The Whirlwind of Idolatry: Pekah's Stubborn Reign Text: 2 Kings 15:27-31
Introduction: The Downward Spiral
We come now to the tail end of 2 Kings 15, a chapter that reads like a bloody, chaotic police blotter. The northern kingdom of Israel is in a freefall, a political and spiritual death spiral. Kings rise by the sword and fall by the sword. We've seen Zechariah, Shallum, Menahem, Pekahiah, and now we come to Pekah. The turnover rate for the monarchy in Samaria would make a modern CEO blush. This is not a sign of political vitality; it is the sign of a terminal disease. The nation is rotting from the head down, and the stench has reached heaven.
Our passage details the reign of Pekah, a man who, like his predecessors, was a stubborn devotee of a dead religion. He was a faithful follower of a faithless faith. And in his story, we see the inevitable consequences of covenant unfaithfulness. When a people, and particularly their leaders, decide they know better than God, they do not ascend to some new height of autonomous freedom. They descend into chaos, violence, and ultimately, judgment. God does not need to strike them with lightning from a clear blue sky. He simply has to let them have their own way. He gives them over to the consequences of their own foolish choices, and the Assyrians are always waiting in the wings.
This is not just ancient history. We must understand that the principles at work here are as fixed as gravity. A nation that institutionalizes rebellion against the living God will find itself embroiled in conspiracies, facing foreign threats, and ultimately, experiencing the unraveling of its own social fabric. The story of Pekah is a case study in how God governs the nations. He gives rebellious men enough rope, and they will, without fail, hang themselves with it. And all the while, God's sovereign purposes move forward, inexorable and sure.
The Text
In the fifty-second year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekah son of Remaliah became king over Israel in Samaria and reigned twenty years. And he did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh; he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel sin. In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came and took Ijon and Abel-beth-maacah and Janoah and Kedesh and Hazor and Gilead and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali; and he took them away into exile to Assyria. And Hoshea the son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah and struck him and put him to death and became king in his place, in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah. Now the rest of the acts of Pekah and all that he did, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.
(2 Kings 15:27-31 LSB)
The Stubborn Status Quo (v. 27-28)
We begin with the summary of Pekah's reign, which is depressingly familiar.
"In the fifty-second year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekah son of Remaliah became king over Israel in Samaria and reigned twenty years. And he did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh; he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel sin." (2 Kings 15:27-28)
Pekah comes to the throne through bloodshed and conspiracy, having murdered his predecessor, Pekahiah. He is a violent man, a usurper. And what does he do with his ill-gotten power? Does he institute reforms? Does he see the rot in Israel and seek to turn the nation back to God? Not a chance. The first thing the sacred historian tells us is that he continued the long, sad, apostate tradition of his fathers.
He "did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh." This is the standard divine obituary for the kings of Israel. It is God's final verdict. Men may write long, flattering biographies, but God gets to the heart of the matter. Was the man righteous or wicked? Did he obey or disobey? All our frantic activity, all our political maneuvering, all our grand projects are ultimately weighed on this simple scale. What we must see is that "evil" here is not an abstract concept. It is not just a failure of personal ethics. It is defined specifically: "he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat."
The sin of Jeroboam was the state-sponsored, institutionalized idolatry that tore the covenant people in two. Jeroboam, for political expediency, set up golden calves in Dan and Bethel. He feared that if the people went to Jerusalem to worship, their hearts would return to the house of David. So, to secure his own throne, he corrupted the worship of God's throne. He created a counterfeit religion, a worship of Yahweh that was convenient, politically savvy, and utterly detestable to God. It was syncretism. It was idolatry with a Yahwistic veneer. And this became the official state religion of the northern kingdom.
Pekah is another brick in this wall of rebellion. He inherited a corrupt system and, instead of dismantling it, he maintained it. This is the great temptation for all politicians and leaders. It is easier to manage a corrupt system than to reform it. It is easier to go with the flow of apostasy than to stand against it. Pekah was a pragmatist, not a reformer. He saw no reason to upset the religious traditions that kept the people docile and the kingdom divided from Judah. But what is politically pragmatic is often spiritually suicidal.
The Inevitable Consequence (v. 29)
When a nation abandons the true God, it does not become stronger or more independent. It becomes prey. Verse 29 shows the bill coming due.
"In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came and took Ijon and Abel-beth-maacah and Janoah and Kedesh and Hazor and Gilead and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali; and he took them away into exile to Assyria." (2 Kings 15:29 LSB)
Here is the hard reality of geopolitics under the governance of God. When Israel walked in covenant faithfulness, God was their shield. He was a wall of fire around them. No nation could stand against them. But when they broke the covenant, they forfeited that divine protection. The curses of Deuteronomy 28 began to fall like rain. One of those curses was defeat at the hands of their enemies. "Yahweh will cause you to be defeated before your enemies" (Deut. 28:25).
