Lesson 36: The Last Kings of Israel

The end of a kingdom is not a small thing. These are God’s people, but God is showing in this study that he will only abide the disobedience of His people for so long. He loves His children - but He will only let them go so far. We will see that the wickedness of the northern kingdom of Israel is only worsening and they have angered the God of heaven to where He could no longer tolerate their sin.

I. Zachariah #14 - God has remembered

2 Kings 15:8-12

I think that is appropriate that his name in this instance in that God is

A. A short reign

He only reigned 6 months. very short amount of time.

He ruled in the year 753 B.C.

B. An evil king

v.2 he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam, the first and evil king of Israel, not his father.

After all, he was the son of Jeroboam II, who was evil as well, but Jeroboam and Ahab were the great trend setters for the other kings of Israel. I believe when the Bible refers to the sins of Ahab instead of Jeroboam, that there sin was a little worse, perhaps in the realm of idolatry, but nevertheless, they were both bad.

C. The last of the lineage of Jehu

Zechariah was the great-great-grandson of Jehu, and the fourth ruler in his dynasty. With his death the line would cease, thus fulfilling God’s prophecy to Jehu.

2 Kings 10:30 KJV

And the LORD said unto Jehu, Because thou hast done well in executing that which is right in mine eyes, and hast done unto the house of Ahab according to all that was in mine heart, thy children of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel.

D. He was murdered by Shallum

v.10

II. Shallum #15

2 Kings 15:10-15.

I could not find a meaning of Shallum. We already know that he was not a great man because he slew Zachariah the king that was before him, and he took his throne.

A. He was the son of Jabesh

Nothing is really known concerning Jabesh, not a meaning to his name, but we do know he was likely from Mannaseh, for Jabesh Gilead was a city there.

B. He conspired to do evil

v.15

C. He slain by Menahem

He was a cruel warrior.

He ruled for but one month in 752 B.C.

III. Menahem #16 - comforter

2 Ki. 15:14–22.

I’m not one of these that say that God had a sense of humor in the things He did and allowed in the Bible, but it is an ironic thing for sure that Menahem meant comforter when he was nothing of the sort as a king.

It is kind of like the irony at the Grammy’s the other night, they had a wicked trans-presentation of a duo song of the year - which has was very evil and worshipped Satan basically on national television and as they were breaking to commercial - a note came over the show - “Brought to you by Pfizer.”

A. He was an evil dictator

v.18

He was one of the most brutal and evil kings ever in Israel, he was very much a tyrant.

He rewarded any opposition on the part of his subjects by a wholesale slaughter, including the ripping open of pregnant women.

B. He bought off the Assyrian king

The Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser was invading Israel, so rather than fighting him, Menahem have him he equivalent of a two-million-dollar bribe.

Both to stop his attack and help bolster him on the throne.

He did so by taking the money from the people, taxing them

C. HIs evil rule lasted ten years

752–742 B.C.

IV. Pekahiah #17 - Jehovah has opened

This is referring to his eyes

2 Ki. 15:22–26

He was the son of Menahem.

He was assassinated by Pekah

Notice that there were Gileadites there helping in it. Perhaps they were kin to Shallum or Jabesh and decided to exact vengeance on the house of Menahem.

He ruled for 2 years

742–741 B.C.

V. Pekah #18 - Opening

Perhaps the opening was to destruction.

He was the son of Remaliah - 2 Kings 16:5; - God has bedecked to deck out or adorn especially in a gaudy fashion.

2 Ki. 15:27–31

A. Yet another evil king

v.28

B. His attack on Judah

2 Chronicles 28:5-8.

He joined Rezin, king of Syria in an unsuccessful attack against the Judean king Ahaz to punish the southern kingdom for refusing to team up with them in an effort to stop the growing Assyrian threat.

v.37

C. The partial exile to Assyria

v.29

During his reign Tiglath-pileser, the Assyrian king, invaded Israel and captured some of its northern and eastern cities.

D. The conspiracy of Hoshea

v.30

Pekah was assassinated by Hoshea.

E. He reigned for 20 years

740–732 B.C. Some commentators think that the first twelve years (752–740) were shared by a co-regency arrangement with both Menahem and Pekahiah.

I think it is more likely that historians have their dates mixed up looking some 3,000 years ago.

VI. Hoshea #19 - Salvation

2 Ki. 15:32-Yes, this is the same Hebrew name as Joshua, what a transition, from Joshua to this man.

A. The last ruler of the northern kingdom

He ruled for 9 years.

B. Under his rule Israel became a vassal to Assyria

v.3

C. Joining Egypt to rebel against Assyria

v.4

D. The final exile of Israel

Hoshea was imprisoned, and the people were exiled to Assyria (2 Ki. 17:4–6).

From this captivity, the ten tribes have never been restored to Palestine. In fact, they would soon lose their very tribal identity (but not their ancestry). The future restoration of all twelve tribes of Israel will be consummated at the Second Coming of Christ. (See Mt. 24:27–31.) The righteous God had to cut off Israel for their sin. (See 2 Ki. 17:7–18.)

The King of Assyria then transplanted colonies of people from various foreign countries into the depopulated land of northern Israel (2 Ki. 17:24).

Soon after their arrival, a plague of man-eating lions, sent by God, terrified the land. In desperation, the colonists sent a message to the Assyrian ruler, asking for the ministry of a Jehovah prophet, that the plague be stopped (17:25, 26). This lion plague had been predicted by Moses centuries back. (See Ex. 23:29; Lev. 26:21, 22.)

A prophet arrived and began his ministry from Bethel. The lion plague disappeared and a form of Jehovah-worship appeared, but only in form, as the people continued with their idol-worship as well (2 Ki. 17:27–34). This is the beginning of the Samaritan race and religion which was prevalent in the time of Jesus. (See Jn. 4.)

VII. An overview of Israel’s fall

2 Kings 17:7-23.

A. Israel’s sin

vv.8-12

B. The Lord’s intercession for them

v.13

C. Israel’s further rebellion

vv.14-17

D. God’s final judgment

vv.18-23

The lessons are clear - we need to obey our God. We want to do that which pleases Him.

We need to follow the Holy Spirit’s conviction and His leading along with God’s Word.