Pekahiah
Pekahiah from Guillaume Rouillé's Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum
King of Northern Israel
Reignc. 742 – c. 740 BC
PredecessorMenahem
SuccessorPekah
FatherMenahem

Pekahiah (/ˌpɛkəˈhaɪə/; Hebrew: פְּקַחְיָה Pəqaḥyā; "YHWH has opened the eyes"; Latin: Phaceia) was the seventeenth and antepenultimate king of Israel and the son of Menahem, whom he succeeded, and the second and last king of Israel from the House of Gadi. He ruled from the capital of Samaria.

Pekahiah became king in the fiftieth year of the reign of Uzziah, king of Judah.[1] William F. Albright has dated his reign to 738–736 BCE, while E. R. Thiele offers the dates 742–740 BCE.[2]

Pekahiah continued the practices of Jeroboam, which are called the sins of Jeroboam.[3]

After a reign of two years, Pekahiah was assassinated in the royal citadel at Samaria by Pekah ben Remaliah, one of his own chief military officers – with the help of fifty men from Gilead. Pekah succeeded Pekahiah as king.[4]

References

  1. ^ 2 Kings 15:23
  2. ^ Edwin Thiele, The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings, (1st ed.; New York: Macmillan, 1951; 2d ed.; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1965; 3rd ed.; Grand Rapids: Zondervan/Kregel, 1983). ISBN 0-8254-3825-X, 9780825438257. p. 217
  3. ^ 2 Kings 15:24
  4. ^ "Pekahiah", Jewish Encyclopedia
Pekahiah House of GadiContemporary King of Judah: Uzziah, Jotham Regnal titles Preceded byMenahem King of Israel 742–740 BCE Succeeded byPekah
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