2 Kings 15 Six Months

[seekeroftruth]

2 Kings 15:8 In the thirty-eighth year of Azariah king of Judah, Zechariah son of Jeroboam became king of Israel in Samaria, and he reigned six months. 9 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, as his predecessors had done. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit.

10 Shallum son of Jabesh conspired against Zechariah. He attacked him in front of the people,[d] assassinated him and succeeded him as king. 11 The other events of Zechariah’s reign are written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel. 12 So the word of the Lord spoken to Jehu was fulfilled: “Your descendants will sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.”[e]​

d. 2 Kings 15:10 Hebrew; some Septuagint manuscripts in Ibleam
e. 2 Kings 15:12 2 Kings 10:30

Hey.... Bibletrack is back.

That's right...Zachariah ruled Israel for just six months. He was evil too, as were all the kings of the Northern Kingdom (Israel). Zachariah was assassinated after just 6 months by Shallum. Remember in II Kings 10:30 (see notes) when God told King Jehu that his children to the fourth generation would reign in Israel? Well, this is the end of the fourth generation - time to hand the throne over to yet another family. Note: Israel's kingship has had a bunch of family regime changes by hook, crook and treachery. Judah, on the other hand, is still governed by descendants of David. So, it's out with Zachariah and in with Shallum.​

This is from blueletterbible.org.

Then Shallum the son of Jabesh conspired against him, and struck and killed him in front of the people: Zechariah was so despised by his own people that Shallum was able to do this. This was the end of the dynasty of Jehu, which began with such potential but ended (as God has foretold) in great darkness.

"The death of this last king of the dynasty of Jehu saw the end of the Northern Kingdom proper. In the last twenty years six rulers were to follow each other, but only one was die naturally. Anarchy, rivalry and regicide led to terminal bloodshed which fulfilled Hosea's prophecies (Hosea 1:4)." (Wiseman)

"Within the next forty-three years half a dozen "pseudo-kings" would reign in rapid succession, on murderer replacing another on the throne, as the nation tottered on the brink of anarchy." (Dilday)​

Six months... he worked for six months.... then he was murdered in plain site. What a guy!

Please remember.... Israel, while this is taking place, is split in two parts. There's Judah to the south... Judah includes Jerusalem, and in Jerusalem God's Temple is working well. Israel is in the north.... Israel has two temples that were constructed by an old insecure king who was afraid to let the Israelis go to Jerusalem to worship. He was afraid they would not return and he would go broke. He needed their labor. So he built two fake temples in Israel and popped two golden calves in them. It's those temples that are causing all this trouble for the kings in Israel. If the king would just go tear down the fake churches... then the Israelis could go back to worshiping their one true God... the God of Abraham. Right now they're only worshiping the product of Joshua's smelting pot.

Consider this.... why couldn't any of these kings go in and raze those fake churches?

Is it because they couldn't admit that the churches were fake? What would those good Hebrews do if they learned that the law they wore on their arm and taught their children [Law of Moses] forbade these temples? The upheaval would have been epic....

Consider this... what would we do today if we found that the church we've been worshiping in all our lives was built by the government to assure a reliable labor force?

The guy was only king for six months... he probably didn't even get his own newly designed throne and crown. What a guy!