Menahem or Menachem (, "consoler" or "comforter"; ''Meniḫîmme'' 'me-ni-ḫi-im-me''

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: Μεναέμ ''Manaem'' in the

Septuagint The Septuagint ( ), sometimes referred to as the Greek Old Testament or The Translation of the Seventy (), and abbreviated as LXX, is the earliest extant Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible from the original Biblical Hebrew. The full Greek ...

, Μεναέν ''Manaen'' in

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; ; full name: , ''Menahem son of Gadi'') was the sixteenth king of the northern

Israelite Israelites were a Hebrew language, Hebrew-speaking ethnoreligious group, consisting of tribes that lived in Canaan during the Iron Age. Modern scholarship describes the Israelites as emerging from indigenous Canaanites, Canaanite populations ...

Kingdom of Israel. He was the son of Gadi, and the founder of the dynasty known as the

House of Gadi The House of Gadi was a dynasty of kings of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. The dynasty is also called the House of Menahem, after its founder. The dynasty lasted for only twelve years and ruled from Israel's then-capital of Samaria. The dynasty is ...

or House of Menahem.

The Bible

Biblical narrative. Menahem's ten-year reign is told in . When

Shallum Shallum ("retribution") was the name of several people of the Old Testament. Shallum of Israel King of Israel. Alternative name of Jehoahaz King of Judah Son of Tikvah Keeper of the temple-wardrobe in the reign of Josiah ( 2 Kings 22:14) and ...

conspired against and assassinated Zechariah in

Samaria Samaria (), the Hellenized form of the Hebrew name Shomron (), is used as a historical and Hebrew Bible, biblical name for the central region of the Land of Israel. It is bordered by Judea to the south and Galilee to the north. The region is ...

, and set himself upon the throne of the northern kingdom, Menahem—who, like Shallum, had served as a

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

in Zechariah's army—refused to recognize the murderous usurper. Menahem marched from Tirzah to Samaria, about six miles westwards, and laid siege to Samaria. He took the city, murdered Shallum a month into his reign (), and set himself upon the throne. () According to

Josephus Flavius Josephus (; , ; ), born Yosef ben Mattityahu (), was a Roman–Jewish historian and military leader. Best known for writing '' The Jewish War'', he was born in Jerusalem—then part of the Roman province of Judea—to a father of pr ...

, he was a general of the army of Israel. He did brutally suppress a revolt at

Tiphsah Thapsacus (; ''Tipsah'') was an ancient town along the western bank of the Euphrates river that would now lie in modern Syria. Thapsacus was the Greek and Roman name for the town. The town was important and prosperous due to its river crossing, whi ...

. He destroyed the city and put all its inhabitants to death, even ripping open the pregnant women. () Authorship. The author of the ''

Books of Kings The Book of Kings (, ''Sefer (Hebrew), Sēfer Malik, Məlāḵīm'') is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Kings) in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. It concludes the Deuteronomistic history, a history of ancient Is ...

'' describes Menahem in a negative light and his rule as one of cruelty and oppression. Menahem is called a commander in the army, not a legitimate heir to the throne, and the author avoids using the title King of Israel/Samaria. The author is using an older source, apparently synopsizing the " annals of the Kings of Israel", () and gives scant details of Menahem's reign.

Chronology

Accession. In , Menahem (the son of Gadi) began to reign over "Israel" in "Year 39 of

Azariah Azariah ( ''‘Ǎzaryāh'', " Yah has helped") is the name of several people in the Hebrew Bible and Jewish history, including: * Abednego, the new name given to Azariah who is the companion of Daniel, Hananiah, and Mishael in the Book of Daniel ( ...

, the King of Judah", and reigned "ten years in Samaria". Succession. In , Menaham died (seemingly a natural death) and was succeeded by his son,

Pekahiah Pekahiah (; ''Pəqaḥyā''; "YHWH has opened the eyes"; ) 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 capita ...

. In , Pekahia began his reign in "Year 50 of

, the King of Judah". According to the chronology of Kautsch, he ruled from 743 BC; according to Schrader, from 745 to 736 BC.

