Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Kings 15:27
In the two and fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah Pekah the son of Remaliah began to reign over Israel in Samaria, [and reigned] twenty years.
27 31. Pekah king of Israel for twenty years. Invasion of Israel by Tiglath-pileser. Pekah is slain by Hoshea (Not in Chronicles)
27. Pekah the son of Remaliah ] This king is chiefly remarkable because of the attempts which he made against the kingdom of Judah, and which gave rise to the prophecies recorded in Isaiah 7-9. On the history of these attacks on the sister kingdom, see notes on 2Ki 16:5-9. Isaiah often speaks of Pekah as ‘the son of Remaliah’ only, without mention of his own name, so that we are led to conclude that Remaliah must have been some well-known person.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
In the fifty second year of Azariah king of Judah Pekah the son of Remaliah began to reign over Israel in Samaria,…. Which was the last year of the reign of Azariah:
and reigned twenty years; which was a long reign for an usurper and murderer.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Reign of Pekah. – Pekah the son of Remaliah reigned twenty years.
(Note: As this is apparently at variance not only with 2Ki 15:30, according to which Pekah was slain in the twentieth year of Jotham, i.e., in the fourth year of Ahaz, abut also with 2Ki 17:1, according to which Hosea the murderer of Pekah became king in the twelfth year of Ahaz and reigned nine years, Ewald has added after without any hesitation, and lengthened Pekah ‘ s reign to twenty-nine years, whereas Thenius proposes to alter twenty into thirty. But we do not thereby obtain an actual agreement either with 2Ki 15:30 or with 2Ki 17:1, so that in both these passages Thenius is obliged to make further alterations in the text. For instance, if Pekah had reigned for thirty years from the fifty-second or closing year of Uzziah ‘ s reign, Hosea would have ascended the throne in the fourteenth year of Ahaz, supposing that he really became king immediately after the murder of Pekah, and not in the twelfth, as is stated in 2Ki 17:1. It is only with a reign of twenty-eight years and a few months (one year of Uzziah, sixteen of Jotham, and eleven of Ahaz), which might be called twenty-nine years, that the commencement of Hosea ‘ s reign could fall in the twelfth year of Ahaz. But the discrepancy with 2Ki 15:30, that Hosea conspired against Pekah and slew him in the twentieth year of Jotham, is not removed thereby. For further remarks see at 2Ki 15:30 and 2Ki 17:1.)
During his reign the Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser came, and after conquering the fortified cities round Lake Merom took possession of Gilead and Galilee, namely the whole land of Naphtali, and led the inhabitants captive to Assyria. Tiglath-pileser ( or , 2Ki 16:7; or , 1Ch 5:26, and 2Ch 28:20; or , lxx; written Tiglat-palatsira or Tiglat-palatsar on the Assyrian monuments, and interpreted by Gesenius and others “ruler of the Tigris,” although the reading of the name upon the monuments is still uncertain, and the explanation given a very uncertain one, since Tiglat or Tilgat is hardly identical with Diglath = Tigris, but is probably a name of the goddess Derketo, Atergatis), was, according to M. v. Niebuhr (pp. 156, 157), the last king of the Derketade dynasty, who, when the Medes and Babylonians threw off the Assyrian supremacy after the death of Pul, attempted to restore and extend the ancient dominion.
(Note: M. Duncker ( Gesch. des Alterthums, i. pp. 658, 659) also assumes that the dynasty changed with the overthrow of the Derketades, but he places it considerably earlier, about the year 900 or 950 b.c., because on the one hand Niebuhr ‘ s reasons for his view cannot be sustained, and on the other hand there are distinct indications that the change in the reigning family must have taken place about this time: viz., 1. in the ruins of the southern city of Nineveh, at Kalah, where we find the remains of the palace of two rulers, who sat upon the throne of Assyria between the years 900 and 830, whereas the castles of Ninos and his descendants must undoubtedly have stood in the northern city, in Nineveh; 2. in the circumstance that from the time mentioned the Assyrian kingdom advanced with fresh warlike strength and in a fresh direction, which would agree with the change in the dynasty. – Which of these two assumptions is the correct one, cannot yet be decided in the present state of the researches on this subject.)
