2 Kings 15:19
Ver. 19. And Pul the king of Assyria came against the land,.... The land of Israel, he invaded it; a Jewish chronologer {u} calls him Pulbelicho; and he is generally thought to be the same with Belochus or Belesis, governor of Babylon, who, with Arbaces the Mede, slew Sardanapalus, said to be the last of the Assyrian kings, and translated the empire to the Chaldeans; he ruling over Babylon and Nineveh, and Arbaces over the Medes and Persians; but Pul was not a Babylonian, but an Assyrian {w}, and the first king of the Assyrians, at least, the Scriptures speak of: we read no more of him; but one Metasthenes, a Persian historian, feigned and published by Annius, and so named by him instead of Megasthenes, calls him Phulbelochus, and says {x} he reigned forty eight years:and Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver; and a talent of silver, according to Brerewood {y} was three hundred and seventy five pounds; but Bishop Cumberland {z} calculates it at three hundred and fifty three pounds eleven shillings and ten pence half penny; 1,000 of them made a large sum of money, according to the former 375,000 pounds; and this he gave to him, not only to desist from the invasion of his land, butthat his hand might be with him; and not against him:and to confirm the kingdom in his hand; which being got by usurpation, and supported by cruelty, was but tottering.{u} David Ganz. Tzemach David, par. 2. fol. 5. 2. {w} See the Universal History, vol. 4. B. 1. ch. 8. sect. 5. {x} De Judicio Temp. & Annal. Pers. fol. 221. 2. {y} De Ponder & Pret. Vet. Num. c. 4. {z} Scripture Weights and Measures, c. 4. p. 120. 2 Kings 15:20Ver. 20. 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. 2 Kings 15:21Ver. 21. And the rest of the acts of Menahem,.... We are referred to the same book of chronicles for them as for those of the rest of the kings, which seems to be a form the historian uses of them all. 2 Kings 15:22Ver. 22. And Menahem slept with his fathers,.... Died a natural death, and in peace, though an usurper and a tyrant:and Pekahiah his son reigned in his stead; the kingdom he had usurped continued in his family. 2 Kings 15:23Ver. 23. In the fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekahiah the son of Menahem began to reign over Israel in Samaria,.... As it was in the thirty ninth of Azariah that his father began his reign, and he reigned ten years, they must end in the forty ninth of Azariah, and therefore there must be an interregnum of a year; perhaps the title of Pekahiah might be disputed, and it was a year before he could get settled on the throne:and reigned two years; being slain by one of his captains, as after related. 2 Kings 15:24Ver. 24. And he did that which was evil,.... Besides other sins, he cleaved to that of worshipping the calves, a piece of state policy all the kings of Israel gave into. 2 Kings 15:25Ver. 25. But Pekah the son of Remaliah, a captain of his,.... The word signifies a "third" man, the third to the king, as some think; Josephus {a} calls him a "chiliarch", one that had the command of a thousand men:conspired against him, and smote him in Samaria, in the palace of the king's house; Josephus {b} says it was at a banquet:with Argob, and Arieh; whom, according to Abarbinel, Pekah slew with the king, being mighty men, who were always about him; but they seem rather to be conspirators with Pekah, and assisting to him in smiting the king; the former of these, Ben Gersom thinks, was governor of Argob, a country on the other side Jordan, and the latter had his name from his fortitude, which signifies a lion:and with him fifty men of the Gileadites; which may seem to strengthen the above notion concerning Argob, since the Gileadites were of the same side of Jordan, and were near Argob, see De 3:13and he killed him, and reigned in his room, as his father killed Shallum, and reigned in his stead.{a} Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 9. c. 11. sect. 1.) {b} Ibid. 2 Kings 15:26Ver. 26. And the rest of the acts of Pekahiah,.... The same form of expression is used as before, 2Ki 15:21, of all the kings. 2 Kings 15:27Ver. 27. 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. 2 Kings 15:28Ver. 28. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord,.... Not only in committing the above crimes of usurpation and murder, but idolatry, and particularly the worshipping of the calves, hinted at in the text. 2 Kings 15:29Ver. 29. In the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglathpileser king of Assyria,.... Into the land of Israel; he is called by a Jewish chronologer {c}, Pul-Asir; so Phul-Assar by Metasthenes {d}, who says he reigned twenty five years; he very probably was the son of Pul the Assyrian king, mentioned 2Ki 15:19, and is thought to be the same that Aelianus {e} calls Tilgamos; some think he had the first part of his name from Diglath, or Diglito, by which the river Tigris is called in Pliny {f}, with which Assyria was washed; and that Pil, or Pul, is Baal, Bel, Jupiter, and Azar is Mars {g}; of all which his name is composed:and took Ijon, and Abelbethmaachah; of which see 1Ki 15:20,and Janoah; a city in the tribe of Ephraim, Jos 16:6and Kedesh, and Hazor; cities in Naphtali: Jos 19:36and Gilead; a country beyond Jordan, which belonged to the Reubenites, Gadites, and half tribe of Manasseh:and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali; that is, upper Galilee, which lay in Naphtali:and carried them captive to Assyria; which was the first captivity of Israel in which half their tribes were carried away.