Tiglath-pileser, the king of Assyria, is not an autonomous actor in this drama. He is a tool in the hand of Yahweh. God is sovereign over the pagan kings as much as He is over His own people. Assyria is the rod of His anger (Isaiah 10:5). God is the one who stirs up the spirit of the Assyrian king to come and do His bidding. Pekah had made an alliance with Syria against Judah, trying to play the great game of nations. But while he was busy with his own little conspiracies, the truly great King was moving the pieces on the board.
Notice the result. A huge swath of northern Israel is conquered. The list of cities shows the systematic dismantling of the kingdom's northern defenses. And then the final, terrible blow: "he took them away into exile to Assyria." This is the beginning of the end. This is the first great deportation of the northern tribes. Families were uprooted, lands were confiscated, and a people were scattered. This was God's just judgment for centuries of high-handed idolatry. The land itself was beginning to vomit out its inhabitants, just as God had warned (Lev. 18:28). When you worship false gods, you will eventually be carried away to the land of your false gods.
The Cycle of Violence (v. 30)
The external judgment from Assyria is mirrored by an internal judgment of chaos and conspiracy. Pekah, who lived by the sword, now dies by it.
"And Hoshea the son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah and struck him and put him to death and became king in his place, in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah." (2 Kings 15:30 LSB)
Here is the outworking of a godless political philosophy. When there is no fear of God, there is no ultimate basis for loyalty. Oaths are meaningless. Covenants are temporary alliances of convenience. Pekah had conspired against Pekahiah, and now Hoshea conspires against Pekah. The chickens of treachery have come home to roost. This is the whirlwind that follows the sowing of the wind (Hosea 8:7).
We should not think of these conspiracies as merely human events. The Bible teaches us to see the hand of God in all of it. When men reject God's authority, they do not become their own masters. They become enslaved to their own lust for power, and God uses that very lust to bring about His judgments. He gives them over to their own devices. The political instability, the assassinations, the coups, this is all part of the curse. A stable, prosperous, and peaceful nation is a blessing from God, a fruit of covenant faithfulness. A nation wracked by internal division and violence is a nation under judgment.
Hoshea strikes Pekah down and takes the throne. He is, as we will see, the last king of Israel. He is the man who will preside over the final dissolution of the northern kingdom. The conspiracy that puts him on the throne is simply the final spasm of a dying nation.
The Divine Record (v. 31)
The passage concludes with the standard formula, pointing to the official records.
"Now the rest of the acts of Pekah and all that he did, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel." (2 Kings 15:31 LSB)
This is not just a historical footnote. It is a reminder that there is a record. Men's lives are written down. There were the royal annals of Israel, the official court histories. But more importantly, there is God's book. Everything Pekah did, his idolatry, his political schemes, his wars, his murder, was recorded. And on the basis of that record, he was judged.
The same is true for us. Our lives are being written. Every idle word, every secret sin, every public act of rebellion is recorded. And one day, the books will be opened (Rev. 20:12). The only hope any of us have is not that our record will be found acceptable, but that our record will be expunged. The only hope is to have our sins blotted out by the blood of another, to have our filthy record replaced by the perfect record of Jesus Christ.
Conclusion: The Unraveling and the Remedy
The story of Pekah is a grim portrait of a nation unraveling. It is a story of stubborn sin leading to predictable judgment. The idolatry of Jeroboam, maintained for political reasons, led to the wrath of God, executed by political means. The Assyrians came from without, and conspiracy festered from within. This is what happens when men say no to God.
And it is what is happening in our own land. We have institutionalized our own forms of idolatry, chief among them the worship of the autonomous self. We have rejected God's law for the sake of political convenience and personal license. And we are seeing the same results. Our borders are porous, our enemies are emboldened, and our political life is a cesspool of conspiracy, back-stabbing, and treachery. We are reaping the whirlwind.
The only way out is the way Israel refused to take. The only way out is repentance. The only remedy is to tear down the idols and return to the worship of the one true God, through the one true Mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ. Pekah's story ends in assassination and exile. But that is not where the story of God's people ends. For even in this judgment, God was preserving a remnant. He was preserving the line of David in the south. He was preparing the way for a King who would not fail, a King whose kingdom would have no end.
That King is Jesus. He is the true King who was struck down, not for His own sins, but for ours. He endured the ultimate exile of the cross, bearing the full curse of the covenant, so that we who were rebels and idolaters might be brought home. The story of Pekah is a warning. But the story of the gospel is an invitation. Turn from the sins of Jeroboam, turn from the conspiracies of men, and bow the knee to the Son of David. For His kingdom is the only one that will not be shaken.