His expedition against Israel falls, according to 2Ki 15:29 and 2Ki 16:9, in the closing years of Pekah, when Ahaz had come to the throne in Judah. The enumeration of his conquests in the kingdom of Israel commences with the most important cities, probably the leading fortifications. Then follow the districts of which he took possession, and the inhabitants of which he led into captivity. The cities mentioned are Ijon, probably the present Ayun on the north-eastern edge of the Merj Ayun; Abel-beth-maacah, the present Abil el Kamh, on the north-west of Lake Huleh (see at 1Ki 15:20); Janoach, which must not be confounded with the Janocha mentioned in Jos 16:6-7, on the border of Ephraim and Manasseh, but is to be sought for in Galilee or the tribe-territory of Naphtali, and has not yet been discovered; Kedesh, on the mountains to the west of Lake Huleh, which has been preserved as an insignificant village under the ancient name (see at Jos 12:22); Hazor, in the same region, but not yet traced with certainty (see at Jos 11:1). Gilead is the whole of the land to the east of the Jordan, the territory of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half-Manasseh (1Ch 5:26), which had only been wrested from the Syrians again a short time before by Jeroboam II, and restored to Israel (2Ki 14:25). (the feminine form of , see Ewald, 173, h.) is more precisely defined by the apposition “all the land of Naphtali” (see at 1Ki 9:11). – In the place of , “to the land of Assyria,” the different regions to which the captives were transported are given in 1Ch 5:26. For further remarks on this point see at 2Ki 17:6.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
D. PEKAH, THE GREAT NATIONALIST 15:2731
TRANSLATION
(27) In the fifty-second year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekah the son of Remaliah began to reign over Israel; he reigned in Samaria twenty years. (28) And he did that which was evil in the eyes of the LORD; he did not turn aside from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat who caused Israel to sin. (29) In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came and took Ijon, Abel-bethmaachah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galileeall the land of Naphtali and carried them captive to Assyria. (30) And Hoshea the son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah, and smote him, and slew him, and reigned in his place in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah. (31) And the rest of the acts of Pekah and all which he did, behold they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.
Eighteenth King of Israel
PEKAH BEN REMALIAH
740732 B.C.*
(Watch)
2Ki. 15:27-31
Synchronism
Pekah 1 = Uzziah 52
Contemporary Prophet
Hosea
Righteousness tendeth toward life: so he that pursueth evil pursueth it to his own death. Pro. 11:19
*Ruled in Transjordan from 752 B.C.
COMMENTS
The assassination of Pekahiah took place in the last year of the long reign of Uzziah of Judah. The twenty years attributed to Pekah must be counted from 752 B.C., the first year of Menahem (2Ki. 15:27). No other way of fitting this twenty years into the chronological framework appears possible. This means, in effect, that throughout the reigns of Menahem and his son Pekahiah, Pekah maintained a rival dynasty, perhaps in Transjordan. Gray refers to this as partisan dating.
Pekah appears to have been radically anti-Assyrian in his foreign policy. He joined with Rezin of Damascus in forming a coalition of western states which hopefully would be able to withstand further Assyrian incursions. Fearful of reprisals at the hands of the ruthless Assyrians, Ahaz of Judah refused to join the coalition. Pekah and his ally Rezin then attacked Judah with the purpose of deposing Ahaz and putting someone more sympathetic to the anti-Assyrian cause on the throne (Isa. 7:2-6). Ahaz summoned Tiglath-pileser to his aid. The great Assyrian monarch attacked the Northern Kingdom in 734 B.C., annexing much territory and deporting many captives. In 732 B.C. he attacked and destroyed Damascus. He probably would have destroyed Israel as well had it not been for the fact that Pekah was assassinated by Hoshea who was willing to pledge allegiance to Tiglath-pileser. Nonetheless, the Great King did take away captive great masses from the northern parts of Israel. Ijon and Abel-bethmaachah were towns near the waters of Merom (Lake Huleh) as were also Janoah, Kedesh and Hazor. It is disputed whether Gilead was the entire region east of Jordan or a small district near the waters of Merom.[583] Galilee was the region which later gave its name to the lake located there (2Ki. 15:29).
