The Histories · Old Testament

2 Kings 15

2 Kings 15: Azariah's leprosy, Jotham's reign, and five kings of Israel in quick succession

General context

Azariah the son of Amaziah begins to reign over Judah at sixteen and reigns fifty-two years; his mother is Jecholiah. He does right, though the high places remain, and the narrator says the Lord smites him so that he is a leper until his death and lives in a separate house while his son Jotham judges the people. Azariah dies and Jotham succeeds. In Israel, Zachariah the son of Jeroboam reigns six months and does evil; Shallum the son of Jabesh kills him publicly and reigns, which the narrator marks as the fulfilment of the Lord's word to Jehu about four generations. Shallum reigns a full month before Menahem the son of Gadi comes up from Tirzah and kills him. Menahem strikes Tiphsah and its coasts because it did not open to him and rips up the pregnant women. He reigns ten years, does evil, and pays Pul king of Assyria a thousand talents of silver, exacted from the wealthy men of Israel, so that Assyria turns back. His son Pekahiah reigns two years and does evil; his captain Pekah the son of Remaliah conspires with fifty Gileadites and kills him in the palace. Pekah reigns twenty years and does evil; Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria takes Ijon, Abel-beth-maachah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, Galilee and all Naphtali and carries the people captive. Hoshea the son of Elah conspires against Pekah and kills him. Jotham the son of Uzziah reigns sixteen years over Judah, does right, leaves the high places, and builds the higher gate of the house of the Lord. The Lord begins to send Rezin of Syria and Pekah against Judah. Jotham dies and Ahaz succeeds.

Cited passages: 2 Kings 15:1, 2 Kings 15:2, 2 Kings 15:3, 2 Kings 15:4, 2 Kings 15:5, 2 Kings 15:7, 2 Kings 15:8, 2 Kings 15:10, 2 Kings 15:12, 2 Kings 15:13, 2 Kings 15:14, 2 Kings 15:16, 2 Kings 15:17, 2 Kings 15:19, 2 Kings 15:20, 2 Kings 15:23, 2 Kings 15:25, 2 Kings 15:27, 2 Kings 15:29, 2 Kings 15:30, 2 Kings 15:33, 2 Kings 15:34, 2 Kings 15:35, 2 Kings 15:37, 2 Kings 15:38

2 Kings 15 (KJV)

¹In the twenty and seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel began Azariah son of Amaziah king of Judah to reign.

²Sixteen years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned two and fifty years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jecholiah of Jerusalem.

³And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father Amaziah had done;

⁴Save that the high places were not removed: the people sacrificed and burnt incense still on the high places.

⁵And the Lord smote the king, so that he was a leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in a several house. And Jotham the king’s son was over the house, judging the people of the land.

⁶And the rest of the acts of Azariah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

⁷So Azariah slept with his fathers; and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David: and Jotham his son reigned in his stead.

⁸In the thirty and eighth year of Azariah king of Judah did Zachariah the son of Jeroboam reign over Israel in Samaria six months.

⁹And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, as his fathers had done: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.

¹⁰And Shallum the son of Jabesh conspired against him, and smote him before the people, and slew him, and reigned in his stead.

¹¹And the rest of the acts of Zachariah, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

¹²This was the word of the Lord which he spake unto Jehu, saying, Thy sons shall sit on the throne of Israel unto the fourth generation. And so it came to pass.

¹³Shallum the son of Jabesh began to reign in the nine and thirtieth year of Uzziah king of Judah; and he reigned a full month in Samaria.

¹⁴For Menahem the son of Gadi went up from Tirzah, and came to Samaria, and smote Shallum the son of Jabesh in Samaria, and slew him, and reigned in his stead.

¹⁵And the rest of the acts of Shallum, and his conspiracy which he made, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

¹⁶Then Menahem smote Tiphsah, and all that were therein, and the coasts thereof from Tirzah: because they opened not to him, therefore he smote it; and all the women therein that were with child he ripped up.

¹⁷In the nine and thirtieth year of Azariah king of Judah began Menahem the son of Gadi to reign over Israel, and reigned ten years in Samaria.

¹⁸And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord: he departed not all his days from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.

¹⁹And Pul the king of Assyria came against the land: and Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver, that his hand might be with him to confirm the kingdom in his hand.

²⁰And Menahem exacted the money of Israel, even of all the mighty men of wealth, of each man fifty shekels of silver, to give to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria turned back, and stayed not there in the land.

²¹And the rest of the acts of Menahem, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

²²And Menahem slept with his fathers; and Pekahiah his son reigned in his stead.

²³In the fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah Pekahiah the son of Menahem began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned two years.

²⁴And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.

²⁵But Pekah the son of Remaliah, a captain of his, conspired against him, and smote him in Samaria, in the palace of the king’s house, with Argob and Arieh, and with him fifty men of the Gileadites: and he killed him, and reigned in his room.

