CHAPTER 15

(772 B.C.)

AZARIAHS (UZZIAHS) LONG AND GOOD REIGN OVER JUDAH

¹In the twenty and seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel began Azariah son of Amaziah king of Judah to reign.

²Sixteen years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned two and fifty years in Jerusalem. And his mothers name was Jecholiah of Jerusalem.

³And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah had done (how refreshing it is for the Holy Spirit to say, And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD; but yet, even though he started well, as his father Amaziah, he finished poorly);

⁴Save that the high places were not removed: the people sacrificed and burnt incense still on the high places (from this we should learn how it grieves the Holy Spirit to have any abiding sin within our lives; the constant repetition of these statements presents the Holy Spirit warning us by repetition of our own shortcomings).

⁵And the LORD smote the king, so that he was a leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in a several house. And Jotham the kings son was over the house, judging the people of the land. (We have to go to Chronicles for an explanation [II Chron. 26:16-23]. It was at this juncture that the Prophets Hosea, Joel, Amos, Micah, Isaiah, and Jonah exercised their ministries; consequently, their prophecies should be studied in connection with the history of these kings. They foretold the doom of both the northern and southern kingdoms.)

⁶And the rest of the acts of Azariah, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah?

⁷So Azariah slept with his fathers; and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David: and Jotham his son reigned in his stead. (The writer of Chronicles gives us more detail. He was not buried in the rock-sepulchre which contained the bodies of the other kings, but in another part of the field wherein the sepulchre was situated. This was quite in keeping with the Jewish feeling with respect to the uncleanness of the leper [II Chron. 26:23].)

ZACHARIAH REIGNS OVER ISRAEL

⁸In the thirty and eighth year of Azariah king of Judah did Zachariah the son of Jeroboam reign over Israel in Samaria six months. (We may wonder at the significance of all of this. However, let the reader understand that everything that happened to Israel and Judah had to do with the great Plan of Redemption; accordingly, all of these happenings, be they good or bad, proclaim to us the means of God in bringing Redemption to the world, which would be through His Son, and our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. All of these things played their part in this; consequently, this means that all of these happenings are of great significance.)

⁹And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, as his fathers had done: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin (some 21 times the Holy Spirit solemnly records this terrible fact; the Lord can cancel out the effects of sin, but only through the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ, and our Faith in that Finished Work; however, Satan, thank God, cannot cancel out the effects of Righteousness).

¹⁰And Shallum the son of Jabesh conspired against him, and smote him before the people, and killed him, and reigned in his stead (Zachariah reigned only six months).

¹¹And the rest of the acts of Zachariah, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel.

¹²This was the Word of the LORD which He spoke unto Jehu, saying, Your sons shall sit on the throne of Israel unto the fourth generation. And so it came to pass (this prophecy was fulfilled in the death of Zachariah [10:30]).

SHALLUM REIGNS OVER ISRAEL FOR ONE MONTH

¹³Shallum the son of Jabesh began to reign in the nine and thirtieth year of Uzziah (Azariah) king of Judah; and he reigned a full month in Samaria.

¹⁴For Menahem the son of Gadi went up from Tirzah, and came to Samaria, and smote Shallum the son of Jabesh in Samaria, and killed him, and reigned in his stead (Josephus says that there was a battle in which Shallum was killed).

¹⁵And the rest of the acts of Shallum, and his conspiracy which he made, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel.

MENAHEMS TEN-YEAR REIGN OVER ISRAEL

¹⁶Then Menahem smote Tiphsah, and all that were therein, and the coasts thereof from Tirzah: because they opened not to him, therefore he smote it; and all the women therein who were with child he ripped up (one can see the depravity of this man regarding the type of sin that he committed).

¹⁷In the nine and thirtieth year of Azariah king of Judah began Menahem the son of Gadi to reign over Israel, and reigned ten years in Samaria.

¹⁸And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD: he departed not all his days from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.

¹⁹And Pul the king of Assyria came against the land (against the northern kingdom of Israel): and Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver, that his hand might be with him to confirm the kingdom in his hand (it is not coincidence that the first distinct mention of Assyria in Scripture as an aggressive power immediately follows the account of the terrible sin of Menahem, even to the murdering of thousands of women and little children; by this time, Assyria had been rising to a great power for nearly a century, and had reached far beyond the River Euphrates, even to Egypt; from here on the history of the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah is linked with that of Assyria and Babylon).

²⁰And Menahem exacted the money of Israel, even of all the mighty men of wealth, of each man fifty shekels of silver, to give to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria turned back, and stayed not there in the land (Menahem bribed the king of Assyria in order that he not attack Israel).

²¹And the rest of the acts of Menahem, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel?

²²And Menahem slept with his fathers; and Pekahiah his son reigned in his stead.

PEKAHIAHS TWO-YEAR REIGN OVER ISRAEL

²³In the fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah Pekahiah the son of Menahem began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned two years.

²⁴And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.

²⁵But Pekah the son of Remaliah, a captain of his, conspired against him, and smote him in Samaria, in the palace of the kings house, with Argob and Arieh, and with him fifty men of the Gileadites: and he killed him, and reigned in his room (it does not appear that Pekah had any grievance; his crime seems to have been simply prompted by ambition).

²⁶And 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.

PEKAH REIGNS OVER ISRAEL FOR TWENTY YEARS

²⁷In the two and fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah Pekah the son of Remaliah began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned twenty years.

²⁸And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.

²⁹In the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, and took Ijon, and Abel-beth-maachah, and Janoah, and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and carried them captive to Assyria (this was the first carrying away of the Israelites into captivity; it continued until the ten-Tribe kingdom of Israel was destroyed).

³⁰And Hoshea the son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah, and smote him, and killed him, and reigned in his stead, in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah (Azariah).

³¹And 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.

JOTHAM REIGNS OVER JUDAH

³²In the second year of Pekah the son of Remaliah king of Israel began Jotham the son of Uzziah king of Judah to reign.

³³Five and twenty years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And his mothers name was Jerusha, the daughter of Zadok.

³⁴And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD: he did according to all that his father Uzziah had done (the author of Chronicles says the same, but adds, Howbeit he entered not into the Temple of the Lord i.e., he did not repeat his fathers act of impiety Pulpit).

³⁵Howbeit the high places were not removed: the people sacrificed and burned incense still in the high places. He built the higher gate of the House of the LORD (Azariah had paid great attention to the fortifying and arming of Jerusalem [II Chron. 26:9, 15], and his son now followed in his footsteps).

³⁶Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah?

³⁷In those days the LORD began to send against Judah Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah. (Because Jotham walked righteously before the Lord, the coming fury that would burst forth under sinful Ahaz was held off until that time. It is interesting to note the terminology, in that the Lord was the Author of what Syria did, even though Syria had no knowledge of such.

Our obedience brings Blessings from God, while our sin brings chastisement from God in the form of judgment, in order that we may repent. Some few do repent; regrettably, most never do.)

³⁸And Jotham slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father: and Ahaz his son reigned in his stead.