Pekah
Pekah, son of Remaliah, king of Israel who reigned for 20 years.
Biography
Pekah son of Remaliah was a military officer who seized the throne of Israel through a conspiracy, assassinating King Pekahiah in the citadel of the royal palace at Samaria with the help of fifty Gileadite warriors (2 Kings 15:25). He reigned over the northern kingdom for twenty years, during which he continued the idolatrous worship practices established by Jeroboam son of Nebat. Pekah formed a fateful alliance with King Rezin of Aram (Syria) against Judah, attempting to depose King Ahaz and replace him with a puppet ruler, the crisis known as the Syro-Ephraimite War (Isaiah 7:1-9; 2 Kings 16:5). This aggression prompted Ahaz to appeal to Assyria's Tiglath-Pileser III, who invaded Israel, deported populations from the northern territories, and reduced Pekah's kingdom. Pekah himself was eventually assassinated by Hoshea son of Elah (2 Kings 15:30).
Significance
Pekah's reign represents a critical juncture in the collapse of the northern kingdom, as his military adventurism directly precipitated Assyrian intervention that would ultimately destroy Israel. The Syro-Ephraimite War he instigated became the occasion for one of Scripture's most significant prophecies: Isaiah's Immanuel oracle (Isaiah 7:14), delivered to the terrified King Ahaz as assurance that Pekah's conspiracy would fail. Thus Pekah unwittingly served as the catalyst for a messianic prophecy pointing to Christ. His story illustrates how political violence and idolatry compound upon each other, accelerating national judgment. The progressive dismemberment of Israel under Assyrian aggression during Pekah's reign foreshadowed the complete destruction that came within a generation.
Verse Appearances (11)
References
- Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
- Tyndale House, Cambridge (n.d.) Translators Individualised Proper Names with all References (TIPNR). STEPBible. Available at: https://www.stepbible.org. [CC BY 4.0]
- Wikidata contributors (n.d.) Wikidata. Available at: https://www.wikidata.org. [CC0]
- Church of England (1769) The Holy Bible, Authorized (King James) Version. [Public Domain]