Pekahiah

PEKAHIAH (pĕk'a-hī'a, Heb. peqahyâh, Jehovah has opened). Israel’s seventeenth king, the son of Menahem. He was a wicked king, following the practices of idolatry formulated by Jeroboam (2Kgs.15.24). Regarding the date of his reign, there are some problems caused by this phrase in 2Kgs.15.23: “in the fiftieth year of Azariah.” By dating the beginning of his reign 735 b.c., most of the date problem dissolves. After a brief reign of only two years, he was brutally murdered by Pekah and the fifty Gileadites associated with him.