[583] The deportation of Transjordan alluded to in 1Ch. 5:26 is likely the same as mentioned here. This campaign is mentioned in three different Assyrian texts. See Gray, OTL, p.626.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(27-31) THE REIGN OF PEKAH, SON OF REMALIAH, IN SAMARIA.
(27) Reigned twenty years.This does not agree with the duration assigned to the reign of Jotham (2Ki. 15:33), and the year assigned as the beginning of Hosheas reign (2Ki. 17:1). For, according to 2Ki. 15:32, Pekah had reigned about two years when Jotham succeeded in Judah, and Jotham reigned sixteen years; and, according to 2Ki. 17:1, Pekah was succeeded by Hoshea in the twelfth year of Jothams successor, Ahaz. These data make the duration of Pekahs reign from twenty-eight to thirty years. We must, therefore, either assume, with Thenius, that the numeral sign for 30 () has been corrupted into 20 (), or, with Ewald, that and nine has been accidentally omitted after twenty.
(29) Tiglath-pileser.This Assyrian sovereign, who reigned from 745 to 727 B.C. , is called in his own inscriptions, Tukulti- (or Tuklat) abal-Esarra, which Schrader renders, my trust is Adarliterally, Trust is the son of the temple of Sarra. (See Note on 1Ch. 5:26.) The idea we get of this king from the remains of these inscriptions corresponds throughout to what we know of him from the Bible. Everywhere he is presented as a powerful warrior-king, who subjugated the entire tract of anterior Asia, from the frontier mountains of Media in the east to the Mediterranean sea in the west, including a part of Cappadocia (Schrader, K.A.T., p. 247).
Took Ijon, and Abel-beth-maachah . . . all the land of Naphtali.Comp. 1Ki. 15:20.
Janoah.Not the border-town between Ephraim and Manasseh (Jos. 16:6), as the context requires a place in the northernmost part of Israel.
Kedesh.On the western shore of the waters of Merom (Jos. 21:37).
Hazor.See 1Ki. 9:15.
Gilead.See 2Ki. 14:25; 1Ch. 5:26. It was no long time since Jeroboam II. had recovered it for Israel. According to Schrader (K.A.T., pp. 254, seq.) the reference of the verse is to Tiglath Pilesers expedition in B.C. 734, called in the Eponym list an expedition to the land of Pilista (Philistia). With this Schrader connects a fragment of the annals which begins with a list of towns conquered by Tiglath, and ends thus: . . . the town of Gaal (ad) . . . (A) bil . . . of the upper part of the land of Beth-Omri (i.e., Samaria) . . . in its whole extent I annexed to the territory of Assyria; my prefects the sagans I appointed over them. The fragment goes on to mention the flight of Hnn, king of Gaza, to Egypt, and the carrying off of his goods and his gods by the conqueror. It is added, The land of Beth-Omri . . . the whole body of his men, their goods, to the land of Assyria I led away, Pakaha (i.e., Pekah) their king I slew (so Schrader;? they slew), and A-u-si-ha (i.e., Hoshea) . . . over them I appointed. Ten (talents of gold, 1,000 talents of silver) 1 received from them.
(30) Hoshea . . . slew him, and reigned in his stead.See the inscription of Tiglath Pileser, quoted in the last Note, from which, as Schrader remarks, it is clear that Hoshea only secured his hold on the crown by recognition of the suzerainty of Assyria. The brief record of Kmgs does not mention this; but 2Ki. 17:3 represents Hoshea as paying tribute to Shalmaneser IV., the successor of Tiglath.
In the twentieth year of Jotham.This is a suspicious statement, as not agreeing with 2Ki. 15:33, according to which Jotham reigned sixteen years only.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
REIGN OF PEKAH, 2Ki 15:27-31.
