Pekah
Israel · 740 – 732 BC · 20 years (by the Scripture’s reckoning) · 2 Kings 15:27 – 31; 16; Isaiah 7 – 9
His Story
The captain who seized the throne by murder. He joined Rezin of Syria in the Syro-Ephraimite war against Judah’s Ahaz — the crisis in which Isaiah gave the prophecy of Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14). In his days Tiglath-pileser of Assyria took Galilee, Gilead, and Naphtali and carried their people captive — the first great deportation, emptying the very region where Christ would later preach (Isaiah 9:1 – 2).
His Sin — How He Displeased the LORD
He walked in the sins of Jeroboam and added treason against the house of David as policy: his reign is the story of Israel devouring Judah while Assyria devoured them both.
The Good He Did
Scripture records none.
The LORD’s verdict
“And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.”2 Kings 15:28 (KJV)
How His Reign Ended
Hoshea, his officer, conspired against him, struck him down, and reigned in his place — the fifth violent succession in twenty years.
Lessons for Believers Today
- Godless alliances end with the ally at the gate and the invader in the land: Pekah joined Syria against Judah and was dismantled by Assyria.
- “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali” was emptied first — and honored first when the Light dawned there (Matthew 4:15 – 16). God writes grace over the map of judgment.