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The kingdoms of Israel and Judah continued without an alliance between them for the rest of the time the Northern Kingdom existed. This period began with Jehu's accession to the throne in 841 B.C. and continued until the Assyrian captivity of the Northern Kingdom in 722 B.C.
Since the writer did not record Jehu's coronation, we should probably regard his reign as beginning when Joram died (9:24). Jehu began Israel's fifth and longest royal dynasty. He and his descendants reigned 88 years (841-753 B.C.). He himself reigned 28 years (841-814 B.C.). His contemporaries in Judah were Queen Athaliah and King Joash.
Queen Athaliah usurped the throne of Judah. She was not a descendant of David. She was Judah's only reigning queen and the strongest Baal advocate among Judah's rulers.
With the beginning of Jehoash's reign Judah began to enjoy over 100 years of consecutive leadership by four men whom the writer of Kings judged good. None of these four (Jehoash, Amaziah, Azariah, and Jotham) was as good for Judah as Asa and Jehoshaphat had been or as Hezekiah or Josiah would be. Nevertheless together they provided the longest continuous span of God-approved leadership in Judah's history.
Jehoahaz reigned over the Northern Kingdom from 814-798 B.C. Because Israel continued to disregard the Mosaic Covenant God allowed the Arameans to dominate her. Hazael ruled Aram from 841-801 B.C. and his son, Ben-Hadad III, succeeded him. The date Ben-Hadad III's reign ended seems to have been about 773 B.C.79
Aram's oppression moved Jehoahaz to seek Yahweh's help that He graciously provided in spite of the king's unfaithfulness. The deliverer God raised up (v. 5) was probably King Adad-Nirari III of Assyria (810-783 B.C.) who attacked Damascus as well as Tyre, Sidon, Media, Edom, and Egypt.80The Arameans consequently stopped attacking Israel and turned to defending themselves against their neighbor to the east. Another way God disciplined Israel at this time was by reducing her army through casualties (v. 7). This had begun in Jehu's reign (10:32-36) but continued during Jehoahaz's administration.
Again two kings with the same name ruled over the Northern and Southern Kingdoms at the same time.
Amaziah reigned over Judah for 29 years (796-767 B.C.). He began reigning when Jehoash was king over Israel and died during the reign of Jehoash's son and successor Jeroboam II. The prophet Joel probably ministered in Judah during his reign.87
Jeroboam II's reign of 41 years was the longest in Israel's history (793-753 B.C.). For the first 12 of these years he was coregent with his father Jehoash.89He began ruling during the reign of Judah's Jehoash, outlived his successor Amaziah, and died during the reign of his son Azariah (Uzziah).
The writer whose interests were primarily theological passed over Jeroboam II's significant political accomplishments.
"The era of Jeroboam (northern kingdom) and Azariah (southern kingdom) would mark a significant change in the fortunes of God's people. These would be days of unparalleled prosperity for the twin kingdoms, both economically (as attested by the Samarian Ostraca) and politically."90
Jeroboam II restored Israel's borders to approximately what they had been in Solomon's day and extended Israel's influence over her neighbors to an extent unparalleled in the history of the Northern Kingdom. Hamath was northeast of Israel, and the Sea of the Arabah was the Salt (Dead) Sea (v. 25). Jonah had prophesied Israel's territorial extension. He along with Hosea (Hosea 1:1) and Amos (Amos 1:1) ministered in Israel during Jeroboam II's reign.91Gath-hepher and Nazareth stood on the north and south sides respectively of the same Galilean hill (v. 25).
Verse 26 means no one escaped from Israel's national affliction in Jeroboam II's day, neither servants nor free people. Damascus and Hamath belonged to Judah under Solomon (v. 28) in the sense that he controlled them.
Even though Jeroboam had a long and politically impressive career, spiritual conditions in his day were bad. The books of Hosea and Amos throw more light on this period of Israel's history. Unfaithfulness and selfishness marked the people. For these reasons Yahweh sent very bitter affliction on Israel in Jeroboam II's reign.