27. Pekah twenty years According to Bahr we should here read thirty years. Pekah’s reign is especially noted for its connexion with Syrian and Assyrian wars. After Tiglath-pileser’s first invasion Pekah, and Rezin king of Syria, made a league against Judah, and proposed to reduce Jerusalem, and make a “son of Tabeal” king there in place of Ahaz. 2Ki 16:5; Isa 7:1-2; Isa 7:6. This led Ahaz to seek an alliance with Tiglath-pileser, who immediately marched against Damascus, captured the city, and carried its inhabitants into captivity. 2Ki 16:9.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Reign Of Pekah King Of Israel c. 739-732/31 BC ( 2Ki 15:27-31 ).
The appeasement party having been defeated, and their king overthrown, Israel became mainly anti-appeasment, and as such would unite with others in order to be ready to oppose Assyria. One of the main parties in the conspiracy along with Pekah was Rezin king of Aram. Other interested parties included Philistia and Edom, and they had (false) hopes of assistance from Egypt. How were they to know that Egypt, which had always appeared to them a mighty power, were too weak at the time to be able to do anything against a power like Assyria? Assyria contemptuously called Egypt, ‘that broken reed of a staff which will pierce the hand of anyone who leans on it’ (2Ki 18:21), and they were mainly right. They were strong enough to be able to protect themselves, but not to be able to help others.
Meanwhile there was a breathing space, presumably because Tiglath-pileser was busy elsewhere containing Urartu and Babylon, both of which he would later destroy. So one of the things that Pekah did, along with Rezin king of Aram who was ruling from Damascus, was try to persuade Judah to join the conspiracy (see Isaiah 7). When Jotham and then Ahaz refused, Pekah and Rezin invaded Israel (2Ki 16:5), with the assistance of Philistia from the west and Edom from the south (2Ki 16:6). Judah consequently appeared to be in desperate straits, but rather than yield, and against the advice of Isaiah, Ahaz appealed to Assyria (probably unnecessarily as Tiglath-pileser had probably already set out with a view to dealing with the conspiracy). Certainly the action of the invaders, while devastating parts of Judah, did suddenly cease, and that could only be because they were called on to face the might of Assyria. As a result Israel would only survive in part, (with a huge chunk of Israel becoming a province of Assyria), and that due to the assassination of Pekah and his replacement with Hoshea who immediately submitted to Assyria, while this was followed by Rezin and Damascus being destroyed and Aram became a province of Assyria ruled over by an Assyrian governor. However, as YHWH was not directly involved, the prophetic author of Kings covers the whole action in a few verses.
Analysis.
a
b In the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, and took Ijon, and Abel-beth-maacah, and Janoah, and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali (2Ki 15:29 a).
c And he carried them captive to Assyria (2Ki 15:29 b).
b And Hoshea the son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah, and smote him, and slew him, and reigned instead of him, in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah (2Ki 15:29).
a 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 (2Ki 15:30).
Note that in ‘a’ we have the introduction to Pekah’s reign and a description of his behaviour, and in the parallel we are referred for the remainder of his acts to the official annals of the kings of Israel. In ‘b’ we have described the invasion of Tiglath-pileser, and in the parallel Pekah’s assassination by Hoshea. Centrally in ‘c’ we have described the exiling of large numbers of Israelites to Assyria.
2Ki 15:27
‘In the fifty second year of Azariah king of Judah Pekah the son of Remaliah began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned twenty years.’
Pekah the son of Remaliah began to reign over Israel in Samaria towards the end of Uzziah’s life, and he reigned for twenty years, but the twenty years included the period when he was deputy ruler to Menahem and Pekahiah in Gilead. As sole ruler he ruled for about seven years. He may well have taken over Pekahiah’s name, either in order to deceive parts of Israel into thinking that there had been no change in ruler, or in order to confuse the king of Assyria.
Alternatively Pekah the son of Remaliah might have set up a separate state in Gilead in rebellion against Menahem and Pekahiah with his reign being counted from the day of the setting up of that state.
