Person
Menahem מנחם בן גדי
king of Israel for ten years; the first to pay tribute to Assyria
Menahem son of Gadi reigned ten years. Kings preserves the accounting of his tribute: Pul king of Assyria (that is, Tiglath-Pileser III) came, and Menahem gave him a thousand talents of silver, «that his hand might be with him to confirm the kingdom in his hand». The silver he exacted from the wealthy men of Israel — fifty shekels a man, that is, from fifty thousand men (2 Kings 15:19–20).
This is the first time the northern kingdom buys off Assyria, and the first place in the Tanakh where an Assyrian king is named. Thirty years later the same Assyria would come for something other than silver.
On the timeline
Sources
Tanakh
- Melachim II (2 Kings) 15:16–22 — the ten years and the thousand talents of silver to the king of Assyria
Basis: stated in the Tanakh.