2 Kings 15:13-16--Shallum Reigns in Israel

2 Kings 15:13-16
English Standard Version
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Shallum Reigns in Israel
13 Shallum the son of Jabesh began to reign in the thirty-ninth year of Uzziah king of Judah, and he reigned one month in Samaria. 14 Then Menahem the son of Gadi came up from Tirzah and came to Samaria, and he struck down Shallum the son of Jabesh in Samaria and put him to death and reigned in his place. 15 Now the rest of the deeds of Shallum, and the conspiracy that he made, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. 16 At that time Menahem sacked Tiphsah and all who were in it and its territory from Tirzah on, because they did not open it to him. Therefore he sacked it, and he ripped open all the women in it who were pregnant.

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The new king of Israel's name is Shallum and he is the son of Jabesh.  Shallum began to reign in the thirty-ninth year of Uzziah king of Judah (we talked about how this was the more common name used for Azaariah last time).  We are getting close to the time of Isaiah the prophet because Isaiah chapter six starts off by saying, "The year the King Uzziah died....," and Isaiah chapter 1 starts with, "in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah....," so we're right there in the midst of the time of the major prophets.

Shallum probably was one of the kings with the shortest reign as he only reigned in Samaria, the capital city of the northern kingdom of Israel, for one month.  He was quickly assassinated by Menahem, the son of Gadi as we have entered into the time where the throne of Israel will be held by whoever is the strongest--it will have nothing to do with birthright, but will be taken by whoever can kill the one sitting on the throne.

While the text points us to the book of Chronicles to find more information about his reign, I can't find any additional information there to point you to, but apparently he was guilty of some kind of conspiracy that may have led to his assassination, for it is the one thing notable enough to mention now.  

The new king, Menahem, sacked Tiphsah and all who were in it and its territory (from Tirzah on), because they would not open it to him--probably meaning they did not let him come and take whatever he asked for.  Instead he had to come and take it by force, including taking anything of value, and putting to death in savage ways all the women who were pregnant so that there would be no new generation from that city.  His hope was to make an example out of them that if anyone crossed him and did not give him what he wanted, then they would become like this city and its surrounding towns and villages.  This sounds like what we would imagine from a Canaanite king or maybe the Ninevites--someone that we know to be extremely immoral and wicked and under God's wrath, but we'd never expect this from God's people.  We're supposed to start getting the feeling that judgment may be at the doorstep for the kingdom of Israel because they are at least indistinguishable from the pagan nations around them now if not worse than them, and God will use a pagan nation to judge them.