As Israel declined spiritually, God strengthened Assyria politically and militarily. The two periods of Israel's greatest decline correspond exactly to the two periods of Assyria's greatest growth, namely, during the Omride dynasty and shortly after Jeroboam II's reign. This is precisely what God had said He would do if His people forsook Him (Deut. 28:1, 25, 43, 44, 49-57). One writer correlated Assyria's rise to power with Israel's apostasy.92The cause and effect relationship is unmistakable.
Most Bible students know Azariah by his other name, Uzziah (vv. 13, 30, 32, 34; 2 Chron. 26; Isa. 1:1; Hosea 1:1, Amos 1:1; Zech. 14:5; et al.). His 52-year reign (790-739 B.C.) was longer than any other king of Judah or Israel so far. He reigned while seven of the last eight kings of the Northern Kingdom ruled, all but the last Israelite king, Hoshea. The first 23 years of his reign was a coregency with his father Amaziah, and the last 11 was another coregency with his son Jotham.
Azariah was one of Judah's most popular, effective, and influential kings. He expanded Judah's territories, fortified several Judean cities including Jerusalem, and reorganized the army (v. 22; cf. 2 Chron. 26:6-14). The combined territories over which he and Jeroboam II exercised control approximated those of David and Solomon.
Unfortunately he became proud and in disobedience to the Mosaic Law performed functions that God had restricted to the priests (2 Chron. 26:16-21). For this sin God punished him with leprosy (v. 5). History teaches us that few people have been able to maintain spiritual vitality and faithfulness when they attain what the world calls success. As with Solomon, Azariah's early success proved to be his undoing.
Zechariah reigned only six months (753-752 B.C.) before his successor Shallum assassinated him. Zechariah was the fourth and last king of Jehu's dynasty (v. 12; cf. 10:30). The fact that the people made Shallum king after he killed Zechariah suggests that Zechariah was not popular.
"Zechariah's reign also is noteworthy in that it begins an era of intrigue. Shallum becomes the first person of this current era to come to power through conspiracy and assassination."93
"The death of this last king of the dynasty of Jehu (v. 12) saw the end of the Northern Kingdom proper. In the last twenty years six rulers were to follow each other, but only one was to die naturally. Anarchy, rivalry and regicide led to terminal bloodshed which fulfilled Hosea's prophecies (1:4)."94
Shallum's reign was even shorter than Zechariah's. It lasted only one month (752 B.C.).
Menahem was the commander-in-chief of Jeroboam II's army.95He was serving in Tirzah, Israel's former capital. Menahem regarded Shallum as a usurper to the throne. He evidently believed that as commander of the army he should have succeeded Zechariah. Menahem probably attacked Tiphsah in Israel because its inhabitants refused to acknowledge his claim to the throne. He probably hoped that his violent destruction of that town (v. 16) would move other Israelite leaders to support him.
As the history of Israel unfolds, the reader cannot help noticing how increasingly the kings behaved as their Gentile neighbors who had no special regard for God's Law.
Menahem began Israel's seventh royal family. His reign lasted 10 years (752-742 B.C.).
Assyrian inscriptions have identified Pul as Tiglath-Pileser III (745-727 B.C.; cf. v. 29; 16:7, 10; 1 Chron. 5:26). Pul was the throne name that Tiglath-Pileser III took as Babylon's sovereign after he conquered that nation about 729 B.C.96This is the first explicit mention of Assyria in Kings. Tiglath-Pileser was a very strong Assyrian ruler. He invaded Israel in 743 B.C. and consequently Israel fell under Assyria's control.
Because of Israel's apostasy God delivered her over to the clutches of a foreign power that would one day swallow her up (cf. Deut. 28:32-33).
In 742 B.C. Pekahiah began his two-year reign (742-740 B.C.). It ended when Pekah, one of his military officers, assassinated him in Samaria along with Argob and Arieh, who were probably Israelite princes (v. 25).