{c} David Ganz. Ut supra. (Tzemach David, par. 2. fol. 3. 2.) {d} Ut supra. (De Judicio Temp. & Annal. Pers. fol. 221. 2.) {e} De Animal. l. 12. c. 21. {f} Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 27. {g} Hyde Hist. Relig. Pers. p. 65, 66. 2 Kings 15:30Ver. 30. And Hoshea the son or Elab made a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah, and smote him, and slew him, and reigned in his stead,.... Did by him as he had done by Pekahiah, 2Ki 15:28, this was measure for measure, as the Jews say: and this he didin the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah; and yet Jotham is said to reign but sixteen years, 2Ki 15:33, this must be reckoned therefore either from the time of his being viceroy, and judging Israel in his father's lifetime, 2Ki 15:5 or this was the fourth year of Ahaz, and the twentieth year, reckoning from the time Jotham began to reign, who is the rather mentioned, because as yet the historian had taken no notice of Ahaz. 2 Kings 15:31Ver. 31. And the rest of the acts of Pekah,.... Not recorded here, were to be read in the book of chronicles of the kings so often referred to. 2 Kings 15:32Ver. 32. In the second year of Pekah, the son of Remaliah king of Israel, began Jotham the son of Uzziah king of Judah to reign. Pekah began to reign in the fifty second year of Azariah, or Uzziah, which was his last year, 2Ki 15:27, and which was the first of Pekah; Uzziah reigned full fifty two, and then Jotham succeeded, which was the beginning of the second of Pekah. 2 Kings 15:33Ver. 33. Five and twenty years old was he when he began to reign,.... Alone, after the death of his father:and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem; and his reign, upon the whole, was a good reign:and his mother's name was Jerusha, the daughter of Zadok; a person well known in those times; Dr. Lightfoot {h} thinks he was high priest.{h} Works, vol. 1. p. 100. 2 Kings 15:34Ver. 34. And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord,.... Jarchi, in 2Ch 27:2, observes, from a writer of theirs, that in all the kings of Judah before him, even in the best, some sins were found; but in Jotham there was nothing scandalous and reproachful; and it is a high character Josephus {i} gives of him, that there was no virtue wanting in him; he was pious towards God, just towards men, and careful of the public good; but the inspired historian chiefly respects matters of religious worship; he did not give into idolatry:he did according to all that his father Uzziah had done; that is, according to what was well done by him; he did not imitate him in going into the temple to burn incense, which is particularly excepted.2Ch 27:2.{i} Antiqu. l. 9. c. 11. sect. 2. 2 Kings 15:35Ver. 35. Howbeit the high places were not removed,.... As they were not by his father, and the same is observed of the best of kings before:the people sacrificed and burnt incense still in the high places; from which they could not be brought off by prophets or kings:he built the higher gate of the house of the Lord; which was between the temple and the king's palace, which led to it; this he repaired and beautified, or added something to it; or otherwise it was built by Solomon, and therefore called the new gate, Jer 26:10 it is the same that was afterwards called the gate of Nicanor; the east gate, as say the Jewish writers {k}.{k} T. Bab. Sotah, fol. 7. 1. Gloss. in ib. Maimon. Cele Hamikdash, c. 7. sect. 6. 2 Kings 15:36Ver. 36. Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?] Of which mention is often made by the inspired historians; some of Jotham's other acts are recorded in the canonical book of Chronicles, 2Ch 27:1. 2 Kings 15:37Ver. 37. In those days,.... At the end of the days of Jotham, or after his death, things might be in design, and preparations made before, but nothing of what follows came to pass in his life, but in the times of his son;the Lord began to send against Judah Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah: to make war with them as a scourge to Ahaz for his sins; of which is in the following chapter. 2 Kings 15:38Ver. 38. And Jotham slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father,.... Died, and was buried with the kings of Judah in their sepulchres:and Ahaz his son reigned in his stead; an account of whose reign we have in the next chapter.
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