Dictionaries :: Pekahiah

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Pekahiah:

the Lord opened his eyes, the son and successor of Menahem on the throne of Israel. He was murdered in the royal palace of Samaria by Pekah, one of the captains of his army (2Ki 15:23-26), after a reign of two years (B.C. 761-759). He "did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord."

Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary

Pekahiah:

it is the Lord that opens

International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia

Pekahiah:

pek-a-hi'-a, pe-ka'-ya (peqachyah, "Yah hath opened" (the eyes) (2Ki 15:23-26); Phakesias; Codex Alexandrinus Phakeias):

1. Accession:

Son of Menahem, and 17th king of Israel. He is said to have succeeded his father in the "50th year of Azariah" (or Uzziah), a synchronism not free from difficulty if his accession is placed in 750-749 (see MENAHEM; UZZIAH). Most date lower, after 738, when an Assyrian inscription makes Menahem pay tribute to Tiglath-pileser (compare 2Ki 15:19-21).

2. Regicide in Israel:

Pekahiah came to the throne enveloped in the danger which always accompanies the successor of an exceptionally strong ruler, in a country where there is not a settled law of succession. Within two years of his accession he was murdered in a foul manner-the 7th king of Israel who had met his death by violence (the others were Nadab, Elah, Tibni, Jehoram, Zechariah and Shallum). The chief conspirator was Pekah, son of Remaliah, one of his captains, with whom, as agent in the crime, were associated 50 Gileadites. These penetrated into the palace (the Revised Version (British and American) "castle") of the king's house, and put Pekahiah to death, his bodyguards, Argob and Arieh, dying with him. The record, in its close adherence to fact, gives no reason for the king's removal, but it may reasonably be surmised that it was connected with a league which was at this time forming for opposing resistance to the power of Assyria. This league, Pekahiah, preferring his father's policy of tributary vassalage, may have refused to join. If so, the decision cost him his life. The act of treachery and violence is in accordance with all that Hosea tells us of the internal condition of Israel at this time: "They.... devour their judges; all their kings are fallen" (Ho 7:7).

3. Pekahiah's Character:

The narrative of Pekahiah's short reign contains but a brief notice of his personal character. Like his predecessors, Pekahiah did not depart from the system of worship introduced by Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, "who made Israel to sin." Despite the denunciations of the prophets of the Northern Kingdom (Am 5:21-27; Ho 8:1-6), the worship of the calves remained, till the whole was swept away, a few years later, by the fall of the kingdom.

After Pekahiah's murder, the throne was seized by the regicide Pekah.

Written by W. Shaw Caldecott

Nave's Topical Bible

Pekahiah: Definition Of

Son of Menahem

Pekahiah: King of Israel

2Ki 15:22-26

Pekahiah: Plotted against and Killed by Pekah

2Ki 15:25

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Pekahiah:

(whose eyes Jehovah opened) son and successor of Menahem was the 17th king of the separate kingdom of Israel, B.C. 759‐757. After a brief reign of scarcely two years a conspiracy was organized against him by Pekah, who murdered him and seized the throne.