Person Old Testament
Menahem
Menahem, king of Israel, known for his cruelty and for paying tribute to Assyria. Mentioned in 8 verses across 1 book, first at 2 Kings 15:14.
Why it matters. King of Israel who reigned for ten years.
- Last reviewed
- 2026-08-30 by the FaithGraph team
About Menahem
Menahem was the son of Gadi and became king of Israel after assassinating Shallum, who had reigned for only one month (2Ki.15.14). Menahem reigned for ten years in Samaria (2Ki.15.17). During his reign, he was known for his cruelty, particularly for his brutal treatment of the city of Tiphsah, where he ripped open pregnant women (2Ki.15.16). When Pul, the king of Assyria, invaded Israel, Menahem paid him a thousand talents of silver to withdraw and to strengthen his own hold on the kingdom (2Ki.15.19-20). To raise this tribute, Menahem exacted fifty shekels of silver from each wealthy man in Israel (2Ki.15.20). Menahem died and was succeeded by his son Pekahiah (2Ki.15.22).
Description from STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0, lightly reformatted. This is background reference material, not Scripture and not a FaithGraph editorial claim.
Connections
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Family
Family links from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0). Where the dataset marks an identification as uncertain, the mark is kept. Matthew and Luke give different genealogies for Jesus; see the Lineage page, which never merges them.
Appears in Scripture
Named in 8 verses across 1 book. Occurrence data from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0); references only, no translation text.