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2 Kings 15: What the Passage Says

114 claims across 38 verses, in the order the chapter makes them.

Not a sermon outline. What 2 Kings 15 says, and what its hard words meant. The reading of it is yours.

The Chapter in a Sentence

This chapter tracks the kings of Judah and Israel over about fifty years. In Judah, Azariah (also called Uzziah) reigns fifty-two years but is struck with leprosy and lives apart while his son Jotham runs the palace; Jotham later reigns sixteen years. In Israel, five kings follow one another in quick succession, four of them killed by the men who took their thrones, and the writer notes that the word given to Jehu about four generations came true. Assyria enters the story twice: Menahem buys off King Pul with silver taken from wealthy Israelites, and Tiglath-pileser seizes the northern territories and carries the people away.

Claim by Claim

  1. 15:1
    • In the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Azariah began to reign.
    • Azariah was the son of Amaziah.
    • Azariah was king of Judah.
  2. 15:2
    • Azariah was sixteen years old when he began to reign.
    • Azariah reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem.
    • Azariah's mother was named Jecoliah.
    • Jecoliah was from Jerusalem.
  3. 15:3
    • Azariah did what was right in the sight of the LORD.
    • Azariah did according to all that his father Amaziah had done.
  4. 15:4
    • The high places were not removed.
    • The people still sacrificed on the high places.
    • The people still burned incense on the high places.
  5. 15:5
    • The LORD struck the king with disease.
    • The king was diseased in his skin until the day of his death.
    • The king lived in a separate house.
    • Jotham the king's son was over the household.
    • Jotham judged the people of the land.
  6. 15:6
    • The rest of the acts of Azariah and all that he did are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah.
  7. 15:7
    • Azariah slept with his fathers.
    • They buried Azariah with his fathers in the city of David.
    • Jotham his son reigned in his place.
  8. 15:8
    • In the thirty-eighth year of Azariah king of Judah, Zechariah son of Jeroboam reigned over Israel.
    • Zechariah reigned in Samaria six months.
  9. 15:9
    • Zechariah did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, as his fathers had done.
    • Zechariah did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat.
    • Jeroboam son of Nebat made Israel sin.
  10. 15:10
    • Shallum son of Jabesh conspired against Zechariah.
    • Shallum struck Zechariah before the people.
    • Shallum killed Zechariah.
    • Shallum reigned in Zechariah's place.
  11. 15:11
    • The rest of the acts of Zechariah are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.
  12. 15:12
    • This was the word of the LORD which he spoke to Jehu.
    • The LORD said to Jehu that his sons to the fourth generation would sit on the throne of Israel.
    • It came to pass so.
  13. 15:13
    • Shallum son of Jabesh began to reign in the thirty-ninth year of Uzziah king of Judah.
    • Shallum reigned a full month in Samaria.
  14. 15:14
    • Menahem son of Gadi went up from Tirzah.
    • Menahem came to Samaria.
    • Menahem struck Shallum son of Jabesh in Samaria.
    • Menahem killed Shallum.
    • Menahem reigned in Shallum's place.
  15. 15:15
    • The rest of the acts of Shallum and the conspiracy he made are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.
  16. 15:16
    • Then Menahem struck Tiphsah and all who were in it and its territory, from Tirzah.
    • Menahem struck it because they did not open to him.
    • Menahem ripped open all the pregnant women in it.
  17. 15:17
    • In the thirty-ninth year of Azariah king of Judah, Menahem son of Gadi began to reign over Israel.
    • Menahem reigned ten years in Samaria.
  18. 15:18
    • Menahem did what was evil in the sight of the LORD.
    • Menahem did not depart all his days from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat.
