19 Pul the king of Assyria came against the land; and Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver, that his hand might be with him to establish the kingdom in his hand.
And it came to pass when the kingdom was established in his hand, that he slew his servants who had smitten the king his father.
And they transgressed against the God of their fathers, and went a whoring after the gods of the peoples of the land, whom God had destroyed before them. And the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, and the spirit of Tilgath-Pilneser king of Assyria, and he carried them away, the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh, and brought them to Halah, and Habor, and Hara, and to the river Gozan, -- unto this day.
And Jehoash king of Judah took all the hallowed things that Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah, his fathers, kings of Judah, had dedicated, and his own hallowed things, and all the gold found in the treasures of the house of Jehovah and in the king's house, and sent it to Hazael king of Syria; and he went away from Jerusalem.
And Ahaz took the silver and the gold that was found in the house of Jehovah, and in the treasures of the king's house, and sent it [as] a present to the king of Assyria.
Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria, and Hoshea became his servant, and tendered him presents. But the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea; for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and sent up no present to the king of Assyria as [he had done] from year to year. And the king of Assyria shut him up and bound him in prison.
Nevertheless the darkness shall not be as when the distress was in the [land], at the time he at first lightly, and afterwards heavily, visited the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, -- the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations:
Thus saith Jehovah: Cursed is the man that confideth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from Jehovah.
Yea, it shall be carried unto Assyria [as] a present for king Jareb: Ephraim shall be seized with shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on 2 Kings 15
Commentary on 2 Kings 15 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 15
In this chapter,
2Ki 15:1-7
This is a short account of the reign of Azariah.
2Ki 15:8-31
The best days of the kingdom of Israel were while the government was in Jehu's family. In his reign, and the next three reigns, though there were many abominable corruptions and miserable grievances in Israel, yet the crown went in succession, the kings died in their beds, and some care was taken of public affairs; but, now that those days are at an end, the history which we have in these verses of about thirty-three years represents the affairs of that kingdom in the utmost confusion imaginable. Woe to those that were with child (v. 16) and to those that gave suck in those days, for then must needs be great tribulations, when, for the transgression of the land, many were the princes thereof.
2Ki 15:32-38
We have here a short account of the reign of Jotham king of Judah, of whom we are told,