription has been deciphered with tolerable certainty, stating that king Minikhimmi of Samirina (Menahem of Shomron or Samaria) paid tribute to an Assyrian king. But the name of this Assyrian king is not determined with certainty, as Rawlinson, and Oppert read it Tiglat-palassar, and suppose Tiglath-pileser to be intended; whereas M. v. Niebuhr (p. 132, note 1) imagines it to be the full name of Pul, since no Assyrian king ever had a name of one syllable like Pul as his official name, and even before that Hincks had detected in the name Minikhimmi the king Menahem who had to purchase the friendship of the Assyrian ruler Pul with 1000 talents of silver. (Comp. J. Brandis, uber d. histor. Gewinn aus der Entzifferung der assyr. Inschriften, Berl. 1856, p. 50.))
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(20) Exacted.Literally, caused to go out; a word already used in the sense of to lay out, expend money (2Ki. 12:12). Probably, therefore, laid (vayyiss), i.e., imposed, should be read here (Gen. 31:17).
Of.Heb., upon.
The mighty men of wealth.A later use of the Hebrew phrase, which, in older parlance, means the heroes of the host (Jdg. 6:12; 1Sa. 9:1).
Fifty shekels.The talent of silver was worth 3,000 shekels. The payment of 1,000 talents (3,000,000 shekels) therefore implies a total of 60,000 persons able to contribute. Fifty shekels were one maneh (Assyrian, mana; Greek, , and Latin, mina). There was no great Temple treasury to draw from in the northern kingdom, and any palace hoards would have disappeared in the confusions attending the frequent revolutions of the time.
There.Or, then (Psa. 14:5).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
20. Turned back But according to 1Ch 5:26, he carried away with him a number of Israelitish captives.
Pul is the first Assyrian king whose invasion of Israel is mentioned in the Bible, and it is deeply interesting to know that the recently exhumed monuments of the valley of the Euphrates and Tigris throw much light on the biblical history, and often strikingly confirm its statements. But antiquarian research has thus far failed to identify the biblical Pul with any king mentioned in the Assyrian inscriptions. At one time Rawlinson thought the name might be an abbreviation of Vullush, but the discovery of the Assyrian Canon showed that three kings reigned between him and Tiglath-pileser, neither of whose names could possibly be represented by Pul. Accordingly, says Rawlinson, a high authority on this subject, “the Assyrian records do not merely omit Pul, but exclude him; and we have to inquire how this can be accounted for, and who the biblical Pul is, if he is not a regular and recognised Assyrian monarch.”
Some propose to identify him with Tiglath-pileser; others regard him as merely the general of the Assyrian army, but confounded in the Jewish records with the reigning monarch; but according to the latest views of the writer last quoted, “perhaps the most probable supposition is, that he was a pretender to the Assyrian crown, never acknowledged at Nineveh, but established in the western and southern provinces so firmly, that he could venture to conduct an expedition into Lower Syria, and to claim there the fealty of Assyria’s vassals. Or possibly he may have been a Babylonian monarch, who in the troublous times that had now evidently come upon the northern empire, possessed himself of the Euphrates valley, and thence descended upon Syria and Palestine. Berosus represented Pul as a Chaldean king, and the name itself, which is wholly alien to the ordinary Assyrian type, has at least one counterpart [ Porus, in Ptolemy’s Canon] among known Babylonian names.” Ancient Monarchies, vol. ii, p. 123.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2Ki 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. So the king of Assyria turned back, and stayed not there in the land.
Ver. 20. And Menahem exacted. ] Heb., Caused to come forth, sc., by his exactors, who received from his rich subjects no less sums of curses than of coin.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
exacted. Judah usually bought off foreign invaders (2Ki 12:18; 2Ki 16:8; 2Ki 18:15).
there = then. Hebrew. sham. Compare Jdg 5:11. Psa 14:5.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Menahem: 2Ki 23:35
exacted: Heb. caused to come forth
the mighty: Rth 2:1, 2Sa 19:32, Job 1:3
of each man: etc. Or, rather, as Bishop Patrick renders, “to give to the king of Assyria fifty shekels of silver for each man,” i.e., in his army. It may be supposed, that Menahem compelled “the mighty men of wealth” to give much more a-piece than this sum – somewhat about 5. sterling eachand each of them in some proportion to his affluence.
stayed not: 2Ki 15:29, 2Ki 17:3, 2Ki 17:4, 2Ki 18:14-17
Reciprocal: Hos 8:10 – for
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2Ki 15:20. Of all the mighty men of wealth By exacting the money only of the rich, it is likely, he thought he should ingratiate himself with the common people, upon whom he laid no tax. Fifty shekels of silver, demanded of each man of wealth, were a sum equal to f7. 10s. of our money.