The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Kings — Section 253

follows from the.I of ver. S, and mnst ate.nd Shallum had murdered Za.chario.h nnd or fall with it. The true accession-year of usurped the throne. Meno.hem upon this !-hall um WA.I! probably the twenty-seventh of proceeded from Tirza.h to Se.me.ria, crushed l 'zzie.h. And he reigned a full month in Shallum, e.nd, returning to his o.rmy, oa.rried Se.maria; litemlly, a month of day,-" thirty out without further delay the expedition days" aooording to Josephus. already resolved upon. Tile Assyrian records Ver. 14.-For Mone.hem the son of Ge.di show that, at the probable de.te of the ex- went up from Tirza.h. Ewald supposes peditioa, Assyria was exoeptione.lly weak, Tirzah to he.ve been the "native city " of and in no condition to resist an e.ttnck, lllene.bem; but this is not sta.ted. Accord- though e. little later, under Tiglath-pileser, ing to J oseplms (l. s. c.), he wa.s oommander- she recovered herself. And all that were in-chief, and happeaed to be in Tirzeh nt therein, and the ooa.ata thereof, from Tirzah. the time. (On the probable site of Tirzeh, "From Tirzall" means "starting from Tir- ~ee the comment on 1 Kings xiv. 17.) It zah," as in ver. H. It is to be connected was the royal city of the kingdom of the ten with "smote," not with "coasts." :Bees.use tribes from the later po.rt of Jeroboam's reign they opened not to him, therefore he smote to the building of Samaria by Omri (see it. Determined resiste.uce on the part of I Kings xiv. 17; xvi. 6, S, 15, 23). And e. city summoned to surrender ha.a al we.ye oa.me to Samaria, and smote Shallum the been regarded e.s justifying e.n extreme son of .Ta.bash in Sam&ria-Josephns says severity of treatment. It is not clea.r that that there wa.s a battle, in which Sha.llnm Mena.hem tronsgressed the ordinary usages was slain-and &l.ew him, and reigned in of we.r in wllat he did, however much he his stea.d. transgressed the le.ws of humanity. And Ver. 15.-And the rest of the aota of all the women therein the.t were with ohild Shellum, and hiB oonapiraoy whioh he made he ripped up (comp. oh. viii. 12, with the (see Yer. 10), behold, they are written in comment; e.nd see o.lso Isa. xiii. 18; Hoe. the book of the ahronicles of the kings of x. 14; xiii. 16; Amos i. 13). Isra.el Ver. 17.-In the nine e.nd thirtieth year of Azarie.h King of Judah began Meno.hem Vere. 16-22.-REIGN OP MENABJDI, AND the son of Ge.di to reign over Israel (comp. ExrEDITION OP Pm. AGAINST SillAllli. ver. 13, e.nd tile comment), o.nd reigned ten years in Be.maria. So Josephus ('Ant. Jud.,' Two events only of Meno.hem's reign receive iL 11. § 1). notice from the writer. (I) His capture of Ver. 18.-And he did the.t which we.s evil Tiphsah, and severe treatment of the in- in the sight of the Lord : he departed n.ot all habit.ants (ver. 16). (2) The invasion of hiB de.ye from the sins of l eroboe.m the son his land by an Assyrian monarch, called of Nebe.t, who made Israel to sin. The writer does not seem to rege.rd Mena.hem a.a " Pnl " or " Phnl," e.nd his snbmission to either better or worse the.n his predece1sors. that monarch's authority. Pul's retirement The usual formula suffices to descl'ibe the wo.s bongllt by e. large sum of money, which more.I e.nd religious e.speot of his reign. Meno.hem collected from his subjects (vers. Ver. 19.-And Pnl the King of Assyria 19, 20). came age.inst the le.nd, There is no connec- tive in the Hebrew text, and it has been Ver. 16.-Then Menahem 1111ote Tiphaah. proposed to supply one; but there ca.n be The only town of this ne.me known to history little doubt the.t the best emendation is the.t or geography is the fe.mons city on the suggested by 'fhenius, who changes the Euphrates (I Kings iv. 24), called by the i•c•-,~ of ver. 18 into i•c•::i, e.nd e.tte.ches Greeks Thapse.cus. It he.a been thought tii';t ~ord to ver. 19. Ve~'. 19 will then the.t 111enahem conld not he.ve pushed his ree.d thus: "In his de.ys Pul the King of conquests so fe.r, e.nd a. second Tiphse.h he.s Assyria came against the land "-and no been invented in the Israelite highland, connective will be wanted. The greo.test between Tirze.h e.nd Samaria, of which there doubt has been entertained with regarJ to is no other notice anywhere. Bnt "Tiphsa.h," the ideatity of Pul, whose name dues not which means "passage" or "fordwe.y," is appear in the Assyrian Eponym Canon, or an uneuite.ble name for e. city in each e. in e.ny other purely Assyrio.n document. situation. The view of Keil is clearly Bnt recently discovered Babylonian docu- tcual,Je-that Ze.cha.rie.h he.d intended to ments seem to prove that Pul (Pulu) we.s carry on his father's warlike policy, e.nd the Be.bylonie.n ne.mo for Tiglatll-pileser, had collected e.n army for n great Eastern who reigned under t!Je.t name in Babylon expeJition, which he.d its hee.d-que.rters e.t dnring his last two years, e.nd e.ppee.rs in the royal city of Tirze.h, e.nd we.s under the the Canon of Ptolemy e.s " Porns." Tigle.th- command of Meno.hem. As the expedition pileser, the great founder of the le.ter was about to start, the news co.me the.t Assyrian empire, me.de himself king iu on. xv. 1-38.] 'l'HE SECOND BOOK OF THE KINGS. 299