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Menahem

King living at the time of Divided Monarchy

Menahem, king of Israel, known for his cruelty and for paying tribute to Assyria.

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Menahem was the son of Gadi and became king of Israel after assassinating Shallum, who had reigned for only one month (2Ki.15.14). Menahem reigned for ten years in Samaria (2Ki.15.17). During his reign, he was known for his cruelty, particularly for his brutal treatment of the city of Tiphsah, where he ripped open pregnant women (2Ki.15.16). When Pul, the king of Assyria, invaded Israel, Menahem paid him a thousand talents of silver to withdraw and to strengthen his own hold on the kingdom (2Ki.15.19-20). To raise this tribute, Menahem exacted fifty shekels of silver from each wealthy man in Israel (2Ki.15.20). Menahem died and was succeeded by his son Pekahiah (2Ki.15.22).

Family

Father
Gadi
Children
Pekahiah

Bible dictionary

Menahem Easton Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897)

Conforting, the son of Gadi, and successor of Shallum, king of Israel, whom he slew. After a reign of about ten years (B.C. 771-760) he died, leaving the throne to his son Pekahiah. His reign was one of cruelty and oppression (2 Kings 15:14-22). During his reign, Pul (q.v.), king of Assyria, came with a powerful force against Israel, but was induced to retire by a gift from Menahem of 1,000 talents of silver.

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Menahem Smith Smith’s Bible Dictionary (1863)

(comforter), son of Gadi, who slew the usurper Shallum, and seized the vacant throne of Israel. B.C. 772. His reign, which lasted ten years, is briefly recorded in (2 Kings 15:14-22) He maintained the calf-worship of Jeroboam. The contemporary prophets Hosea and Amos have left a melancholy picture of the ungodliness, demoralization and feebleness of Israel. Menahem reigned B.C. 771-760.

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Menahem Hitchcock Hitchcock’s Bible Names Dictionary (1869)

comforter; who conducts them; preparation of heat

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Menahem Hastings Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible (1898)

MEN'AHEM (consoler) was the son of Gadi, and, having slain Shallum, king of Samaria, reigned in his stead. His reign, which lasted ten years, b.c. 771-760, was distinguished for cruelty and oppression. 2 Kgs 15:14-20.

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Menahem Schaff Schaff’s Dictionary of the Bible

MEN'AHEM (consoler) was the son of Gadi, and, having slain Shallum, king of Samaria, reigned in his stead. His reign, which lasted ten years, b.c. 771-760, was distinguished for cruelty and oppression. 2 Kgs 15:14-20.

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Easton (1897), Smith (1863), Hitchcock (1869), Hastings (1898) and Schaff are in the public domain. Parsed text: neuu-org/bible-dictionary-dataset (CC BY 4.0). Headwords and whitespace normalised for this site.

Where Menahem appears

8 verses in 1 book · English text: BSB (change it from the menu at the top) · Strong’s H4505

2 Kings8

Names, family links and references: STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). Short descriptions were drafted with AI assistance by STEPBible. Family links follow STEPBible’s scholarly decisions where genealogies are ambiguous.