    • Jeroboam son of Nebat made Israel sin.
  19. 15:19
    • Pul the king of Assyria came against the land.
    • Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver.
    • Menahem gave the silver so that Pul's hand would be with him.
    • Menahem gave the silver to strengthen the kingdom in his own hand.
  20. 15:20
    • Menahem exacted the money from Israel, from all the mighty men of wealth.
    • Each man gave fifty shekels of silver.
    • The money was to be given to the king of Assyria.
    • The king of Assyria turned back.
    • The king of Assyria did not stay there in the land.
  21. 15:21
    • The rest of the acts of Menahem and all that he did are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.
  22. 15:22
    • Menahem slept with his fathers.
    • Pekahiah his son reigned in his place.
  23. 15:23
    • In the fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekahiah son of Menahem began to reign over Israel in Samaria.
    • Pekahiah reigned two years.
  24. 15:24
    • Pekahiah did what was evil in the sight of the LORD.
    • Pekahiah did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat.
    • Jeroboam son of Nebat made Israel sin.
  25. 15:25
    • Pekah son of Remaliah was an officer of Pekahiah.
    • Pekah conspired against Pekahiah.
    • Pekah struck Pekahiah in Samaria, in the citadel of the king's house.
    • Argob and Arieh were involved.
    • Fifty men of the Gileadites were with Pekah.
    • Pekah killed Pekahiah.
    • Pekah reigned in Pekahiah's place.
  26. 15:26
    • The rest of the acts of Pekahiah and all that he did are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.
  27. 15:27
    • In the fifty-second year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekah son of Remaliah began to reign over Israel in Samaria.
    • Pekah reigned twenty years.
  28. 15:28
    • Pekah did what was evil in the sight of the LORD.
    • Pekah did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat.
    • Jeroboam son of Nebat made Israel sin.
  29. 15:29
    • In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came.
    • Tiglath-pileser took Ijon.
    • Tiglath-pileser took Abel-beth-maacah.
    • Tiglath-pileser took Janoah.
    • Tiglath-pileser took Kedesh.
    • Tiglath-pileser took Hazor.
    • Tiglath-pileser took Gilead.
    • Tiglath-pileser took Galilee.
    • Tiglath-pileser took all the land of Naphtali.
    • Tiglath-pileser carried the people captive to Assyria.
  30. 15:30
    • Hoshea son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah son of Remaliah.
    • Hoshea struck Pekah.
    • Hoshea killed Pekah.
    • Hoshea reigned in Pekah's place.
    • This happened in the twentieth year of Jotham son of Uzziah.
  31. 15:31
    • The rest of the acts of Pekah and all that he did are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.
  32. 15:32
    • In the second year of Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel, Jotham son of Uzziah began to reign.
    • Jotham was king of Judah.
  33. 15:33
    • Jotham was twenty-five years old when he began to reign.
    • Jotham reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem.
    • Jotham's mother was named Jerusha.
    • Jerusha was the daughter of Zadok.
  34. 15:34
    • Jotham did what was right in the sight of the LORD.
    • Jotham did according to all that his father Uzziah had done.
  35. 15:35
    • The high places were not removed.
    • The people still sacrificed on the high places.
    • The people still burned incense on the high places.
    • Jotham built the upper gate of the house of the LORD.
  36. 15:36
    • The rest of the acts of Jotham and all that he did are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah.
  37. 15:37
    • In those days the LORD began to send Rezin king of Aram against Judah.
    • The LORD also began to send Pekah son of Remaliah against Judah.
  38. 15:38
    • Jotham slept with his fathers.
    • Jotham was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father.
    • Ahaz his son reigned in his place.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

