“In the fifty-second year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekah the son of Remaliah became king over Israel in Samaria, and reigned twenty years. And he did evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had made Israel sin. In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria came and took Ijon, Abel Beth Maachah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali; and he carried them captive to Assyria. Then Hoshea the son of Elah led a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah, and struck and killed him; so he reigned in his place in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah. Now the rest of the acts of Pekah, and all that he did, indeed they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.” II Kings 15:27-31 NKJV
a. And he did evil in the sight of the LORD: The kings, families, and dynasties ruling Israel changed quickly during this period. Yet there was an amazing continuity of evil through these dynasties. Each was evil, and each continued the state-sponsored idolatry in Israel.
i. For chronologers, the 20 year reign of Pekah is difficult to place. It perhaps includes time that Pekah ruled as an anti-government rebel in certain regions of Israel.
b. Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria came and took: This Assyrian king, unlike in the days of Menahem, would not be paid off by the king of Israel. He came and took some of the best land of the kingdom of Israel, including much of the northern part of the kingdom.
i. “With the loss of Galilee and Gilead and with the presence of Assyrian troops all along Israel’s western frontier, it seemed evident that Pekah’s anti-Assyrian policy had brought Israel to the point of extinction.” (Patterson and Austel)
ii. “From 1 Chronicles 5:26 we learn that Pul and Tiglath-pileser, kings of Assyria, carried away into captivity the two tribes of Reuben, and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh; all that belonged to Israel on the other side of the Jordan. These were never restored to Israel.” (Clarke)
iii. “These were dark days of Israel, her territory now reduced to a tiny kingdom only thirty miles wide by forty miles long.” (Dilday)
c. He carried them captive to Assyria: This became an official state policy of the Assyrian Empire. Upon conquering a land, if necessary, they relocated by force the best and the brightest of the conquered nation, bringing them to Assyria.
i. “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.” (Wiseman)
d. Hoshea the son of Elah led a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah, and struck and killed him: This was another king and another dynasty to end with assassination, as a powerful demonstration of the great instability in the Northern Kingdom.
i. “Josephus says that Hoshea was ‘a friend’ of Pekah’s (Antiquities ix.13)… But watch as he might, his very friend in whom he trusted became, in the ordering of God, his slayer; so impossible it is for the wicked to escape their merited retribution.” (Knapp)
ii. “He slew in his ‘fierce anger’ one hundred thousand Jews in one day (2 Chronicles 28:6); and God requited him in kind; for as he had so treacherously shed man’s blood, by man was his blood also treacherously shed.” (Knapp)
(Guzik)
Friend!
“his very friend in whom he trusted became, in the ordering of God, his slayer;”
Is it a wonder that his very friend stabbed Pekah in the back?
We’ve all had a close friend who had done this to us at one time or another. It was like a dagger in the heart that stopped us in our tracks. But with time we learned to move on and with Jesus we learn to forgive!
“And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” Ephesians 4:32 NKJV
There is a song by Sidewalk Prophets, “Where Forgiveness Is” that teaches about forgiveness and letting go of the bitterness!
Freedom’s where forgiveness is!
Enjoy, blessings
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