William F. Albright William Foxwell Albright (May 24, 1891 – September 19, 1971) was an American archaeologist, biblical scholar, philologist, and expert on ceramics. He is considered "one of the twentieth century's most influential American biblical scholars ...

has dated his reign from 745 to 738 BC, while

E. R. Thiele Edwin Richard Thiele (10 September 1895 – 15 April 1986) was an American Seventh-day Adventist missionary in China, editor, archaeologist, writer, and scholar of the Old Testament. He is best known for his chronological studies of the kingd ...

offers the dates 752–742 BC. New Year Celebration. The Northern Kingdom of Israel (Samaria) celebrated New Year (start of the king's regnal year) in the month of Nisan (in spring around March-April, Assyrian tradition following the agricultural calendar), while the Southern Kingdom of Judah celebrated New Year in the month of Tishrei (September-October, Egyptian tradition where 1 Akhet Day 1 was on 11. September marking the start of its Inundation season, wheras Judah would more likely use the autumn equinox as anchor). Thus the regnal Year 39 of Azariah had already started in the month of Tishrei, when the regnal Year 1 of Menahem began in the month of Nisan. In addition, the author of 2 Kings is writing from the perspective of Judah, linking the northern king chronologically to the reign of the southern king.

History

The "Annals of the Kings of Israel" was not preserved. The Biblical narrative in 2 Kings was finalized some time after the Babylonian Exile and was biased towards Judah, making it a secondary source. However, the story of Menahem is also known from Assyrian sources. Menahem paid tribute to Tiglath-Pileser III as his overlord.

Tributary of Assyria

Tiglath-Pileser III of

Assyria Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , ''māt Aššur'') was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization that existed as a city-state from the 21st century BC to the 14th century BC and eventually expanded into an empire from the 14th century BC t ...

began his reign in 745 BC, seven years after Menahem had become king of Israel. During Menahem's reign, the Assyrians first entered the kingdom of Israel, and had also invaded

Aram Damascus Aram-Damascus ( ) was an Aramean polity that existed from the late-12th century BCE until 732 BCE, and was centred around the city of Damascus in the Southern Levant. Alongside various tribal lands, it was bounded in its later years by the po ...

to the north-east: "And Pul, king of the Assyrians, came into the land". () The Assyrians may have been invited into Israel by the Assyrian party.

Hosea In the Hebrew Bible, Hosea ( or ; ), also known as Osee (), son of Beeri, was an 8th-century BC prophet in Israel and the nominal primary author of the Book of Hosea. He is the first of the Twelve Minor Prophets, whose collective writing ...

speaks of the two anti-Israelite parties, the Egyptian and Assyrian. () To maintain independence, Menahem was forced to pay a

tribute A tribute (; from Latin ''tributum'', "contribution") is wealth, often in kind, that a party gives to another as a sign of submission, allegiance or respect. Various ancient states exacted tribute from the rulers of lands which the state con ...

of a thousand talents of silver ()—which is about 37 tons (about 34 metric tons) of silver. It is now generally accepted that Pul referred to in is Tiglath-Pileser III of the cuneiform inscriptions. Pul was probably his personal name and the one that first reached Israel. Tiglath-Pileser records this tribute in one of his inscriptions (''ANET 283'').The Annals of Tiglath-pileser
Livius.org. Translation into English by Leo Oppenheim. Quote: "I iglath Pileser IIIreceived tribute from... Menahem of Samaria...gold, silver, ...". To pay the tribute, Menahem exacted fifty

shekel A shekel or sheqel (; , , plural , ) is an ancient Mesopotamian coin, usually of silver. A shekel was first a unit of weight—very roughly 11 grams (0.35 ozt)—and became currency in ancient Tyre, Carthage and Hasmonean Judea. Name The wo ...

s of silver—about 1 pounds or 0.6 kg—from all the mighty men of wealth of the kingdom. () To collect this amount, there would have had to be at the time some 60,000 "that were mighty and rich" in the kingdom. After receiving the tribute, Tiglath-Pileser returned to Assyria."Menahem", ''Jewish Encyclopedia''
/ref> However, from that time the kingdom of Israel was a tributary of Assyria; and when

Pekah Pekah (, ''Peqaḥ''; ''Paqaḫa'' 'pa-qa-ḫa'' ) was the eighteenth and penultimate king of Israel. He was a captain in the army of king Pekahiah of Israel, whom he killed to become king. Pekah was the son of Remaliah. Pekah became king in ...

some ten years later refused to pay any more tribute, it started a sequence of events which led to the destruction of the kingdom and the deportation of its population.

References

Sources