2 Kings 15

The chapter moves quickly through the kings of two nations. Judah has two mostly faithful kings, Azariah and Jotham, though the high places remain. Israel sinks into a string of murders, conspiracies and short reigns, and Assyria begins to strip the land bare.

2 Kings 15:1-2

Azariah, also called Uzziah, became king of Judah at sixteen and ruled fifty-two years, one of the longest reigns in Judah. The writer ties each reign to the other kingdom’s calendar, since the two nations stood side by side. His mother came from Jerusalem.

BSA: reigned (“ruled as king, exercised royal power”): A king’s reign was real authority over a people, which makes his long rule weighty.

2 Kings 15:3-4

Azariah did right in the LORD’s eyes, as his father had. Yet the high places, local altars outside the temple, were left standing, and the people kept worshiping there. His goodness was real but incomplete.

BSA: right (“upright, just, pleasing to God”): The standard was God’s own judgment, not public opinion or national success. high places (“cultic platforms, elevations”): These were hilltop shrines where worship was scattered away from the one place God had chosen.

See also: 1 Kings 3:2; Deuteronomy 12:13-14.

2 Kings 15:5

The LORD struck Azariah with leprosy, and he lived apart until death while Jotham ran the palace. This account does not say why. Second Chronicles 26 links it to pride in the temple. Even a good king stands under God’s hand.

BSA: leprosy (“a skin disease, to be leprous”): The disease made him ritually unclean, so he had to be cut off from normal life and from the temple.

Hebrew: חָפְשִׁית (ḥophshit, H2669) — “set apart, free from duties.” The word for his ‘separate’ house suggests release from ordinary duties. The king was shut away, and his power passed to his son.

See also: 2 Chronicles 26:16-21.

2 Kings 15:6-7

The writer points readers to the royal records for further detail and then closes the reign. Azariah died, was buried with his ancestors in David’s city, and Jotham took the throne. The phrase ‘rested with his fathers’ presents death as a quiet gathering to one’s people.

BSA: rested (“slept with his fathers”): Death is described as sleep, a gentle picture used again and again of the kings.

2 Kings 15:8-10

Zechariah, Jeroboam II’s son, reigned in Israel only six months, doing the same evil as his ancestors. Shallum then murdered him publicly. The northern throne now passes by violence, not by God’s calling.

BSA: conspired (“made a secret plan, plotted”): Kingship in Israel now depends on secret plots and bloodshed.

2 Kings 15:11-12

God had told Jehu that his sons would sit on the throne to the fourth generation. Zechariah was that fourth. Even amid Israel’s chaos, the LORD’s word came true exactly as spoken.

BSA: fulfilled (“came to pass, accomplished”): What God promised, he carried out to the last detail.

See also: 2 Kings 10:30.

2 Kings 15:13-15

Shallum lasted one month. Menahem came up from Tirzah and killed him. The dates are short because the kingdom is falling apart, with one conspirator ruined by the next.

BSA: conspiracy (“secret plot, unlawful alliance”): Shallum’s whole record is summed up by the plot that made him king and lost him his life.

2 Kings 15:16

Menahem attacked Tiphsah because it refused to open its gates to him, and he ripped open its pregnant women. It is a savage act of terror against his own people. The Bible reports it plainly, as evidence of how far Israel had fallen.

BSA: ripped open (“tore apart, broke open”): The word shows the brutality of the act without softening it.

2 Kings 15:17-18

Menahem ruled ten years, a long time for these kings. The verdict is the same as for the others: he did evil and clung to the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, the calf worship that Jeroboam had set up to keep Israel from going to Jerusalem.

BSA: sins (“guilt, punishment for sin”): Sin carries guilt with it and brings consequences.

See also: 1 Kings 12:28-30.

2 Kings 15:19-20

Pul, another name for Tiglath-pileser of Assyria, invaded. Menahem bought him off with a thousand talents of silver, taxing wealthy men fifty shekels each. He looked to a foreign power instead of the LORD to secure his throne.

BSA: strengthen (“establish, confirm”): Menahem hoped silver would make his rule secure, but he was trusting the wrong source.

2 Kings 15:21-22

Menahem’s reign ends with the usual note about the royal records. He died naturally, which was rare among these kings, and his son Pekahiah followed him. The narrative moves on without comment.

BSA: rested (“slept, died, and was buried”): His death is called sleep, which stands out against the violent ends around him.

2 Kings 15:23-26

Pekahiah reigned two years and did evil. His own officer, Pekah, struck him down with fifty men from Gilead inside the palace stronghold. Not even the king’s fortress kept him safe.

BSA: citadel (“fortress, high palace”): The strongest part of the palace gave him no safety, because the enemy was among his own men.

2 Kings 15:27-28

Pekah became king and reigned twenty years, a long time on that throne. He was no better than the rest: he did evil and did not turn from Jeroboam’s sins.

BSA: turn away (“depart, remove”): Repentance means actually leaving the sin, and none of these kings did.

2 Kings 15:29

Tiglath-pileser of Assyria captured towns in the north, including Galilee and Naphtali, and carried the people off to Assyria. This is the first deportation from Israel. The judgment long warned of begins to arrive.

BSA: captives (“prisoners, exiles”): The people were uprooted from their land and removed far from home.

See also: Deuteronomy 28:36.

2 Kings 15:30-31

Hoshea plotted against Pekah, killed him, and took the throne. He would be Israel’s last king. The dating by Jotham’s twentieth year fits the confusing overlap of reigns the writer is tracking.

BSA: conspiracy (“formed a secret plot, made a treasonous alliance”): The cycle of plotting continues until the kingdom itself is gone.

2 Kings 15:32-34

Jotham, Uzziah’s son, became king of Judah at twenty-five and ruled sixteen years. He did right in the LORD’s eyes as his father had. His mother Jerusha was the daughter of Zadok. Judah’s line stays steadier than Israel’s.

BSA: right (“just, upright, having integrity”): God’s standard of straightness is what the writer measures him by.

2 Kings 15:35-36

Again the high places were left, and the people kept worshiping there. Yet Jotham rebuilt the Upper Gate of the LORD’s house, caring for the temple. Faithfulness can be real even when something important is still missing.

BSA: rebuilt (“established, repaired”): He restored the temple’s gate, showing concern for the place of true worship.

See also: 2 Chronicles 27:3-6.

2 Kings 15:37

In parentheses the writer says the LORD began to send Rezin of Aram and Pekah against Judah. Even enemies serve his purposes. This sets up the troubles of Ahaz, Jotham’s son, in the next chapter.

BSA: send (“to dispatch, to commission”): The word shows the LORD directing these enemy kings like messengers, though they have their own aims.

See also: Isaiah 7:1-2.

2 Kings 15:38

Jotham died and was buried in David’s city, and his son Ahaz followed him. The chapter ends with Judah’s dynasty continuing, though Ahaz will lead it down a darker road.

BSA: rested (“slept with his fathers, died”): Death is again described as sleep, a quiet ending to a faithful reign.