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2 Kings 15:20

in 2 Kings 15

Menahem exacted this money from each of the wealthy men of Israel—fifty shekels of silver from each man—to give to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria withdrew and did not remain in the land.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

And Menahem exacted the money of Israel, even of all the mighty men of wealth, of each man fifty shekels of silver, to give to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria turned back, and stayed not there in the land.

KJV

And Menahem exacted the money of Israel, even of all the mighty men of wealth, of each man fifty shekels of silver, to give to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria turned back, and stayed not there in the land.

This verse in 2 Kings 15

Commentary

5 notes on this verse
Menahem exacted the money - The kings of Israel had no such ready resource in difficulties as that possessed by the kings of Judah in the temple treasury 2Ki 12:18; 2Ki 16:8. Hence, the forced contribution from the people, the odium of which was diminished by confining the levy to the comparatively rich. Each man fifty shekels - As the silver talent contained 3,000 shekels, the levy of fifty shekels a head must have extended to 60,000 persons.

This site's exposition

Pul the king of Assyria came against the land

on 2 Kings 15:19-22

Pul is the first Assyrian king this scroll names coming against Israel's own soil, the empire that will finish the north at 17:6 entering the story here as a threat bought off rather than fought. The Babylonian king lists identify Pul with Tiglath-pileser the third under his throne name, the same king who returns at verse 29 under his better known name to take Naphtali captive; Menahem's thousand talents only postpones what his successors cannot buy off twice. The tribute falls on every wealthy man at fifty shekels apiece, a land tax raised to pay a foreign king to leave, and the closing formula and Pekahiah's succession follow at once.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

And Menahem exacted the money of Israel, even of all the mighty men of wealth,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

It is repeated concerning him as before that he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam. Still this is mentioned, to show that God was righteous in bringing that destruction upon them which came not long after, because they hated to be reformed,

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

Each man fifty shekels of silver - Upwards of five pounds sterling a man.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

He did not stay there but returned to his home seeing that he recived the money and no longer protect him from other enemies
Radak: Provence, 1160–1235 · Radak on II Kings 15:20:1, via Sefaria, Sefaria Community Translation

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

25 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַיֹּצֵא֩and he brought out

    vaiyotze'H33181067 times

  • מְנַחֵ֨םMenahem

    menachemH45058 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H85310935 times

  • הַכֶּ֜סֶףthe silver

    hakesefH3701403 times

  • עַל־on

    ʾal-H59215755 times

  • יִשְׂרָאֵ֗לIsrael

    yisraelH34782507 times

  • עַ֚לon

    ʾalH59215755 times

  • כָּל־all

    kol-H36055413 times

  • גִּבּוֹרֵ֣י[the] mighty [men] of

    giboreiH1368158 times

  • הַחַ֔יִל<the> wealth

    hachayilH2428246 times

  • לָתֵת֙to give [it]

    latetH54142011 times

  • לְמֶ֣לֶךְto [the] king of

    lemelekhH44282525 times

  • אַשּׁ֔וּרAssyria

    ʾashurH804151 times

  • חֲמִשִּׁ֧יםfifty

    chamishimH2572163 times

  • שְׁקָלִ֛יםshekels

    shekalimH825588 times

  • כֶּ֖סֶףsilver

    kesefH3701403 times

  • לְאִ֣ישׁto a man

    leishH3761663 times

  • אֶחָ֑דone

    ʾechadH259971 times

  • וַיָּ֙שָׁב֙and he returned

    vaiyashovH77251056 times

  • מֶ֣לֶךְ[the] king of

    melekhH44282525 times

  • אַשּׁ֔וּרAssyria

    ʾashurH804151 times

  • וְלֹא־and not

    velo'-H38085168 times

  • עָ֥מַדhe remained

    ʾamadH5975521 times

  • שָׁ֖םthere

    shamH8033834 times

  • בָּאָֽרֶץ׃in the land

    baaretzH7762504 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    2 Samuel 19:32

    Barzillai was quite old, eighty years of age, and since he was a very wealthy man, he had provided for the king while he stayed in Mahanaim.

    it leads to

    • Deuteronomy 34:7

      Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak, and his vitality had not diminished.

    • 1 Samuel 25:2

      Now there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel. He was a very wealthy man with a thousand goats and three thousand sheep, which he was shearing in Carmel.

    • Proverbs 16:31

      Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is attained along the path of righteousness.

    • Job 1:3

      and he owned 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and a very large number of servants. Job was the greatest man of all the people of the East.

  • Through

    Ruth 2:1

    Now Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side, a prominent man of noble character from the clan of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz.

    it leads to

    • Ruth 4:21

      Salmon was the father of Boaz, Boaz was the father of Obed,

    • Ruth 3:2

      Now is not Boaz, with whose servant girls you have been working, a relative of ours? In fact, tonight he is winnowing barley on the threshing floor.

    • Ruth 3:12

      Yes, it is true that I am a kinsman-redeemer, but there is a redeemer nearer than I.

  • Through

    2 Kings 23:35

    So Jehoiakim paid the silver and gold to Pharaoh Neco, but to meet Pharaoh’s demand he taxed the land and exacted the silver and the gold from the people, each according to his wealth.

    it leads to

    • 2 Kings 23:33

      And Pharaoh Neco imprisoned Jehoahaz at Riblah in the land of Hamath so that he could not reign in Jerusalem, and he imposed on Judah a levy of a hundred talents of silver and…

About 2 Kings

Elijah Ascends to Heaven in a Chariot of Fire, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Elijah Ascends to Heaven in a Chariot of Fire, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); F. W. Farrar, The Second Book of Kings (Expositor's Bible); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil, The Books of the Kings and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.