²⁶And the rest of the acts of Pekahiah, and all that he did, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

²⁷In the two and fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah Pekah the son of Remaliah began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned twenty years.

²⁸And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.

²⁹In the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, and took Ijon, and Abel-beth-maachah, and Janoah, and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and carried them captive to Assyria.

³⁰And Hoshea the son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah, and smote him, and slew him, and reigned in his stead, in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah.

³¹And the rest of the acts of Pekah, and all that he did, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

³²In the second year of Pekah the son of Remaliah king of Israel began Jotham the son of Uzziah king of Judah to reign.

³³Five and twenty years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jerusha, the daughter of Zadok.

³⁴And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord: he did according to all that his father Uzziah had done.

³⁵Howbeit the high places were not removed: the people sacrificed and burned incense still in the high places. He built the higher gate of the house of the Lord.

³⁶Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

³⁷In those days the Lord began to send against Judah Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah.

³⁸And Jotham slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father: and Ahaz his son reigned in his stead.

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Historical context

The Judah king of this chapter is called both Azariah and Uzziah: the opening and the accession notes say Azariah, while verses 13, 30, 32 and 34 say Uzziah, and Jotham is called the son of Uzziah. The text gives no cause for his leprosy beyond the statement that the Lord smote him, and it records the arrangement in which Jotham governs the house and judges the people during his father's lifetime. The word to Jehu that the narrator says has come to pass is quoted from the earlier promise of four generations on the throne. Two Assyrian kings are named, Pul and Tiglath-pileser; the chapter does not say whether they are one person or two. The narrator sets Israel's kings in synchronism with Judah's, but one marker is left unexplained: Hoshea's conspiracy is dated to the twentieth year of Jotham, while Jotham is said to have reigned sixteen years. The violence at Tiphsah against pregnant women is recorded without comment. The captives taken by Tiglath-pileser are named by region, not by number. Nothing is said about where Pul or Tiglath-pileser came from or what became of the deported people, and the reasons behind each conspiracy are not stated.

Cited passages: 2 Kings 15:1, 2 Kings 15:13, 2 Kings 15:32, 2 Kings 15:5, 2 Kings 15:12, 2 Kings 10:30, 2 Kings 15:19, 2 Kings 15:29, 2 Kings 15:30, 2 Kings 15:33, 2 Kings 15:16

Literary context

The chapter is built from the repeated frame of Kings: a synchronised accession, an age or length of reign, a verdict, a note pointing to the chronicles, and a death or succession. For four of Israel's kings the verdict is the same sentence, that the king departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat; Shallum receives no verdict at all. For Judah the verdict is the opposite, right in the sight of the Lord, each time qualified by the high places. The contrast in duration is stark: Azariah's fifty-two years stand against six months and a full month in Samaria. Three conspiracies are told in nearly identical words, conspired, smote, slew, reigned in his stead, so the pattern of violent succession becomes the chapter's subject. The narrator interrupts once to interpret, tying Zachariah's death to the promise to Jehu. Two Assyrian intrusions, one bought off with silver and one ending in captivity, prepare for the fall of Samaria in the chapters that follow, and the closing note that the Lord begins to send Rezin and Pekah against Judah opens the story of Ahaz.

Cited passages: 2 Kings 15:9, 2 Kings 15:18, 2 Kings 15:24, 2 Kings 15:28, 2 Kings 15:3, 2 Kings 15:35, 2 Kings 15:2, 2 Kings 15:8, 2 Kings 15:13, 2 Kings 15:10, 2 Kings 15:25, 2 Kings 15:30, 2 Kings 15:12, 2 Kings 15:20, 2 Kings 15:29, 2 Kings 15:37

Key moments

Azariah struck with leprosy (2 Kings 15:5). The Lord smites Azariah, who lives apart while Jotham judges the people.
Zachariah killed in public (2 Kings 15:10). Shallum conspires against Zachariah and kills him before the people.
Jehu's fourth generation (2 Kings 15:12). The narrator says the Lord's word to Jehu about four generations has come to pass.
Menahem's violence at Tiphsah (2 Kings 15:16). Menahem strikes Tiphsah for not opening to him and rips up the pregnant women.
Silver paid to Pul (2 Kings 15:20). Menahem exacts fifty shekels from each wealthy man to pay the king of Assyria, who turns back.
Tiglath-pileser carries Israel captive (2 Kings 15:29). The king of Assyria takes the northern towns, Gilead, Galilee and Naphtali and deports the people.
Rezin and Pekah sent against Judah (2 Kings 15:37). The narrator says the Lord begins to send Syria and Israel against Judah in Jotham's days.

For reflection

Azariah does what is right and is struck with leprosy; Jotham does what is right and the Lord begins to send enemies against Judah. The chapter gives no explanation for either. How does a reader hold a verdict and an outcome that the narrator does not connect?

People in this chapter

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