2Ki 15:28
‘And he did what was evil in the sight of YHWH. He did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, by which he made Israel to sin.’
However, he continued to encourage the cult of Jeroboam, which Jeroboam had introduced into Israel, so that the covenant of YHWH was largely ignored and people behaved in a similar way to their neighbours in a selfish, callous and violent world, a subject constantly taken up by Hosea, Amos, Micah and Isaiah.
2Ki 15:29
‘In the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, and took Ijon, and Abel-beth-maacah, and Janoah, and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali.’
Pekah’s reward for his attitude towards Assyria was to see Israel’s armies driven back by the Assyrians with great slaughter and with city after city taken by the Assyrians in north Israel These cities in the land of Naphtali would never again be part of Israel but would be incorporated into Assyrian provinces. Naphtali would cease to exist.
Compare here 1Ki 15:20 where Ijon, Dan and Abel-beth-maacah were border cities taken by the king of Aram in response to Asa’s plea for their assistance against Israel. Ijon, Abel-beth-maacah, Janoah, Kedesh and Hazor would be a line of border fortress cities, Hazor being well known from Jos 11:1-15. For Hazor and Kedesh see Jos 19:36-37. Janoah is Yanuh, north east of Acco. Gilead (Gal’za) and Galilee represented the larger districts around Naphtali. Galilee, and probably Gilead, were incorporated into the Assyrian province of Megiddo. The archaeological digs at Hazor have confirmed that it was destroyed by fire around this time, and a potsherd was discovered in the ruins containing Pekah’s name. All that was now left to Israel west of Jordan was the hill country of Ephraim around Samaria.
2Ki 15:29
‘And he carried them captive to Assyria.’
Furthermore the Assyrians carried out their policy of transporting in chains, in the cruellest possible way, the cream of the inhabitants of northern Israel to Assyria and other areas (compare Isa 11:11, which, however, included other movements and transportations), replacing them with transportees from other such areas. The aim was to destroy nationalistic tendencies and divide up the opposition. The Nimrud tablet reads, ‘Israel (bit Humria) —the total of its inhabitants I led off to Assyria. Peqaha (Pekah) their king they deposed, and I set Ausi (Hoshea) over them. I received from them as their tribute ten talents of gold and — talents of silver and brought them to Assyria.’ This was a huge sum for a reduced and impoverished Israel to find. It was the price of rebellion.
2Ki 15:30
‘And Hoshea the son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah, and smote him, and slew him, and reigned instead of him, in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah.’
With Israel in process of being systematically destroyed by Assyria Hoshea the son of Elah took part in a conspiracy and assassinated Pekah, taking his throne and immediately seeking peace terms from Assyria. As we saw above Assyria claimed that it was on their initiative, but that was probably typical misrepresentation. This took place in the twentieth year of Jotham of Judah. The period was calculated from when Jotham became co-regent as a result of Uzziah’s illness in c. 750 BC, and is probably to be seen as a generalisation (he reigned from c. 750-731 BC). The Israel over which Hoshea ruled was a greatly reduced Israel.
2Ki 15:31
‘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.’
The remaining acts of Pekah could be found in the official annals of the kings of Israel.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
2Ki 15:27 In the two and fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah Pekah the son of Remaliah began to reign over Israel in Samaria, [and reigned] twenty years.
Ver. 27. And he reigned twenty years. ] Not without many troubles, and at last a violent death. 2Ki 15:30
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
twenty years. See App-50. The Assyrian inscription shows only four years. But why is writing on stone always assumed to be correct, and on parchment, always wrong? There were two chronological mistakes on the Duke of Cambridge’s monument erected in Whitehall, London, which were the subject of a correspondence in the London newspapers of that date. (The Duke died in March, 1904.) On the coffinplate of King Edward VII, his death is put as occurring in the “ninth” instead of in the “tenth” year of his reign. In the inscription of DARIUS HYSTASPIS on the Behistun Rock (see App-57), no less than fourteen “mistakes” made by the graver (one of them actually corrected by himself) are noted as such by the authors of the exhaustive work on that subject issued by the Trustees of the British Museum.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Pekah
(Watch)
2Ki 15:27-31
Contemporary Prophet: Oded.
