SHALLUM king of the lasr days of northern israel

DURING THE REIGN OF SHALLUM IN NORTHERN ISRAEL

The Last Days of the Northern Kingdom

 the northern Kingdom of Israel collapsed into near anarchy. Internal turmoil and power struggles combined with a series of assassinations left Israel in no position to cope with the growing Assyrian menace. And, as the prophets Amos and Hosea pointed out, spiritual decline and Ba’al worship were rampant, factors that further weakened national identity and resolve. At the very time that Tiglath-Pileser III was coming to power in Assyria, marking the rebirth of the Assyrian Empire and the greatest external threat the Israelites had faced since the beginning of the Kingdom, Israel was self-destructing. The Northern Kingdom would never recover

.Zechariah, the son of Jereboam II and the fourth king in the lineage of Jehu, took the throne after the 40-year reign of his father. However, after only 6 months in office he was assassinated by Shallum ben Jabesh who attempted to seize the throne (2 Kings 15:8-12). However, Shallum was likewise murdered after only a month in power by Menahem ben Gadi.

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TIGLATH PILESER, KING OF ASSYRIA

.TIGLATH PILESER INVASION TO NORTHERN ISRAEL.A

..After assassinating his predecessor, Shallum, Menahem began his reign by cruel subjugation of those who opposed him. Israel remembered the atrocities he committed to establish his control (2 Kings 15:16). Although Menahem reigned nearly 10 years, he was a weak ruler. Faced with the prospect of Assyrian invasion, Menahem taxed the wealthy of the Kingdom to pay tribute to Tiglath-Pileser, thus avoiding a direct invasion. But by so doing, for all practical purposes he had surrendered the nation to the Assyrians and made it a vassal state of the Assyrian Empire. We can only speculate as to the national mood at this point, but the unfolding events suggest that there was strong resentment against subjugation to Assyria..