What Does 2 Kings 15:25 Mean?
But Pekah son of Remaliah, a captain of his, bound together against him, and struck him in Samaria, in the palace of the king's house, with Argob and Arieh, and with him fifty men of the Gileadites. And he killed him, and reigned in his place.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
But Pekah the son of Remaliah, a captain of his, conspired against him, and smote him in Samaria, in the palace of the king’s house, with Argob and Arieh, and with him fifty men of the Gileadites: and he killed him, and reigned in his room.THE KEY
The verse names conspiracy as a binding: fifty men become one force, and the king’s own house becomes the place where his throne is taken.
THE MEANING
The verse shows how a bound alliance can turn a king’s own house into the site of his killing and replacement. Here succession is not an orderly transfer: the reigning king is killed, and his place is occupied.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A king’s palace guarantees his safety; here, violence reaches him inside the king’s own house.
THE ROOT
וַיִּקְשֹׁר
wayyiqshōr
GROWS FROM
קשר
q-sh-r
to tie, bind, or fasten together
“bound together against” in this verse is wayyiqshōr. English “conspired” names the intent; qashar also carries the image of binding people together. The plot becomes a joined act of violence, ending with the king killed and his place taken.
ALSO GROWS
qāshar: to tie or bind
קָשַׁר
The physical sense beneath the political act pictures separate people joined into one force.
qesher: a bond, confederacy, or conspiracy
קֶשֶׁר
The same root names both the joining and the plot it produces, revealing the binding inside the word “conspired.”
פֶּקַח
Pəqaḥ
GROWS FROM
פקח
p-q-ḥ
to open, especially the eyes
Pekah’s name carries the sense “open-eyed.” Beside qashar, the name places opened sight next to the binding of men into a plot.
ALSO GROWS
pāqaḥ: to open, especially the eyes
פָּקַח
This verb carries the opening-of-sight sense at the root of Pekah’s name.
piqqēaḥ: seeing or clear-sighted
פִּקֵּחַ
This form carries the same root into a description of one whose eyes are open.
THE PATTERN
When power becomes something to seize, conspiracy binds people into a force that challenges or kills the one who holds it.
And his servants rose and bound themselves together against him, and struck Joash down in the house of Millo, which goes down to Silla.And his servant Zimri, head of half his chariots, bound together against him, as he was in Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, who was over his house in Tirzah.And Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David's counselor, from his city, even from Giloh, while he slaughtered sacrifices. And the bond took hold, for the people kept walking and growing with Absalom.THE THREAD
And Shallum son of Jabesh bound together against him, and struck him before the people, and killed him, and reigned in his place.The same Hebrew root, qashar, names Shallum’s conspiracy and Pekah’s. In both verses, binding into a plot leads through killing to the seizure of the king’s place.
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