Righteousness tendeth to life: so he that pursueth evil pursueth it to his own death.-Pro 11:19
In the two and fiftieth year of Azariah (Uzziah) king of Judah, Pekah the son of Remaliah began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned twenty years. 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. How painfully this oft-recurring testimony, like a sad refrain, falls upon the ear! But this is the last time. Under Hoshea, Pekahs slayer and successor, God made to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel (Hos 1:4). And he, though he wrought iniquity, did it not as the kings of Israel that were before him (2Ki 17:2).
In the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, and took Ijon, and Abel-beth-maachah, and Janoah, and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and carried them captive to Assyria. This occurred after Pekahs unprovoked and dastardly attack on Jerusalem, in concert with Rezin king of Damascus. See Ahaz. And the king of Assyrias invasion and devastation of his land was his just reward for his fierce anger and evil counsel against the house of David, which he sought to overthrow by conspiracy and revolution. See Isa 7:4-6.
He slew in his fierce anger one hundred thousand Jews in one day (2Ch 28:6); and God requited him in kind; for as he had so treacherously shed mans blood, by man was his blood also treacherously shed. And Hoshea the son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah, and smote him, and slew him, and reigned in his stead, in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah.
Josephus says Hoshea was a friend of Pekahs (Ant. ix. 13). In his death the prophecy of Isaiah (chap. 7:16) was fulfilled. His name, meaning watch, is from a root, to open (as the eyes); figuratively, to be observant (Strong). But watch as he might, his very friend in whom he trusted became, in the ordering of God, his slayer; so impossible is it for the wicked to escape their merited retribution from the hand of Him who has said, Vengeance is Mine; I will repay. Read Amo 9:1-5.
And 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.
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
am 3245-3265, bc 759-739
the two: 2Ki 15:2, 2Ki 15:8, 2Ki 15:13, 2Ki 15:23
Pekah: 2Ki 15:25, 2Ki 15:37, Isa 7:1, Isa 7:4, Isa 7:9
Reciprocal: 2Ki 15:32 – Jotham 2Ki 16:1 – seventeenth 2Ch 28:6 – Pekah
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2Ki 15:27. In the two and fiftieth year of Azariah Pekah began to reign This is the fifth king that reigned over Israel during the reign of Azariah king of Judah. Pekah, however, reigned much longer than any of the preceding four. For though he also, like Shallum and Menahem, got the kingdom by treason and blood, he kept possession of it twenty years. So long it was before his violent dealing returned upon his own head. And he made himself more noted abroad than any of these usurpers; for even in the latter part of his time, in the reign of Ahaz, (which began in his seventeenth year,) he was a great terror to the kingdom of Judah, as we find, Isa 7:1. Mr. Locke justly observes, that the prophecies of Hosea, Joel, and Amos, come in here, who all prophesied about this time.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
13. Pekah’s evil reign in Israel 15:27-31
Though the writer did not clarify this point, it seems that Pekah had been ruling over Israel in Gilead since 752 B.C., the year Menahem assassinated Shallum. This must be the case in view of the writer’s chronological references. [Note: See Edwin R. Thiele, The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings, pp. 118-40.] He wrote that in the fifty-second year of Azariah, Pekah became king over Israel in Samaria. Apparently Pekah never accepted Menahem’s claim to Israel’s throne and set up a rival government on the east side of the Jordan River in Gilead. In 740 B.C. he assassinated Pekahiah in Samaria, moved there, and reigned until 732 B.C.
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 (2Ki 15:19-20). 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. (2Ch 28:5-8). He captured much of Israel’s territory (2Ki 15:29) 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." [Note: Wiseman, p. 256.]
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. [Note: James B. Pritchard, ed., Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, p. 284.] Obviously Assyria was in control of affairs in Israel at this time.