The North Comes Apart
23 In the fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekahiah the son of Menahem began to reign over Israel in Samaria for two years. 24 He did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight. He didn’t depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin. 25 Pekah the son of Remaliah, his captain, conspired against him and attacked him in Samaria, in the fortress of the king’s house, with Argob and Arieh; and with him were fifty men of the Gileadites. He killed him, and reigned in his place. 26 Now 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. 27 In the fifty-second year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekah the son of Remaliah began to reign over Israel in Samaria for twenty years. 28 He did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight. He didn’t depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin. 29 In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath Pileser king of Assyria came and took Ijon, Abel Beth Maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali; and he carried them captive to Assyria. 30 Hoshea the son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah, attacked him, killed him, and reigned in his place, in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah. 31 Now 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. 32 In the second year of Pekah the son of Remaliah king of Israel, Jotham the son of Uzziah king of Judah began to reign. 33 He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jerusha the daughter of Zadok. 34 He did that which was right in Yahweh’s eyes. He did according to all that his father Uzziah had done. 35 However the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and burned incense in the high places. He built the upper gate of Yahweh’s house. 36 Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all that he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 37 In those days, Yahweh began to send Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah against Judah. 38 Jotham slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in his father David’s city; and Ahaz his son reigned in his place.
Two more conspiracies, and then Assyria stops taking money and starts taking territory — the first deportation, twenty years before the end.
Pekah the son of Remaliah, his captain, conspired against him and attacked him in Samaria, in the fortress of the king’s house, with Argob and Arieh; and with him were fifty men of the Gileadites. He killed him, and reigned in his place.
Pekahiah gets two years before his own officer kills him in the palace strongroom with fifty Gileadites. The formula has become a machine: a king does evil, keeps the calves, and is murdered by a subordinate who then does the same. Five of the last six northern kings take the throne by assassination.
What is worth noticing is that nobody ever tries anything else. Not one of these conspirators proposes a reform, consults a prophet, or asks why the kingdom is failing. The politics have become entirely about who holds the palace while the country is being dismembered around it.
In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath Pileser king of Assyria came and took Ijon, Abel Beth Maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali; and he carried them captive to Assyria.
This is the turn. Assyria has stopped accepting payment and started annexing, and the list is the whole north and east of the kingdom — Galilee, the Jordan valley, everything Solomon fortified at Hazor. The population is deported, which is the policy that will finish the job twenty years later: move the people, settle others in their place, and the nation ceases to exist.
The territory named here is the same country Isaiah addresses in the dark — the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali... Galilee of the nations — as the place where a great light will be seen Isaiah 9:1–2, and the gospel writers point at it when a carpenter from Nazareth begins preaching there Matthew 4:15–16. The first part of Israel to be carried away is the first to see the light.
Hoshea the son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah, attacked him, killed him, and reigned in his place, in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah.
Another murder, and this one is the last. Hoshea is the final king of Israel, and he takes a throne over a kingdom that has already lost half its land.
34 He did that which was right in Yahweh’s eyes. He did according to all that his father Uzziah had done. 35 However the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and burned incense in the high places. He built the upper gate of Yahweh’s house.
Judah's Jotham gets the good verdict with the standing qualification, builds the upper gate of the temple, and reigns sixteen years while the north dies. The southern kingdom is prospering and unreformed at the same time.
In those days, Yahweh began to send Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah against Judah.
And the last verse turns the pressure south. Syria and Israel combine against Jerusalem — the crisis Isaiah walks into with his son to meet a terrified king at the aqueduct Isaiah 7:3–4, where the promise of a child named Immanuel is given. The next chapter is that king's response, and he does not take the prophet's advice.
settled What this mark means