Pekahiah

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

Pekahiah , son of Menahem, was king of Israel for a short time in the troubled period which preceded the fall of Samaria. The record tells us nothing about him except that he displeased Jahweh by walking in the sins of Jeroboam i., and that he was assassinated by Pekah, one of his officers (  2 Kings 15:23-28 ).

H. P. Smith.

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Pekahiah. Jehovah Has Opened His Eyes. The son of Menahem, king of Israel. He succeeded his father and reigned wickedly two years (760-758 b.c.). He was murdered in his palace by Pekah, one of his officers,  2 Kings 15:22-26.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Pekahi'ah. (Whose Eyes Jehovah Opened). Son and successor of Menahem, who was the 17th king of the separate kingdom of Israel, B.C. 759-757. After a brief reign of scarcely two years, a conspiracy was organized, against him by Pekah, who murdered him, and seized the throne.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

Son and successor of Menahem king of Israel. His two years' reign, B.C. 761-759, was uneventful; he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord; and was slain by Pekah, who succeeded him.  2 Kings 15:22-26 .

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

Son and successor of Menahem king of Israel, was a wicked prince, and reigned but two years. Pekah, son of Remaliah, conspired against him, and killed him in his own palace,  2 Kings 15:22-25 .

Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary

Son of Menahem. ( 2 Kings 15:22) The Lord opens, from Pacah, to open—and Jah, the Lord.

Holman Bible Dictionary

 2 Kings 15:23 2 Kings 15:25Pekah

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 2 Kings 15:23-26

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

Menahem's son and successor, slain by Pekah. Reigned 759-757 B.C.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

pek - a - hı̄´a , pḗ - ka´ya ( פּקחיה , peḳaḥyāh , "Yah hath opened" (the eyes) (  2 Kings 15:23-26 ); Φακεσίας , Phakesı́as  ; Codex Alexandrinus Φακείας , Phakeı́as ):

1. Accession:

Son of Menahem, and 17th king of Israel. He is said to have succeeded his father in the "50th year of Azariah" (or Uzziah), a synchronism not free from difficulty if his accession is placed in 750-749 (see Menahem; Uzziah ). Most date lower, after 738, when an Assyrian inscription makes Menahem pay tribute to Tiglath-pileser (compare  2 Kings 15:19-21 ).

2. Regicide in Israel:

Pekahiah came to the throne enveloped in the danger which always accompanies the successor of an exceptionally strong ruler, in a country where there is not a settled law of succession. Within two years of his accession he was murdered in a foul manner - the 7th king of Israel who had met his death by violence (the others were Nadab, Elah, Tibni, Jehoram, Zechariah and Shallum). The chief conspirator was Pekah, son of Remaliah, one of his captains, with whom, as agent in the crime, were associated 50 Gileadites. These penetrated into the palace (the Revised Version (British and American) "castle") of the king's house, and put Pekahiah to death, his bodyguards, Argob and Arieh, dying with him. The record, in its close adherence to fact, gives no reason for the king's removal, but it may reasonably be surmised that it was connected with a league which was at this time forming for opposing resistance to the power of Assyria. This league, Pekahiah, preferring his father's policy of tributary vassalage, may have refused to join. If so, the decision cost him his life. The act of treachery and violence is in accordance with all that Hosea tells us of the internal condition of Israel at this time: "They ... devour their judges; all their kings are fallen" ( Hosea 7:7 ).

3. Pekahiah's Character:

The narrative of Pekahiah's short reign contains but a brief notice of his personal character. Like his predecessors, Pekahiah did not depart from the system of worship introduced by Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, "who made Israel to sin." Despite the denunciations of the prophets of the Northern Kingdom ( Amos 5:21-27;  Hosea 8:1-6 ), the worship of the calves remained, till the whole was swept away, a few years later, by the fall of the kingdom.

After Pekahiah's murder, the throne was seized by the regicide Pekah.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(Heb. Pekachyah', פְּקִחְיָה , Opening [of the eyes] by Jehovah; Sept. Φακεσίας V.R. Φακείας ; Josephus, Φακείας , Ant. 9:11, 1; Vulg. Phaceja ) , son and successor of Menahem, was the seventeenth king of the separate kingdom of Israel. After a brief reign of two years (B.C. 758, 757), a conspiracy was organized against him by "one of his captains" (probably of his body guard), Pekah, son of Remaliah, who, at the head of fifty Gileadites, attacked him in his palace at Samaria, assassinated him and his friends Argob and Arieh, and seized the throne. This reign was no better than those which had gone before; and the calf-worship was retained ( 2 Kings 15:22-26). (See Kingdom Of Israel).

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Pekahi´ah (Jehovah has opened his eyes), son and successor of Menahem, king of Israel, who began to reign in B.C. 760. He patronized and supported the idolatry of the golden calves; and after an undistinguished reign of two years, Pekah, one of his generals, conspired against him, and, with the aid of Argob and Arish, and fifty Gileadites, slew him in the harem of his own palace .