Pekahiah

Biblical Account

The only record of Pekahiah appears in 2 Kings 15:22–26. When his father Menahem died, Pekahiah succeeded him as king (2 Kings 15:22). Scripture states that he began to reign over Israel in Samaria in the fiftieth year of Azariah (Uzziah), king of Judah, and that he reigned two years (2 Kings 15:23).

The book of Kings judges him to have "did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD," for "he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat" (2 Kings 15:24). The sins of Jeroboam refer to his setting up golden calves at Bethel and Dan and leading the people to worship them. Pekah the son of Remaliah, Pekahiah's captain (a military commander), conspired against him and, with fifty men of Gilead, killed him in the citadel of the royal palace in Samaria. Argob and Arieh were killed as well, and Pekah reigned in his place (2 Kings 15:25). Of the rest of his acts, the text says only that they are written "in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel" (2 Kings 15:26). That book is no longer extant.

Significance Within Scripture

Pekahiah's brief reign illustrates the political turmoil of the northern kingdom's final years. Second Kings 15 presents Zechariah, Shallum, Menahem, Pekahiah, and Pekah in quick succession, and several of these kings were killed in conspiracies. His father Menahem had secured his hold on the throne by paying a thousand talents of silver to Pul, king of Assyria (2 Kings 15:19–20). Pekahiah, however, was murdered only two years after inheriting the throne. This turmoil ultimately culminated in the fall of the northern kingdom of Israel. He is not mentioned in the New Testament.

His name is generally understood in Hebrew to mean "the LORD has opened (the eyes)."

Interpretation and Points of Discussion

• Argob and Arieh: Because the text is so brief, the identity of these two men is unclear. Many interpreters regard them as officials or bodyguards who died alongside the king. Others, by contrast, see them as Pekah's accomplices in the conspiracy.
• Background of the revolt: Some scholars hold that factions opposed to Menahem's pro-Assyrian policy put Pekah forward, pointing to the fact that Pekah acted together with men of Gilead. This is a historical conjecture that the text does not state directly.
• Chronology: Scholars calculate the regnal years in Kings and their synchronisms with the kings of Judah differently, so the dates of Pekahiah's reign cannot be fixed with certainty.
• The words of Hosea 8:4, "They have set up kings, but not by me," are commonly interpreted against the background of the frequent usurpations of the throne in the northern kingdom during this period. The verse, however, does not refer to Pekahiah directly.

In the Korean Church

Pekahiah is rarely treated on his own in sermons or Sunday school. He is mentioned mainly in through-the-Bible reading programs or in expository studies of Kings, when the list of the northern kingdom's last kings is surveyed.