Chapter 15

Azariah succeeds Amaziah in Judah.  He is 16 at the time, and reigns 52 years.  He is a good king, but leaves the high places still.  But the Lord made this King a leper, and he lived a separate life.  Azariah's son Jotham was over the household.  Sort of a regent.  That's all it says about Azariah in 2Kings,, even though he reigned over 50  years.  We get more details of how his reign went in 2Ch26.

Zechariah, son of Jeroboam II, reigns in the north...for only six months.  A guy named Shallum conspired and killed Zechariah, and reigned in his place.  So Zechariah must have been the fifth generation, and only four were promised.  Fourth generation confirmed also. Here again, the new king has no relation to the old.  Power was up for grabs in the north.  What a chaotic place it must have been.

Shallum reigns in Israel.  (We see that Uzziah is another name for Azariah.)  He reigns only one month.  Menahem comes up from Tirzah, kills Shallum, and reigns in his place.  Menahem sacks a town called Tiphsah, because they won't acknowledge him as king (?), and rips open the bellies of all the pregnant women there.  How do they even think of  this stuff???  Menahem reigns for 10 years.  Pul of Assyria attacks Israel, and Menahem gives this king 1000 talents of silver to help him consolidate his power in Israel. 

After Menahem, Pekahiah his son reigns.  He lasts two years.  Pekah, the son of Remaliah his captain (Pekahiah's captain), kills the king and Pekah reigns in  his place.  So another change in ruling family.  Another coup - from the son of a military captain, not the captain himself.  All these kings reign during Azariah's 52 years.  Pekah reigns for 22 years.  He also is evil.  It has been a long time since Israel had a good king.  During this reign, Tiglath-pilesar attacks from the north, takes all of Galilee, all the land of Naphtali (those who live in darkness...all these were taken captive), plus more, and he takes the people captive to Assyria.  He enslaves them.   Rips them up from where they are, and takes them back to serve.  After this, Hoshea conspires against the king and kills him, and reigns in his place.  Another non-family change of leadership.  This during the reign of Jotham in Judah.

Jotham succeeds his father Azariah.  He is only 25 when he begins to reign, so Azariah must have ruled on his own despite his leprosy for many years, until Jotham was old enough to help out.  By then, the leprosy might have been quite severe.  He is a good king, but for the high places.  During Jotham's time, Rezin, of Syria, and Pekah of Israel begin to attack Judah.  Note that it says "...the Lord began to send Rezin..." and "Pekah".  So this was not just random.  This was God sending war to Judah, and the only cause for it that we're given is that the high places were still allowed to exist, and that Judah was still sacrificing on the high places instead of to God alone in the Temple built for the purpose.