15:1
After Solomon's death the kingdom split in two: Israel in the north, with ten tribes and its own line of kings, and Judah in the south, ruled from Jerusalem by David's descendants. This chapter tracks both at once, dating each king's accession by how many years the rival kingdom's king had been on the throne, the standard way this book keeps time. The two sets of numbers in this chapter do not all fit together neatly, probably because reigns overlapped (a son ruling alongside his father) and because the two kingdoms counted a king's first partial year differently.
15:2
The records of Judah's kings routinely name the king's mother. The queen mother held a recognized position at court, and naming her also identified the king's family and home region.
15:3
"Right in the sight of the LORD" is the book's fixed verdict formula, and for a king of Judah it is measured almost entirely by whether he kept worship centered on the temple in Jerusalem and clear of other gods. LORD printed in capitals stands in for the personal name of Israel's God, which the KJV translators declined to spell out.
15:4
"High places" were open-air worship sites, usually on hilltops, with an altar and often a standing stone or sacred pole. They were used for sacrifice long before the Jerusalem temple existed, and the writers of Kings measure every king by whether he shut them down.
15:5
The Hebrew word covers a range of disfiguring skin conditions, not only the disease called leprosy today. Anyone with it was ritually unclean and had to live apart from the community, which is why even a king was moved to a separate house. "In charge of the palace" means Jotham ran the government in his father's place, effectively co-ruler.
15:6
This is a royal record kept by court scribes, now lost. It is not the biblical books of 1 and 2 Chronicles. The writer of Kings repeatedly points readers to it, the way a modern author cites a source.
15:7
"Died and joined his ancestors" is a set phrase for dying peacefully and being buried in the family tomb; the burial is then mentioned separately. The City of David is the oldest part of Jerusalem, the ridge David captured, where the kings were buried.
15:8
Samaria was the capital city of the northern kingdom, built by King Omri, as Jerusalem was the capital of the south.
15:9
Jeroboam son of Nebat was the first king of the breakaway northern kingdom. He set up golden calves at Bethel and Dan so his people would not travel to the temple in Jerusalem to worship. In Kings this is the benchmark failure, and every northern king is measured against it.
15:10
The Hebrew phrase translated "in front of the people" is difficult; some ancient manuscripts read it as a place name, Ibleam, meaning Shallum killed him at that town.
15:12
A reference back to the promise made to Jehu, the general who seized the northern throne and wiped out the previous dynasty: his descendants would hold the throne for four generations. Zechariah was the fourth, and his murder ends the line.
15:13
Uzziah is the same king as Azariah in verses 1–7; both names are used for him throughout the Bible, and the writer switches between them without comment.
15:14
Tirzah was the earlier capital of the northern kingdom before Samaria was built, and it remained an important northern city, a natural base for a rival claimant.
15:16
Killing pregnant women this way was a known atrocity of ancient warfare, mentioned elsewhere in the Bible as the mark of a particularly brutal conqueror; it destroyed the next generation as well as the present one. The location of Tiphsah is uncertain, and some manuscripts read the name as Tappuah, a town nearer Tirzah.
15:19
Pul is the Babylonian name of Tiglath-pileser III of Assyria, the same king named in verse 29; Assyria was the dominant military power of the region. A talent was roughly seventy-five pounds, so a thousand talents is an enormous sum, tribute paid to buy off an invasion and to have the emperor recognize Menahem as the legitimate king.
15:20
A shekel was a weight of silver, a little under half an ounce; coins did not yet exist, so payment was weighed out. Fifty shekels was a substantial sum for an individual, comparable to the price paid for a slave, and it was levied on the wealthy landowning class.
15:25
The Hebrew names Argob and Arieh without saying clearly whether they were Pekah's accomplices or further victims killed with the king; both readings are possible. Gilead was the Israelite territory east of the Jordan River, and the fifty Gileadites were probably soldiers under Pekah's command.
15:29
Assyria's standard policy was mass deportation: conquered populations were marched away and resettled elsewhere in the empire to break their capacity to rebel. This campaign stripped the northern kingdom of its whole northern and eastern territory, leaving little more than the hill country around Samaria.
15:30
The dating here is odd, since verse 33 says Jotham reigned only sixteen years. It may count from when Jotham would have been reigning had he lived, or reflect a period when his son Ahaz ruled while Jotham was still formally on the throne.
15:33
The mother of a king of Judah is named almost every time, because the queen mother held a recognized position at court with real influence, unlike the king's wives.
15:35
The Upper Gate was an entrance to the temple complex in Jerusalem, on the north side; building or repairing it was a public works project of the kind kings were remembered for.
15:37
Aram, called Syria in older translations, was the kingdom centered on Damascus, north-east of Israel. Rezin and Pekah were allies pressing Judah to join their coalition against Assyria; the war that follows dominates the next chapter.

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