Menahem

OT Divided Monarchy

King of Israel who assassinated Shallum to seize the throne, brutally attacked the city of Tiphsah for not opening its gates to him, and paid a massive tribute of silver to the Assyrian king Pul (Tiglath-pileser III) to secure his hold on the throne.

For younger readers

Menahem became king of Israel by attacking and killing Shallum, who had only recently seized the throne himself. Menahem's reign began violently -- when one city refused to open its gates and accept him as king, he attacked it harshly. To keep his own hold on power, Menahem paid an enormous amount of silver in tribute to Pul, the powerful king of Assyria, raising the money by taxing Israel's wealthy men. Menahem's ten-year reign is remembered as one more difficult chapter in the northern kingdom's troubled history, marked by violence at home and dependence on a foreign empire for survival.

Life Story

Menahem, son of Gadi, marched from Tirzah to Samaria, attacked and killed Shallum, who had reigned only a month after assassinating Zechariah, and took the throne of Israel for himself (2 Kings 15:14). His rise was marked by brutality from the start: when the city of Tiphsah refused to open its gates and submit to him, Menahem attacked it and, in a disturbing detail Scripture records without approval, 'ripped up all its women who were with child' (15:16) -- an act of wartime atrocity the text simply reports as historical fact rather than commends. Reigning ten years in Samaria, Menahem, like the kings before him, 'did evil in the sight of the LORD' and did not turn from the sins Jeroboam had introduced (15:17-18). Facing pressure from the rising Assyrian empire, Menahem paid a massive tribute of a thousand talents of silver to Pul, king of Assyria (better known as Tiglath-pileser III), specifically to secure Assyrian support for his own hold on the throne; he raised the money by exacting fifty shekels from every wealthy man in Israel (15:19-20). This tribute bought Menahem's throne temporary stability, but it also marked Israel's growing subjugation to Assyria, the empire that would eventually conquer and exile the northern kingdom entirely within a few decades. Menahem died and was succeeded by his son Pekahiah (15:21-22).

First named in 2 Kings 15:14-22

References: 2 Kings 15:14-22

Genealogy

Father

Gadi

Mother

—

Spouse(s)

—

Children

Pekahiah

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