Pekach

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Pekach was the penultimate king of the northern kingdom of Israel . His government dates are in current standard works with 735–732 BC. Indicated; his residence was Samaria .

Etymology of the name

The Hebrew personal name פֶּקַח pæqaḥ “Pekach” is the short form of a verb sentence name whose subject (and theophore element) has been omitted. Its predicate is derived from the verb rootפּקח pqḥ , German 'open' from. The name can be translated as "(God) has opened". This relates to the birth of the name bearer: God is the one who opens the womb. In the Septuagint edition by Rahlfs the name is given as Φακεε Phakee , in the Antiochene text, however, as Φακεαι Phakeai . The Vulgate has the name form Phacee .

Military coup

Pekah son of Remaliah was, according to 2 Kings 15,25  EU an officer (champion) of King Pekahiah . This had succeeded his father Menahem , who had entered into a vassal relationship to the New Assyrian Empire . Menahem, a usurper, could only pay tribute to Assyria with brute force; it was no different under his son. Pekach murdered him in the residential tower of the royal palace of Samaria. In doing so, he may have had the support of the Arameans . “The motive for this new regicide lies in the daytime. The assurophile Menahem son should be replaced by an exponent of the anti-assur party. "

Anti-Assyrian coalition

In the year 733 or 732 Pekach of Israel entered into a military alliance with Rezin of Damascus and Hiram II of Tire in order to break away from the Assyrian vassal relationship. King Ahaz of Judah refused to enter into this covenant. Either he was already a loyal Assyrian vassal or he became one in this situation and asked Assyrian for military aid. Pekach and Rezin put considerable pressure on him. The following events are traditionally referred to by biblical scholars as the Syrian-Ephraimite War , ie as the aggressive advance of the Arameans (= Syria) and Israelites (= Ephraim ) on the small state of Judah in order to install a king in Jerusalem who would cooperate with them. There have been various attempts to draw on texts from the biblical books of prophets ( Hosea and Isaiah ) in order to gain a picture of the course of this short war.

Martin Noth reported the scenario specially developed by Albrecht Alt as follows: After 2 Kings 15.37  EU , 2 Kings 16.5  EU and Isa 7.1  EU , the combined armed forces of the Arameans and Israelites began the siege of Jerusalem to overthrow Ahaz to install the "son of Tabeal" as king ( Isa 7,6  EU , apparently an Aramean or Phoenician due to his patronymic ). They were initially successful ( Hos 5 : 8-11  EU ), and Ahaz was encouraged by the prophet Isaiah to remain calm and confident. Ahaz sent a "gift" from the temple treasure to Tiglath Pileser III to call for help - it is unknown where the Assyrian ruler was at this point in time. Noth noted that Tiglath Pileser III. anyway pushed the submission of Syria-Palestine and therefore “did not need Ahaz's request for help at all”. The strongest opponent of these expansion plans was Damascus. Therefore Tiglath Pileser III turned. first against the northern kingdom of Israel. This enabled him to isolate Damascus and keep the small states in this area in check. After 2 Kings 15.29  EU he advanced from the north into the Jordan Valley and conquered the regions of Gilead and Galilee. According to Assyrian sources, he formed two new provinces of Megiddo ( Magidû ) and Gilead ( Galʾad ) from these territories .

After this punitive Assyrian expedition, only a rump state remained for Pekach around the Samaria residence. Shortly afterwards he was killed by pro-Assyrian putschists ( 2 Kings 15.30  EU ). They installed Hoshea as the new king, who was confirmed by the Assyrian side and paid tribute as a vassal.

Chronology problems

The government data of the last kings of Israel, handed down from the biblical books of kings, cause problems for the exegetes because they do not match with extra-biblical information. This is often solved by correcting the sentence, which is very well secured in text, that Pekach ruled Samaria for 20 years in 2 Kings 15.27  EU , in favor of a more plausible reign. Either Pekach is said to have already held high offices under the kings Menahem and Pekachja, which in retrospect would have been counted as royal rulership, or Pekach established an anti-kingship in Gilead until he succeeded in overthrowing Pekachja in Samaria or had Pekach consider himself the legitimate successor of the Jehu dynasty and calculate his years from the fall of that dynasty. These proposals are clearly a complex “adjustment of the biblical information up to the consistency of the biblical system, working with various auxiliary constructions”, says Christian Frevel, who instead suggests “that a reconstruction of the history of the event should not be based exclusively on the biblical information . "

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jan Christian Gertz (Ed.): Basic information Old Testament. An introduction to Old Testament literature, religion, and history . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 6th, revised and expanded edition Göttingen 2019, p. 608.
  2. ^ A b c Christian Frevel : History of Israel . Kohlhammer, second, expanded and revised edition, Stuttgart 2018, p. 272.
  3. ↑ Hans Rechenmacher : Old Hebrew personal names , Münster 2012, p. 137.
  4. ↑ Wolfgang Kraus , Martin Karrer (Ed.): Septuaginta German. The Greek Old Testament in German translation . German Bible Society, Stuttgart 2009, p. 462.
  5. ^ Antonius H. Gunneweg : History of Israel: From the beginnings to Bar Kochba and from Theodor Herzl to the present . Kohlhammer, 6th revised and expanded edition Stuttgart / Berlin / Cologne 1989, p. 112.
  6. ^ Antonius H. Gunneweg : History of Israel: From the beginnings to Bar Kochba and from Theodor Herzl to the present . Kohlhammer, 6th revised and expanded edition Stuttgart / Berlin / Cologne 1989, p. 113.
  7. ↑ Angelika Berlejung : History and religious history of ancient Israel . In: Jan Christian Gertz (Hrsg.): Basic information Old Testament. An introduction to Old Testament literature, religion, and history . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 6th, revised and expanded edition Göttingen 2019, pp. 59–192, here p. 110.
  8. ↑ Martin Noth: History of Israel . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 7th edition Göttingen 1969, p. 235.
  9. ^ A b Christian Frevel: History of Israel . Kohlhammer, second, expanded and revised edition, Stuttgart 2018, p. 274.
  10. ^ Christian Frevel: History of Israel . Kohlhammer, second, expanded and revised edition, Stuttgart 2018, p. 210.
predecessor Office successor
Pekahya King of Israel
737–732 BC Chr. 		Hoschea
personal data
SURNAME Pekach
ALTERNATIVE NAMES פֶּקַח (Hebrew)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION King of the Northern Kingdom of Israel
DATE OF BIRTH 8th century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH around 732 BC Chr.