Though the writer did not clarify this point, it seems that Pekah had been ruling over Israel in Gilead since 752 B.C., the year Menahem assassinated Shallum. This must be the case in view of the writer's chronological references.97He wrote that in the fifty-second year of Azariah Pekah became king over Israel in Samaria. Apparently Pekah never accepted Menahem's claim to Israel's throne and set up a rival government on the east side of the Jordan River in Gilead. In 740 B.C. he assassinated Pekahiah in Samaria, moved there, and reigned until 732 B.C.
Part of Pekah's reason for opposing Menahem seems to have been a difference in foreign policy. Menahem was willing to submit to Assyrian control (vv. 19-20). Pekah evidently favored a harder line of resistance since he made a treaty with Rezin, the king of Damascus, against Assyria. This resulted in Tiglath-Pileser invading Israel along with Philistia and Aram in 734-732 B.C. (2 Chron. 28:5-8). He captured much of Israel's territory (v. 29) and deported many Israelites to Assyria about 733 B.C.
"This was to be the beginning of the elimination of Israel as an independent state."98
Israel's defeat encouraged Hoshea to assassinate Pekah and succeed him in 732 B.C. Tiglath-Pileser claimed to have had a hand in setting Hoshea on Israel's throne.99Obviously Assyria was in control of affairs in Israel at this time.
Jotham's 16 year reign over Judah (750-735 B.C.) began while Pekah was in power in Gilead. He shared the last four of these years with his coregent son Ahaz.
Jotham added the upper gate of the temple (v. 35), an opening between the outer and inner courts on the north side of the temple near the altar of burnt offerings.100This shows his concern for Yahweh's reputation in Judah (cf. 2 Chron. 27:3-6).
The Syro-Ephraimitic alliance, to which the writer referred briefly in verse 37, features significantly in 16:5-8 and Isaiah 7:1-17. Judah's neighbors to the north and east were eager to secure Judah's help in combatting the growing Assyrian threat. They turned against Judah because Judah did not join them (v. 37). The reasons for this will follow in the discussion of Ahaz, Judah's king (ch. 16).101
Ahaz reigned for 16 years (732-715 B.C.). Before that he was his father Jotham's coregent for four years (735-732 B.C.).102
Hosea was Israel's last king. He reigned in Samaria for 9 years (732-722 B.C.). He was a bad king, but he was not as bad as his predecessors.108
Shalmaneser V (727-722 B.C.) had succeeded his father Tiglath-Pileser III on Assyria's throne. Hoshea became the servant of Assyria rather than of Yahweh (v. 3). However he was not a faithful servant even of Shalmaneser (v. 4). This led to the end of his freedom and the siege of his capital (vv. 4-5). Samaria fell to Assyria in 722 B.C., and a second deportation of the population to various parts of the Assyrian empire followed in harmony with Assyria's policy toward conquered peoples (cf. 15:29).109
"So"(v. 4) may be the Hebrew pronunciation of the Egyptian capital, Sais, rather than the name of a pharaoh.110The verse so translated would read ". . . who had sent messengers to So [to the] king of Egypt,"as in the NIV margin. Alternatively So may have been Pharaoh Tefnakht111or Pharaoh Piankhy.112
As God had promised, the Israelites' apostasy had resulted in their scattering among other peoples (Deut. 28:64). According to 1 Chronicles 7 some members of the ten northern tribes returned to the Promised Land at the end of the 70-year Babylonian Captivity. Apparently most of the Northern Kingdom exiles intermarried and lost their identity among the other Semitic people among whom they went to live. There is no evidence that the "ten lost tribes"became the American Indians, the Afghans, the Armenians, the Nestorians, or the English, as some cults claim.
Israel had suffered for 209 years under 20 different kings from 9 dynasties. Seven of these kings died at the hands of assassins. All of them were evil. They did not comply with the will of Yahweh as contained in the Mosaic Law and the revelations of His prophets.
The writer of Kings took special pains to explain the reasons for and the results of Israel's captivity.
