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Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents
15:8-31 Israel's Last Days. Israel's respite from foreign oppression is as temporary as her domination of Judah. With the passing of Jeroboam II, the nation has reached the "fourth generation" of the divine promise to Jehu (10:30) and has returned to the unstable government of the northern kingdom implied by 1 Kings 14:15 and illustrated in 1 Kings 14-16 (before the houses of Omri and Jehu were established). Reign now follows reign in quick succession, as the reader moves toward the end of Israel's story.
15:8-12 After the glorious reign of Jeroboam II, the reign of his son Zechariah marks the end of the dynasty of Jehu, as foretold in 10:30.
15:16-22 Menahem sacked Tiphsah. This attack on an important city on the Euphrates River is the last, brutal action of an Israelite king claiming control of a Solomon-like empire (cf. 1 Kings 4:24). Such a campaign would probably have taken place early in his reign, either before the campaigns of Pul the king of Assyria in began, or during these years as part of the anti-Assyrian struggle in the region. "Pul" is the Hebrew version of the Akkadian "Pulu," a short name for Tiglath-pileser III, known from the Babylonian king lists. Tiglath-pileser's goal was apparently to establish an Assyrian trading center on the border with Egypt, and he required control of the intervening regions to accomplish this and to ensure safe passage for trade between Philistia and Assyria. Menahem's tributary payment of a thousand talents of silver makes him Assyria's friend for the time being, and is mentioned in Assyrian records relating to Tiglath-pileser's successful campaign of against Syria and Phoenicia.
15:20 Menahem exacted the money from Israel. Sixty-three ostraca were found at Samaria that record tax payments dated by years of the king. These may in fact have been the additional tax payments that Menahem imposed on Israel to pay off the Assyrian king Pul in
15:27-31 Pekah is the last of the Israelite kings to rule during the long reign of Azariah in Judah. Pekah's twenty years in power appear to be counted from before the period when he began to reign over Israel in Samaria and governed only part of the Israelite territory mentioned in v. 29; for if Menahem was king of Israel in (see note on vv. 16-22) and Pekah was succeeded by Hoshea (see note on 17:1-2), Pekah could not have reigned for over Israel as a whole. The end of the period in which he did reign over all Israel saw Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria annex much of Israel's northern and eastern territory during his campaigns of (see notes on 15:37; 16:7-9). This list of conquered towns to the west of the Jordan, however, is not exhaustive but representative (moving from Ijon, at the northern end of the Huleh Valley and guarding the main highway leading from Palestine to Syria, to Hazor, the largest site in Upper Galilee and occupying the most strategic position in the region). The Assyrians also deported a significant percentage of Israel's population, which was a major feature of Tiglath-pileser's imperial policy, designed to increase the Assyrian labor force and reduce the possibility of further opposition among subjugated peoples.
