Useful Bible Studies > 2 Kings Commentary > chapter 15
Menahem decided to accept that the king of Assyria had authority over him. That meant that Assyria’s army would not attack Israel. To make this peace agreement, Menahem had to pay a great price to the king of Assyria.
This was a great loss of power for Menahem – but still, there were personal advantages for him in this arrangement. Now, the powerful army of Assyria would support him against his enemies. So, Menahem’s control over Israel’s people actually became stronger because of this arrangement.
Of course, Menahem did not use his own money to pay the king of Assyria. Rather, he collected the money in taxes from people across Israel. He forced everyone who was able, to pay the same amount to him. We do not know what he demanded from the poor people. Perhaps they had to work for him. Menahem would have tried to organise the collection of this tax in a way that provided him with a personal profit. In other words, he would collect more money from Israel’s people than he paid to Assyria’s king.
Menahem died after he had ruled for 10 years. Like all the men who ruled northern and central Israel, Menahem was an evil man. His religion had been the wrong religion that Jeroboam, the first king of that nation, had established.
Menahem’s son, Pekahiah, became the king after him. Perhaps the people hoped that he would not be as cruel or as evil as his father had been. However, it seems that, in fact, he was much weaker than his father. He was not even in control of his own army commanders, as we shall soon see.
Next part: Pekah murders Pekahiah (2 Kings 15:23-26)
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