His Story

The assassin of Zechariah, whose entire reign is one month and one paragraph. He is the first of the murderer-kings who fill Israel’s last thirty years.

His Sin — How He Displeased the LORD

He came to the throne by conspiracy and regicide. Scripture gives him no separate verdict verse — his deed is his record: he “conspired against” the LORD’s anointed line and seized what God had not given.

The Good He Did

Scripture records none.

The record

“For Menahem the son of Gadi went up from Tirzah, and came to Samaria, and smote Shallum the son of Jabesh in Samaria, and slew him, and reigned in his stead.”2 Kings 15:14 (KJV)

How His Reign Ended

Menahem came up from Tirzah, struck him down in Samaria, and took the throne within the month.

Lessons for Believers Today

• What is gained by blood is kept in fear and lost by blood. The assassin’s month preaches against the assassin’s method.
• Not every man in Scripture gets a long chapter; some are a footnote that warns.

← Zechariah (of Israel)All 43 KingsMenahem →