PEKAHIAH pĕk’ ə hī’ ə (פְּקַֽחְיָ֨ה, Yahu has opened [the eyes]). King of Israel 741-740 b.c., son and successor of Menahem, who was murdered by Pekah and who usurped the throne. Pekahiah’s dates are established by correlative reckoning with the kings of Judah (see Pekah).

Pekahiah apparently continued his father’s policy of submission to Assyria, which led to his assassination because Pekah allied himself with Rezin of Damascus against Assyria. Rival Assyrian and anti-Assyrian parties existed in Israel; the former had held control for some years while the opposition attempted to find suitable opportunity to gain control.

The character of his reign is declared in 2 Kings 15:24 KJV: “he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam,” i.e., Pekahiah continued the idolatrous worship of the calves of Dan and Bethel, an act of apostasy continued later by Pekah. His deeds were written in the chronicles of the Israelite kings (v. 26), yet in the Biblical Chronicles there is no reference to him or his father, perhaps a mark of strong disapprobation.

During all of Pekahiah’s reign, Pekah was active in Gilead (cf. v. 25), and since he is listed as one of Pekahiah’s higher officers, he had come to terms with Pekahiah, and at the opportune moment, assassinated him in the אַרְמﯴן, H810, citadel of the palace of Samaria. The company of Gileadites with him bespeaks Pekah’s activity in Gilead, presumably indicating that Gilead favored the change.