Pekah - Remaliah

Pekah was the next to last king of Israel, who reigned c.740-732 BC.

An officer in the army of Pekahiah, he usurped the throne by murdering his king. Pekah, however, never enjoyed his rule, for he soon found himself subject to the rising Assyrian powers as a vassal. Thinking it was possible to throw off the yoke of Assyrian suzerainty, he joined the Syro-Ephramite coalition to bully Ahaz, king of Judah, into joining. When Ahaz turned to Assyria for help instead, Tiglath-Pileser invaded Israel and reduced it to a rump of a state (2 Ki 15:25-29).

The failure of the plot made it easy for him to be targeted, and he was soon afterwards assassinated and suceeded by Hoshea son of Elah as king.

Remaliah is always mentioned only in reference to his son Pekah, even when the son is not specifically named, as in Isa 7:4 & 8:6.

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