King Azariah or Uzziah of Judah had a long 52-year reign in Judah. Second Kings 15:17 tells us in the 39th year of his reign, Menahem became the king of Israel. Having assassinated Shallum, Menahem began to rule from Samaria for ten years. Second Kings 15:18 then said that he did evil in the sight of God for he was infested by the same evil started by Jeroboam. He continued in the sin of worshipping the golden calves initiated by Jeroboam. He did nt0 do anything to bring Israel back to God.
During his reign, Pul the king of Assyria (Tiglath Pileser III) came
against Israel. To appease him and gain his
favor, Menahem gave him a thousand talents of silver. Second Kings 15:20 tells
us how he got the silver to give to Pul. He literally extorted the silver from the
people. Menahem took them from all the wealthy men. Each of them had to cough
out fifty shekels of silver so that he could pay the king of Assyria. Menahem paid tribute to Pul to get his protection. Appeased, Pul then returned to
Assyria and did not trouble them. But this would have put the nation under an undue burden. We are told that his deeds, like all his predecessors,
were recorded in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. Pekahiah
his son succeeded him on the throne when he died.
The root problem of all the kings of Israel, including Menahem, was
their pandering to the sin initiated by Jeroboam I. They all fail to capitalize on the opportunity given them to assert a more positive influence to bring about spiritual reform in the nation. None stood out to be counted. Can we see here as the call of God for us to stand up and make a difference for Him? We don’t have to pander to
the old and we don’t have to run with the crowd. We can live differently for
the glory of God!
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