2 Kings 15:25

25 An officer of Pekahiah's forces, Pekah son of Remaliah, plotted with fifty men from Gilead, assassinated Pekahiah in the palace's inner fortress in Samaria, and succeeded him as king.

2 Kings 15:25 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 15:25

But Pekah the son of Remaliah, a captain of his
The word signifies a "third" man, the third to the king, as some think; Josephus


FOOTNOTES:

F1 calls him a "chiliarch", one that had the command of a thousand men:

conspired against him, and smote him in Samaria, in the palace of the
king's house;
Josephus F2 says it was at a banquet:

with Argob, and Arieh;
whom, according to Abarbinel, Pekah slew with the king, being mighty men, who were always about him; but they seem rather to be conspirators with Pekah, and assisting to him in smiting the king; the former of these, Ben Gersom thinks, was governor of Argob, a country on the other side Jordan, and the latter had his name from his fortitude, which signifies a lion:

and with him fifty men of the Gileadites;
which may seem to strengthen the above notion concerning Argob, since the Gileadites were of the same side of Jordan, and were near Argob, see ( Deuteronomy 3:13 )

and he killed him, and reigned in his room,
as his father killed Shallum, and reigned in his stead.


F1 Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 9. c. 11. sect. 1.)
F2 Ibid.

2 Kings 15:25 In-Context

23 In the fiftieth year of the reign of King Uzziah of Judah, Pekahiah son of Menahem became king of Israel, and he ruled in Samaria for two years.
24 He sinned against the Lord, following the wicked example of King Jeroboam son of Nebat, who led Israel into sin.
25 An officer of Pekahiah's forces, Pekah son of Remaliah, plotted with fifty men from Gilead, assassinated Pekahiah in the palace's inner fortress in Samaria, and succeeded him as king.
26 Everything else that Pekahiah did is recorded in [The History of the Kings of Israel.]
27 In the fifty-second year of the reign of King Uzziah of Judah, Pekah son of Remaliah became king of Israel, and he ruled in Samaria for twenty years.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. [Hebrew has two additional words, the meaning of which is unclear.]
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.