pekah Summary and Overview

open-eyed, the son of Remaliah a captain in the army of Pekahiah, king of Israel, whom he slew, with the aid of a band of Gileadites, and succeeded (B.C. 758) on the throne (2 Kings 15:25). Seventeen years after this he entered into an alliance with Rezin, king of Syria, and took part with him in besieging Jerusalem (2 Kings 15:37; 16:5). But Tiglath-pilser, who was in alliance with Ahaz, king of Judah, came up against Pekah, and carried away captive many of the inhabitants of his kingdom (2 Kings 15:29). This was the beginning of the "Captivity." Soon after this Pekah was put to death by Hoshea, the son of Elah, who usurped the throne (2 Kings 15:30; 16:1-9. Compare Isa. 7:16; 8:4; 9:12). He is supposed by some to have been the "shephard" mentioned in Zech. 11:16.

(open-eyed), son of Remaliah, originally a captain of Pekaiah king of Israel, murdered his master seized the throne, and became the 18th sovereign of the northern kingdom, B.C. 757-740. Under his predecessors Israel had been much weakened through the payment of enormous tribute to the Assyrians (see especially) #2Ki 15:20| and by internal wars and conspiracies. Pekah seems to have steadily applied himself to the restoration of power. For this purpose he contracted a foreign alliance, and fixed his mind on the plunder of the sister kingdom of Judah. He must have made the treaty by which he proposed to share its spoil with Rezin king of Damascus, when Jotham was still on the throne of Jerusalem #2Ki 10:37| but its execution was long delayed, probably in consequence of that prince's righteous and vigorous administration. #2Ch 27:1| ... When however his weak son Ahaz succeeded to the crown of David, the allies no longer hesitated, but entered upon the siege of Jerusalem, B.C. 742. The history of the war is found in 2Kin 13 and 2Chr 28. It is famous as the occasion of the great prophecies in Isai 7-9. Its chief result was the Jewish port of Elath on the Red Sea; but the unnatural alliance of Damascus and Samaria was punished through the complete overthrow of the ferocious confederates by Tiglath-pileser. The kingdom of Damascus. was finally suppressed and Rezin put to death while Pekah was deprived of at least half his kingdom, including all the northern portion and the whole district to the east of Jordan. Pekah himself, now fallen into the position of an Assyrian vassal was of course compelled to abstain from further attacks on Judah. Whether his continued tyranny exhausted the patience of his subjects, or whether his weakness emboldened them to attack him, is not known; but, from one or the other cause, Hoshea the son of Elah conspired against him and put him to death.

PE'KAH (open-eyed), a general of the Israelitish army who assassinated the king Pekahiah in his palace and usurped the government; but his reign, which lasted twenty years, b.c. 758-738, was highly inauspicious; the country was invaded and greatly harassed by the Assyrians, and the king himself became finally the victim of a conspiracy. 2 Kgs 15:25.

frontHOSHEA.) Son Of Remaliah. "Captain" and "aide de camp" (shalish) of Pekahiah, king of Israel, whom he murdered, as also his aides de camp Argob and Ariyeh. Became king by the help of 50 Gileadites of the king's bodyguard; perhaps Pekah was a Gileadite himself; energy for good or evil characterized the hardy highlanders of Gilead, as Jephthah and Elijah. To strengthen his kingdom which had suffered much by civil wars and foreign exactions (2 Kings 15:19-20; 2 Kings 15:25-31), and to gain spoil, he joined alliance with Rezin of Damascus against Jotham of Judah (2 Kings 15:37-38). Jotham's pious and vigorous reign (2 Chronicles 27) deferred the blow; but when the weak and worthless Ahaz succeeded Pekah attacked Jerusalem (2 Kings 16; 2 Chronicles 27). (See AHAZ; OBED; IMMANUEL.) He slew 120,000 Jews in one day at the first campaign. But his plot with Rezin to set aside the line of David, and raise "the son of Tabeal" (probably a Syrian favored by a party in Jerusalem: Isaiah 8:6; Isaiah 8:9; Isaiah 8:12) to the throne of Judah, was ultimately frustrated according to God's purpose and word (Isaiah 7:1-16), for "Immanuel" must succeed as Son and Heir of David, which Pekah's plot was incompatible with. The project of the two allies was probably to unite the three kingdoms, Syria, Israel, and Judah, against Assyria. Egypt favored the plan (Isaiah 8:18; 2 Kings 17:4). Ahaz' leaning to Assyria made them determine to depose him for a nominee of their own. But Ahaz at their second inroad applied to Tiglath Pileser, who slew Rezin and carried away the people of Gilead (including the whole territory of Reuben, Gad, and half Manasseh 1 Chronicles 5:26), Galilee, and Naphtali (2 Kings 15:29). In Pekah's weakened state Hoshea (his "friend": Josephus, Ant. 9:13, section 1) conspired against and slew him, and after an interregnum of eight years reigned. Thus was fulfilled Isaiah 7:16. Pekah reigned from 757 to 737 B.C. In the Assyrian inscription Menahem is mentioned as the king of Israel whom Tiglath Pileser subdued; possibly a mistake of the engraver, confusing Pekah with the king whom Pal reduced to be tributary. (See MENAHEM.)