Israel’s last dynasties face Assyrian expansion
Divided Kingdom · Draft · BSB
Content revision: ded3f843c68148fc · No editorial review date recorded
Date: Israel · Zechariah through Pekah · Before Samaria’s final siege
Zechariah, Shallum, Menahem, Pekahiah and Pekah follow one another through coups and violence. Menahem pays Assyrian tribute, raising the money from Israel’s wealthy men. Under Pekah, Tiglath-pileser takes northern and eastern territories and deports their people; Hoshea then kills Pekah and succeeds him.
The account includes atrocities during Menahem’s consolidation of power, not only changes of ruler. The listed regnal lengths and synchronisms are not enough to build a simple exact calendar without addressing overlaps and historical questions. These are stages of territorial loss before the later siege of Samaria, not one deportation of everyone at once.
Primary Scripture
15:8 In the thirty-eighth year of Azariah’s reign over Judah, Zechariah son of Jeroboam became king of Israel, and he reigned in Samaria six months.
15:9 And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, as his fathers had done. He did not turn away from the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had caused Israel to commit.
15:10 Then Shallum son of Jabesh conspired against Zechariah, struck him down and killed him in front of the people, and reigned in his place.
15:11 As for the rest of the acts of Zechariah, they are indeed written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.
15:12 So the word of the LORD spoken to Jehu was fulfilled: “Four generations of your sons will sit on the throne of Israel.”
15:13 In the thirty-ninth year of Uzziah’s reign over Judah, Shallum son of Jabesh became king, and he reigned in Samaria one full month.
15:14 Then Menahem son of Gadi went up from Tirzah to Samaria, struck down and killed Shallum son of Jabesh, and reigned in his place.
15:15 As for the rest of the acts of Shallum, along with the conspiracy he led, they are indeed written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.
15:16 At that time Menahem, starting from Tirzah, attacked Tiphsah and everyone in its vicinity, because they would not open their gates. So he attacked Tiphsah and ripped open all the pregnant women.
15:17 In the thirty-ninth year of Azariah’s reign over Judah, Menahem son of Gadi became king of Israel, and he reigned in Samaria ten years.
15:18 And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, and throughout his reign he did not turn away from the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had caused Israel to commit.
15:19 Then Pul king of Assyria invaded the land, and Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver in order to gain his support and strengthen his own grip on the kingdom.
15:20 Menahem exacted this money from each of the wealthy men of Israel—fifty shekels of silver from each man—to give to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria withdrew and did not remain in the land.
15:21 As for the rest of the acts of Menahem, along with all his accomplishments, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?
15:22 And Menahem rested with his fathers, and his son Pekahiah reigned in his place.
15:23 In the fiftieth year of Azariah’s reign over Judah, Pekahiah son of Menahem became king of Israel and reigned in Samaria two years.
15:24 And he did evil in the sight of the LORD and did not turn away from the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had caused Israel to commit.
15:25 Then his officer, Pekah son of Remaliah, conspired against him along with Argob, Arieh, and fifty men of Gilead. And at the citadel of the king’s palace in Samaria, Pekah struck down and killed Pekahiah and reigned in his place.
15:26 As for the rest of the acts of Pekahiah, along with all his accomplishments, they are indeed written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.
15:27 In the fifty-second year of Azariah’s reign over Judah, Pekah son of Remaliah became king of Israel, and he reigned in Samaria twenty years.
15:28 And he did evil in the sight of the LORD and did not turn away from the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had caused Israel to commit.
15:29 In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came and captured Ijon, Abel-beth-maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, including all the land of Naphtali, and he took the people as captives to Assyria.
15:30 Then Hoshea son of Elah led a conspiracy against Pekah son of Remaliah. In the twentieth year of Jotham son of Uzziah, Hoshea attacked Pekah, killed him, and reigned in his place.
15:31 As for the rest of the acts of Pekah, along with all his accomplishments, they are indeed written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.
Related Scripture
Hosea criticizes kingship, idols and reliance on foreign alliances; the passage offers prophetic context, not an exact date for each coup.
Location evidence
Samaria marks the capital and several coups. Galilee and Gilead are named among conquered areas, but this card does not invent an exact deportation road or pin unnamed destinations.
Event map marker: Identified site; [longitude, latitude] = [35.195, 32.276111]. This is a teaching marker, not an exact event venue.
Samaria: Identified site. Coordinates [longitude, latitude]: [35.195, 32.276111]. Classification source: editorial.
OpenBible.info: Samaria (CC BY 4.0)
OpenBible.info: Samaria (CC BY 4.0)
For the class
How do internal violence and foreign pressure reinforce each other in this sequence?
Interpretation and reuse
Narrative order is a reading arrangement, not a proven chronology. Dates retain their stated uncertainty. An identified locality does not establish the exact venue or prove an event. Region extents and routes are illustrative, not surveyed boundaries or ancient roads. Draft material has not completed editorial review.
Record source: editorial (content/authored/divided-kingdom.json)
Place coordinates from OpenBible.info Bible Geocoding Data, CC BY 4.0.
Teaching stops, summaries and regional extents are original editorial content of this atlas.
Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain. https://berean.bible/licensing.htm